post by: Ammar K.
An Expert Witness is someone who through the virtue of his training, education or experience can be considered an authority in his area of expertise. As such he can legally present his technical and specialist opinions in front of a court. An expert witness can be required in any number of forms by a court, whether he is a Financial Whiz or just a common auto mechanic, their opinion is considered highly valuable.
It occurs quite often that Insurance companies or other clients need to use the services of an Automotive Expert Witness. An automotive expert witness can be anyone from a mechanic to an engineer. These Automotive Expert Witnesses are used by clients to help in reconstructing the scenario in which the accident occurred to help the judge and jury reach a decision.
It is the job of an Automotive Expert Witness to access the evidence available and try to find the root cause of the accident. The accidents may involve a wide variety of brakes, brake failure, braking problems, engine, automatic and standard transmission, clutch and drive train problems, computer control and malfunction, air bag deployment, wheel and tire issues, steering, power steering, seat belt, fuel tank, fuel system, electrical, fire; unexplained acceleration, cruise control, vehicle and component structural failure. A mechanical part or a system of a vehicle is often alleged to have failed, helping to cause an accident.
An Automotive Expert Witness may also be called in to review a company’s product in case of product liability cases. Vehicular product liability experience includes brakes, wheels, tires, steering; air bags, seat belts, crash-worthiness; fuel tank and fuel system fires; electrical fires; engines, transmissions and drive trains; unexplained acceleration, cruise controls, computer controls; and vehicle and component structural failure.
Sometimes, in high profile insurance cases, video productions or video depositions are used. During a video production/deposition, expert witnesses have to give their testimony on camera so that in case of death, their advice is duly heard. Video productions/depositions are useful in cases where any of the people that are prominent actors in the resolution of the case have to record their evidence before the trial starts as a fail-safe mechanism in case of their death before the proceedings start.
Given all the number of things that are liable to go wrong, an Automotive Expert Witness can have a hard time finding out what caused the accident and then form a solid opinion based on facts and figures that can be furnished in the court.