Orion Expert Network
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Litigation Topics
Antitrust
When your firm has signed onto an antitrust case, there are likely myriad areas of the law where you’ll need to get yourself up-to-speed — business, corporate, and labor law among them.
Depending on the type of business you’re dealing with, you will need expert witnesses who can both debrief your attorneys and speak to judge and jury in a way that is factual, clear, and convincing, on any number of topics, including: business operations, securities and investments, hedge funds, econometrics, stocks, torts, life-cycle cost analysis, business disputes, damages (as well as damage analysis and calculation), business valuation, fair market value, tax shelters, executive compensation, lost wages, intellectual property, or patent infringement, among many other areas of the law.
This is in addition to the fact that many antitrust cases require class certification, a process that may require additional expert witnesses, as well. And, of course, if class certification is not achieved, that could mean the end of your case.
When you pile on top of all of this the Daubert and Frye standards for admission of expert witnesses in federal and state courts, what you have are hours and hours of additional work researching, reviewing, interviewing, and analyzing expert witnesses on top of the ordinary work of document review, depositions, drafting briefs, jury selection, and all the rest of the parts of putting together a solid case for your client.
So why not trust the pros at Orion Expert Network to do all of this extra work for you? We have a proven track record and a national reach, and are looking out for all the right things so that you don’t have to.
Once you’ve determined the fundamental facts and questions present in your case, OEN will find the best expert witnesses for you, taking into account many things, including the expert’s specialty, past track record in litigation as a witness, interpersonal skills and ability to communicate ideas clearly, location, and yes, fees.
When you take on an antitrust case, you can be certain that the opposing parties in the case — and there could very well be more than one very powerful, well-funded and well-prepared adversary to face — will be bringing in the big guns. And perhaps hiring up many of the same expert witnesses that you might like to secure for your side.
Not many law firms, even in BigLaw, have the standing internal resources to deal with all of the moving parts of antitrust litigation with the accuracy, speed, and experience needed to prevail. If you hire OEN, we’ll go into overdrive for you, locating the exact expert witnesses needed for the details of your case, and helping you ensure they’re up-to-speed and ready to perform at the level they’ll need to to bring your case home.
Call OEN today for a consultation.
Antitrust in the news
How consultants will sway the outcome of the Epic v. Apple case – Quartz
https://qz.com/2012568/how-consultants-will-sway-the-outcome-of-the-epic-v-apple-case/
Apple’s Fortnite Antitrust Trial Ends With Pointed Questions and a Toast to Popeye’s – The New York Times
The Apple-Epic antitrust case was a spectator sport (audio) – Marketplace
The Apple-Epic antitrust case was a spectator sport
Automotive & Aviation
America is a country of cars. Thus, as a litigator at a medium- or big-sized law firm, at one point in your career you are likely to take on a case dealing with a car accident.
This could be a case as simple as a hit-and-run resulting in an injury to one or more parties, or it could be a deadly pileup involving multiple fatalities. In these instances, human error — such as driving too fast or under the influence — could be to blame. Or perhaps it was merely the conditions on the road that day that caused what happened.
Then there are equipment failures involving injury or death. Sometimes, these are isolated incidents; sometimes, there is a design flaw in the car that necessitates a class-action suit, or perhaps leading to a recall of the specific make and model of the vehicle.
As simple as what happened may seem, you’re still going to need a bevy of expert witnesses on your side to make your case to the court.
In their defense, car manufacturers will try to show the importance of human error in the accident — meaning medical experts who can speak to the driver’s poor vision, or prove that he or she was under the influence. They will hire speed experts to attempt to show that the driver was going too fast. You get the picture.
As a plaintiff, you’ll need medical experts of your own to elucidate the injuries suffered; automotive and mechanical experts to explain the problems with the design and building of the car, and how these were the proximate cause of the accident; labor and employment experts to calculate lost wages and pain and suffering for the purposes of damages; et cetera.
Like any type of case, your run-of-the-mill automotive — or, on a larger scale, aviation-related — accident case will nevertheless require over a dozen expert witnesses in order to build an effective case for your client. On top of jury selection, depositions, legal research, wrangling a fact pattern, writing a brief, and practicing oral arguments, do you really want your firm bogged down in finding a bunch of expert witnesses?
