Has anyone used an expert witness? How much did it cost? Were they usefull?
Chris
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I used an engineer a couple of years ago to inspect damage done by a clutch fitter. He broke a feed pipe to my 4wd transfer box (new box £2300). Fitter claimed metal fatigue!
Engineer's report cost £45. Didn't go to court because fitter agreed to fix it foc.
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How long is a piece of string.....
Depends on the expertise, Consultant Psych. up to 150.00 per hour
plus 400.00 for a report in a recent case - and that was cheap.
I read somewhere that there was a website sort of directory of expert witnesses. May well be linked by HJ. May be worth checking that out.
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Pug is totally correct about the string bit.
In a past life doing work for accident inv'n (motoring link) we didn't used to lift the phone for less than £100, and as for turning out in the early hours! Not that I got paid that, but it was what we were charged out at.
Also don't forget the definition of expert, ex = has been, xpert (pronounced spurt) = drip under pressure. Be careful, you can get some right divvies.
Even though I've been out of this side for quite a number of years occasionally get called up on the old boys "what d'ya fink 'bout this" scenario. Grates a bit when they are doing it for money and expect to be given the answer for free.
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F i F
Interesting whay you say.
Were you a believer in J. Stannard-Baker and his mathmatical formulae?
DVD
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DVD,
not my side of things, mine was stuff like was this bulb lit when the crash occurred, did this steering component break before/after impact, all that sort of stuff. Nothing like getting a preliminary visual exam before its been sat in a muddy oily recovery yard for a week or three being savaged, or worse, by the Alsatians.
As for Mr Stannard Baker and his ilk, don't claim to be an expert there (or anywhere else for that matter) but my thoughts are as follows.
Always suspicious of such devices where a load of measurements, estimates, what have you - all with varying degrees of experimental error present are pumped into an equation producing an answer like: "The motorcyclist was travelling at 63.2 mph at the start of the rear wheel skid mark, and was still travelling at 45.7 mph when the rider fell off." And that is regardless of who devised the formula(e).
Blimey DVD what next Kibbles K factor?
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Dear Flat in Fifth (where's the Sverige gone? or am I missing something?)
Interesting stuff.
I also did some investigation into automotive bulb failure as part of my 3rd year engineering studies at university. Part of that involved using a scanning electron microscope to view filament fragments of failed bulbs. As you know, one could easily tell those bulbs that were illuminated at time of destruction as round, solidified gobules of glass could be seen adhering to the tungsten coil i.e. the tiny jagged splinters of smashed glass falling onto the white hot filament had sufficient time to melt before the filament blew, solidifying into tell-tale little glass balls. I've still got the beautiful SEM photos we took of these and other failure types e.g. air ingress due to poor atmospheric seal, all too small to see with the naked eye but extremely distinctive.
Sorry for the digression,
CMark
"Don't tell him, Pike!"
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"where's the Sverige gone"
I just added it on when I was over here for a far longer stretch than normal. In a way as Mark RLBS did when he was Brazil UK Chile USA? However there were going to be so many changes I just couldn't face the thought of eventually having to move to Royal Leamington B***** Spa or similar so in the end just zapped it.
As for the comment about bulbs and other stuff its amazing what you can see and prove actually happened when you put your mind to it. Plus of course the actual structure of the filament changes as it is exposed to air. One small fact added to another can build up a story, or at least eliminate some possibilities.
Finally I know where the "don't tell him, Pike" originated, but why have it as a signature, that I can't work out.
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Finally I know where the "don't tell him, Pike" originated, but...
That'll be from Dad's Army - the episode where the platoon captured the German sailors, and the German captain (played by Philip Madoc) asked for Pike's name.
"Don't tell him, Pike!" said Captain Mainwaring.
Ian Cook
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Wasn't that shortly after the discussion about the fish & chip order details. Presumably Walker was going to go in Jones' van. motoring link.
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Shortly after Mainwaring had an argument with the German Captain who wrote down Mainwaring's name in a list to be used when Germany won the war.
Pike then sang a little ditty about Hitler and the german officer asked for Pike's name to also write it in the book. And Mainwaring said.....
How sad am I for knowing that ?
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ooops, I just noticed we're in "Technical".
That'll be anough of this then. I'll move it to Discussion if anyone wants to remain digressed from expert witnesses.
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Dear Flat in Fifth,
_big grin_
The Dad's Army quote is not really a signature, I just stuck it on there as I thought it would "connect" with a few people and raise a smile.
All the best to everyone,
CMark
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On Channel 5 news this lunchtime they trotttted out a British criminal profiler expert in reference to the shootings taking place in Washington.
Asked whether he had come to any conclusions from what he had seen regarding these crimes he replied yes.
There was significance in that some were shot at a petrol station and this indicates that the killer could have been affected by petrol fumes in the past or it is an environmental issue.
Others had been shot outside a supermarket and the significant factor here was that the victims were coming out and not going in to the supermarket.
This meant that he was jealous of people carrying bags of goods out and perhaps he didn't have any himself.
The final clue to his profile was something to do with the angle of the bullets but I didn't quite catch this one and anyway its unimportant compared to the other two factors which could be of great help to the Washington authorities.
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mmm. May have used FiF's service in the past, a case where brake lights were claimed to be not working (foresincally found to be true !) I think though that the rearmost driver may actually have been flat out in whatever gear was top at the time.
CPS have a bank of experts, I have my preferred ones. In Mag. Court they need a lot of credability witht the bench before there evidence is accepted as face value and these blokes(ettes) cost serious money.
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Relying on experts worries me greatly, disregarding present company!
Am I mistaken, or did UN appointed experts concoct the global warming myth................?
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