When an injury case goes to trial, a jury is given the responsibility of making a decision based on the facts of the case. Some cases can be decided by a jury without any expert witnesses. This is true where the jury has the experience to understand the facts and issues, such as a car accident case. However, there are other cases where experts are needed to help the jury understand what happened. This might involve specialties such as engineering, medicine, construction, boating, accident reconstruction, etc. In these cases, an expert witness is needed to help explain to the jury how their special knowledge is used to understand the facts of the case and establish liability and fault.
The Importance of Expert Testimony in Product Liability
Product liability cases involving defects in design or manufacture of consumer products always require an expert witness. This is because product liability cases involve specialties that the jury would not have adequate experience in, such as engineering and manufacturing. Over the years, we have had numerous product liability cases where an expert witness was essential in getting our client the compensation they deserved.
In one case a motor vehicle had a sliding and folding seat with a hinged retraction mechanism on it that operated like scissors, and it cut the fingers off of a consumer (our client) who was trying to move the seat.
In that case we hired a mechanical engineering professor from a distinguished engineering college to examine the mechanism and analyze the design from a safety standpoint. He was able to explain what it was about the design that made it dangerous and how that could be changed so as to eliminate the “scissors effect” and yet perform the function of a hinge for the car seat. He also demonstrated that the designer should have anticipated that consumers would normally attempt to move the seat in the manner that our client did when the hinge cut off his fingers. Thus, the engineer, through analyzing the existing design and providing a new, safe design, proved that the manufacturer was negligent in providing an unsafe seat.
In another case a boy was severely injured at a construction site on an interstate highway. There, eastbound traffic was rerouted onto the westbound lanes resulting in “two-way” traffic that was separated by a divider that was only about 4 inches high. A semi, swerving off of the divided highway and onto the two-lane, two-way highway, jumped the divider and hit the car that the boy was driving.
We hired a university professor who specialized in traffic engineering and was respected nationally in his field. He was completely familiar with traffic separation devices, when and how they were used, costs, and the relative safety records of different types. In his opinion, the problem was well-known in the highway construction industry, and waist-high concrete dividers should have been used (as they now are). This would have prevented the accident by keeping the semi in its own lane. Thus, the expert’s familiarity with the subject of traffic safety and knowledge of the details of how safety is achieved, enabled us to obtain a substantial recovery for the injured boy.
Knowing Expert Witnesses
It is necessary that lawyers handling product liability and motor vehicle accident claims be familiar with expert witnesses and experienced in using them to testify about product defects and accident reconstructions. They are able to explain why a product is dangerous and defective and why a motor vehicle collision occurred, so as to show who is at fault.
In order to be convincing an expert witness must know the subject inside and out and must be able to analyze the problem and explain the analysis in a way that is understandable to a jury. The witness may be a professor, a person working in the field in question, or even an experienced tradesperson, depending upon the subject matter.
Since, the Defendant will probably have an expert witness, the case will become, to some extent, a “battle of experts”. In such a battle, it is necessary that our explanation of events makes more sense than the Defendant’s expert’s explanation. In such a contest it is necessary to show that the opponent did such things as leave some facts out, misstate facts, add supposed facts that are not true, misquote other witnesses, and generally distort the truth. Trial is a place where the truth prevails, so it is important to be able to point out where the opposition tries to bend or break it.
Conclusion
When you are injured and need expertise to prove liability and fault, you need a personal injury firm adept at knowing expert witnesses. Your lawyer needs to not only find expert witnesses that can help support your case, but also needs to be prepared to counter or discredit testimony from the opposing side’s experts. At McGlone Law, we have extensive experience in cases requiring expert witnesses and a track record to prove it. If you have been injured, please call us for a free consultation. We’re ready to fight for you.