Let Orion Expert Network (OEN) do that work for you. We’ll sift through resumes, conduct interviews, and prep experts to appear at trial, so you don’t have to. We’ll do the work the same way you would, except you won’t have to worry about it.
OEN: The Expert Experts.
Automotive & Aviation in the news
Safety Culture Helps Fleets Guard Against Lawsuits, Experts Say – Transport News
https://www.ttnews.com/articles/safety-culture-helps-fleets-guard-against-lawsuits-experts-say
Expert says claim driver fainted before fatal collision is ‘extremely unlikely’ – WalesOnline
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/nigel-davies-bridgend-court-trial-20693860
Aviation expert analyzes damage to plane after midair collision – KDVR
https://kdvr.com/news/local/aviation-expert-analyzes-damage-to-plane-after-midair-collision/
Class Actions and MDL
Oftentimes, the most complex and challenging litigation can be found at the level of class actions – legal proceedings that allow more than one plaintiff to file a cause of action on behalf of a group, or ‘class’ of plaintiffs, and multidistrict litigation – which is when causes of action that have been filed at various courthouses across the country are consolidated into a single district and heard in front a single court.
These types of cases can involve many different types of issues, including those that have been mentioned here already on the Orion Expert Network (OEN) blog, such as construction or products liability litigation. In these circumstances, the types of expert witnesses you will need to hire will depend on the specific fact patterns of your case, what issues you will have to examine, and what questions you will need to answer during trial.
However, class actions and multidistrict litigation can involve their own unique expert witness challenges. For example, expert witnesses have been increasingly used by both plaintiffs and defendants to support or challenge the bases for a class action. According to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23, a class action is only allowed if the alleged injury can be applied to all class members – so, an expert witness on finances or workplace injuries might be needed to answer this question, depending on the specifics of the case.
Many courts now require expert witness testimony at the ‘certification’ stage of the process – the part when the class action is approved or denied – in order to comply with Rule 23. You should keep in mind that in a case dealing with multiple districts, there may be competing requirements for who qualifies as an expert witness – recall the Daubert standard for expert witnesses in some jurisdictions – depending on the location of your case.
In a class action or MDL, you will want to use your expert witness and their testimony to understand and pick apart the arguments of the opposing expert witnesses, who will surely be prepared to make different arguments for opposing counsel, depending on their angle on the case. Let OEN make these calculations for you, so you can stick to the facts.
News clips
NY Bad Faith Bill Would Tip the Scales Against Insurers – Law360
Texas Firm Asks Judge to Keep Allstate Fraud Suit Alive – Law360
https://www.law360.com/articles/1378153/texas-firm-asks-judge-to-keep-allstate-fraud-suit-alive
Some Americans who have reported vaccine side effects hope the U.S. will cover their medical costs – Fortune
https://fortune.com/2021/05/03/us-covid-vaccine-side-effects-getting-medical-costs-covered/
Construction
If you have a client involved in construction litigation, their case can easily touch on multiple areas of the law – with many construction cases involving property, torts, and contract law, at a bare minimum. For example, property law might come into effect if a local zoning board were to deny permits necessary to complete the work; torts would come into play in the event of an accident, such as a wrongful death due to errors on-site; contract law would be touched upon in the event of a dispute about the cost of the work or performance under the contract.
Furthermore, construction litigation often features multiple parties – condominium tenants suing over airborne toxic mold, a homeowner suing a subcontractor over bathroom repairs, a subcontractor filing a lien against property after not being paid, a state government trying to overrule a local zoning ordinance in order to build a hospital. Because these cases involve so many competing interests, litigation can become complex and bogged down in minor issues that only an expert witness with the proper qualifications will be able to help answer.
In a construction case, such witnesses will be able to answer questions about specific elements of the law and the facts of the case, such as unfair trade practices: in RCDI Const. v. Spaceplan/Architecture, for example, architecture consultants were accused of unfairly urging a client to terminate a contract with builders after his property became flooded; the expert witness helped the court determine that a standard of care was not broken, as the architects were seeking to prevent the buildup of mold and structural damage.
