Category: Articles, Appraisals / Valuations, Business & Commerce, Communications, Construction, Education, Mold, Real Estate, Resources for Attorneys, Resources for Experts, Safety, Working With Experts If You Know It, Disclose It! TASA ID: 26215 There are so many factors related to disclosure of material and latent facts when it comes to real estate. The more the buyer knows about the property they are buying in the beginning, the easier the transaction can happen. Opposed to finding out later, which a closing may not come to fruition. Read more
Category: Articles, Construction, Property Damage, Resources for Attorneys, Resources for Experts, Safety Potholes in Paradise TASA ID: 1199 San Diego is one of the best places in the nation for road cycling, beautiful scenery, consistently great weather, wide streets, bike lanes in abundance and drivers generally conditioned to the legions of riders sharing the roadways. But, like any municipality, the well-traveled roads are constantly in a state of flux. Let’s take a cursory look at the mix of conditions dealing with dangerous road conditions, the varied equipment used by cyclists and finally outline the conditions of liability from the perspective of this bicycle/ Ebike safety and handling expert. Read more
Category: Articles, Chemicals / Toxic Substances, Construction, Environment, Resources for Attorneys, Resources for Experts, Safety OIL & GAS PIPELINE ACCIDENTS: Failure Mechanisms in Non-Technical Language TASA ID: 18867 Oil and gas pipeline construction in the U.S. has grown steadily over the years at a rate of approximately 10,000 miles per year. As of 2019, more than 2.6 million miles of natural gas and 219,000 miles of hazardous liquid pipelines were operating in the United States.The U.S. Department of Transportation’s PHMSA agency began tracking serious accidents in 2000. The latest failure rates reported by PHMSA show 0.01 failures per 1000 miles for hazardous liquid pipelines, 11 failures per 1,000,000 miles for gas distribution pipelines, and 0.008 failures per 1000 miles of gas transmission pipelines. Despite such low probabilities of failure, accidents do occur often making news due to the spectacular way they fail and the likelihood of deaths and injuries. Read more
Category: Articles, Accident Analysis / Reconstruction, Construction, Premises Liability, Resources for Attorneys, Resources for Experts, Working With Experts Accident Investigations – Hiring the Right Expert at the Right Time TASA ID: 16816 Investigating any accident is typically a complex endeavor in which there are numerous intrinsic processes and interrelated elements that have usually led to the accident. Therefore, it is important that the expert investigating the accident has the training and experience to deal with that specific type of accident relating to your case. Often, I see law firms reaching out for experts who have acronyms after their name (assumed to ensure credibility) but they do not possess the necessary background, experience or training related to the specific accident being investigated. Not all accidents are the same... construction, property or slip, trip and fall are all quite different. The investigator has to have the experience with that accident type to be able to identify and analyze the individual elements that were or were not in place. The investigator then must be able to piece the elements together to understand their relation to the “whole” of the accident to determine the root causes and liabilities associated with the accident. Read more
Category: Articles, Accident Analysis / Reconstruction, Automotive/Trucking, Construction, Engineering, Resources for Attorneys, Resources for Experts, Safety, Working With Experts 100% Defense Verdict in Forklift Case Reviewed by a Mechanical Engineering Expert Witness TASA ID: 7934 About 10:30 am on the morning of 26 October 2007, Jose Avalos was delivering slabs of granite to a local installer. The countertops were being loaned to the installer to be displayed at an open house barbeque for customers that was to take place later that day. Mr. Avalos brought two A frames and between four and eight slabs of granite on a 20' flatbed gooseneck trailer. Upon arrival, two of the installers employees proceeded to unload the truck. One of them drove a Hyster forklift that had a custom boom attached to the forks and had a gravity clamp (Abaco Lifter) that hung down from the end of the boom. The lifter was at the end of the boom. The setup is shown below: Read more