Expert witnesses in construction cases should also be able to answer the court’s questions about things such as complex engineering processes, like destructive testing, which breaks down a material in order to determine whether it is the proper substance for the job.
Expert witnesses can also come in handy for more mundane issues such as assessing the accuracy of estimates and the necessity of construction delays.
Such experts can range from engineers and architects to subcontractors, materials scientists to zoning experts and the like. They answer questions about structural engineering, toxic mold, design evaluations, forensic investigations, prince discrepancies, and all manner of other topics.
News clips
Federal Circuit: If it’s Not Legit, You Can’t Admit – The National Law Review
https://www.natlawreview.com/article/if-it-s-not-legit-you-can-t-admit
Maryland Adopts Daubert Standard for Expert Testimony – The National Law Review
Concurrent expert evidence in a post-pandemic world – Lexology
https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=2e1ae560-0e0e-4c31-a2b4-2a2af3153418
Consumer Protection Act (CPA)
As an attorney at a medium or big-sized law firm, it’s very possible that at one point in your career, you will become involved in litigating a consumer protection case. These cases have a lot to offer to practicing attorneys, including newsworthiness, prestige, a chance to leave a mark on an emerging field of law, to do some public good, and — potentially — to score a huge payday for them and their clients.
And yet, consumer protection litigation can touch on so many different issues that it would be exceedingly difficult for any law firm, no matter its size, to deal with all of the moving parts of a consumer protection case in-house. At the very least, your firm will need experts to get you up-to-snuff on the issues and fields of expertise involved in your consumer protection case; beyond that, you will likely need to obtain the services of expert witnesses to provide their opinions on your case, as well as their testimony at trial.
Consumer protection expert witnesses provide crucial knowledge and testimony in fields such as alternative consumer finance (also known as payday lending), legal malpractice, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, consumer research, advertising, branding and marketing, packaging, food and beverages, and financial crimes.
Most of the time, these experts are familiar with such discrete issues as how the consumer products are sold; where they are sold — whether online, on smartphones, shopping centers or malls, retail locations, or trade shows; and what they are purchased with, including credit cards, debit, debt, commercial finance, mortgage, and/or securitization.
These issues can in turn lead to a focus on a different nexus of legal issues, such as loan fraud, predatory lending, the Truth in Lending Act, foreclosure, or contractual disputes.
Another realm of consumer protection law involves quality control and assurance, product development, and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) labels and warnings. Cases in this area often necessitate the involvement of expert witnesses with scientific and medical backgrounds.
As may have become apparent, the exciting legal field of consumer protection offers many opportunities, but also many challenges, including a steep learning curve, to participating attorneys. Focus on the essentials of your case, and let Orion Expert Network (OEN) find your experts for you. We’ll do the same expert witness search work you’d do for yourself and your clients, except you won’t have to lift a finger.
Call OEN for a consultation today.
Consumer Protection in the news
There is No ‘Junk Science’ Epidemic In Consumer Litigation – Law360
United States: Privacy Litigation Trend: The Latest on Session Replay Lawsuits, and Practical Considerations for Risk Mitigation – Mondaq
The Supreme Court Weighs in On the Telephone Consumer – JDSupra
https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/the-supreme-court-weighs-in-on-the-8487689/
Coronavirus and Infectious Disease
With more and more Americans getting vaccinated, and the CDC announcing yesterday that masks are no longer necessary indoors or outdoors for fully-vaccinated citizens, it’s looking closer and closer to the past year of Covid-19 rules and regulations coming to an end and normal life coming back into reach. Unfortunately for us all (or maybe, since a lawyer’s gotta eat, we’ll just say ‘inevitably’), the return of normal life will also mean the return of litigation, and there is likely to be plenty of it centered around the issues kicked up by this once-in-a-lifetime pandemic.
While you certainly know more about Covid-19 than you thought you ever would a year and a half ago, you probably know little about the unique legal issues raised by hiring and working during a plague. That’s why we here at Orion Expert Network (OEN) have drawn up a short primer on the types of issues likely to be stirred up in the workplace due to Covid-19, along with a list of the types of expert witnesses you may need to help you navigate such issues in front of a judge and jury.
To give you an idea of the sheer amount of litigation certain to come in the near future, less than a year ago, with the pandemic still in its infancy, over 1,100 cases had already been filed related to coronavirus. Thus, any number of experts have already dusted off their resumes and added a line dealing with the pandemic. Our experts here at OEN have taken a look at these cases and experts and seen a few areas of interest emerging.
One area is loss causation. Loss causation refers to lost business and profits. In many cases, particularly those related to an airborne virus, it won’t always be crystal clear what led to a loss of profit. Employee error? Government regulations? Unpreventable, but insurable, problems? Unpredictable and thus uninsurable issues? Expert witnesses can come in handy at every step of the process here, helping to determine both the cause of a loss, as well as a loss’s approximate value. The types of experts who may be able to make these judgments ranges from engineers and financial experts to medical professionals and insurance adjusters. OEN will make sure that you have everyone you need, so that you have the expertise you need to win.
A more obvious and no less important aspect of Covid-19 litigation will be workplace safety. Are employers justified bringing their employees back, based on health concerns? What precautions are being taken, or aren’t being taken? How much of any employee injury or sickness is the fault of the employer, versus the fault of the employee his or herself? Do pre-existing conditions come into play here? Religious concerns? Family issues? Are pre-existing workplace rules and regulations being followed, but not new ones based on the threat posed by Covid? Who or what within the corporation or organization is responsible for this oversight? All of the same types of expert witnesses you would find on another labor and employment case will be found here, but you will want to be sure they are up-to-speed on changs to the law and practice based on covid.
In a situation such as this, the best type of expert witness may be one who works exclusively as an expert witness, rather than someone directly from the industry in question. This is because a professional expert witness is likely to have developed a practice and method for staying abreast of changes to the law based on public health issues. This type of expert witness would likely be more well-informed and conversant on issues unique to Covid-19 rather than someone who had worked for a lifetime in the construction industry, for example, and never had an issue with a pandemic.
While a liability shield has been discussed for some companies in the wake of the coronavirus, one area of the economy likely to be substantially rocked by litigation in this field is nursing homes, which will deal with standard-of-care issues brought on by the thousands of negligent deaths that have occurred in nursing homes since the start of the pandemic. These cases are likely to become class actions and thus will require the services of a broad range of expert witnesses, at all phases and levels of litigation.
A final issue likely to be raised by Covid-19 litigation is the force majeure provision in many contracts, which renders them unenforceable if some “greater force” comes into play. Those who for whatever reason — legitimate fear or concern, or something more self-interested — want to get out of a contract are likely to use the coronavirus as their excuse to activate force majeure, and certainly whoever sits on the other side will have a difference of opinion and an expert witness to back it up. Let OEN come to your side and deliver you the expert witness that you need to make the case you need to make to get your clients what they want.
Cryptocurrency
Here at Orion Expert Network (OEN), we like to stay on the cutting edge of legal practice, and one of our most exciting emerging areas today is in cryptocurrency. As you have certainly seen in the headlines, cryptocurrency, such as Bitcoin, can be used online to buy goods and services; but, unlike traditional currency, it uses a security system called Blockchain, which makes it extremely difficult to counterfeit or double-spend. Thus, cryptocurrency is a more secure form of payment for the internet era.
However, because of its nascency, one of the most difficult aspects of a cryptocurrency case will be helping the judge and jury to understand what the cryptocurrency is, how it works, and how its complexities shape the facts and potential outcome of the case.
While your typical jury will have no difficulty understanding the value of a good-old-fashioned American dollar, it will probably take a good expert witness to explain what exactly cryptocurrency is, how it works, and how various currency schemes work. This will need to be related back to the specifics of the case, in order to detail how whichever injury is alleged to have occurred, occurred.
While there is certainly nothing illegal about the use of Bitcoin in general, cryptocurrency can be used as a part of a scam, such as embezzlement, or fraud, in the selling of fake or nonexistent cryptocurrency. Such bad faith dealers may be exceptionally good at covering their online tracks – which could necessitate expert witnesses with a broader mandate than cryptocurrency, such as those who are able to track and analyze online movements and security schemes that may imply fraud or bad dealing.
When OEN searches for an expert witness for your cryptocurrency case, we won’t simply be searching for an expert witness who understands Bitcoin. We’ll find one who not only knows all there is to know about online currencies, but who can also sit, calmly, under cross-examination and explain to a jury of laypeople how it works, and how it can be abused.
News clips
Cryptocurrency and Divorce – Mediate
https://www.mediate.com/articles/french-cryptocurrency.cfm
Washington debates regulating cryptocurrency industry – Yahoo! News
https://news.yahoo.com/washington-debates-regulating-cryptocurrency-industry-003724079.html
Bitcoin traders shouldn’t worry about Elon Musk: expert – Yahoo! Money
https://money.yahoo.com/video/bitcoin-traders-shouldn-t-worry-133052481.html
E-Cigarette and Vaping Litigation
Prior to the start of the pandemic, one of the biggest public health issues facing the United States was the proliferation of e-cigarette and vaping devices, which have been found to lead to addiction issues, including among teens, health hazards such as lung damage, and even death.
At the same time, e-cigarettes and their newly-legal marijuana-infused cousins, marijuana vape pens, which allow users to inhale THC vapors for a quick and easy high, are an important and emergent sector of our economy, generating billions in revenue and spurring on the creation of thousands of small- and medium-sized businesses.
So, it should come as no surprise that e-cigarettes and their brethren are a rapidly emerging front in the litigation arena, with a multitude of lawsuits starting up in a number of jurisdictions related to so-called reduced risk nicotine products such as smokeless tobacco, heated tobacco, and tobacco-free nicotine products. A number of stakeholders are involved in these cases, from growers, manufacturers, and distributors to smokers, ex-smokers, public health, and governmental organizations.
Indeed, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently announced that it was moving up the deadline for PMTAs, or pre-market tobacco applications, for the makers and importers of these products, to in advance of its previous 2022 deadline. In addition, Congress has stepped up its scrutiny of the industry, with the House Oversight Committee recently holding two-day hearings on whether or not Juul Labs has played a role in the alleged youth nicotine epidemic.
Cases in this industry include a personal injury suit against Juul Labs, the San Francisco-based maker of the now-famous Juul vapes, where a man alleges that his addiction to its product caused him to suffer a massive stroke. Juul is also being sued by a number of school districts, who allege its products and practices have caused their students to become addicted to e-cigarettes. In addition, there are a number of class-action lawsuits in the works, including three in the State of Illinois alone.
A racketeering suit has been filed against Juul, as well, and many firms now have dedicated websites for recruiting plaintiffs.
If your firm has signed on to e-cigarette or vaping litigation, you will find yourself in need of expert witnesses who can speak to the specific elements and adverse health effects of these products. Such experts could include addiction and public health experts; experts on nicotine, chemistry, and epidemiology; medical experts (specifically, experts on neurovascular issues, neurology, pulmonology, pathology, and medical toxicology, among others); materials science experts (particularly in matters relating to lithium batteries); patent and design experts; statistical experts; marketing and advertising experts; and ex-FDA experts.
With all of the ordinary demands of litigation also on your plate, do you really have the time to sift through resumes, conduct interviews, and do the rest of your due diligence to find expert witnesses who can not only consult on your case, but also help make your case effectively in the courtroom? It’s not an easy thing for a busy lawyer to contemplate.
That’s why you’ve come to the right place. Contact Orion Expert Network (OEN) today for a free consultation. Don’t worry; hire OEN — the expert experts.
E-Cigarettes/vaping in the news
How Juul Got Vaporized – TIME
https://time.com/6048234/juul-downfall/
Juul should face fines for marketing to minors, NC judge says – Raleigh News & Observer
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/business/article251468028.html
Vaping Links to Covid Risk Are Becoming Clear – The New York Times
Economic and Damages
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Orion: The Great Hunter
We are dedicated to helping you find the right experts for your case or project. Our dedicated research team will pinpoint the highest caliber experts curated to meet your specific expert needs and case demands.
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