One of the most important components of an attorney’s litigation team is the expert witness. An attorney going into a court without the best expert is like a solider going to battle without a rifle. And so it came to pass in a federal courthouse some time ago that a black limousine pulled up in […]
Category: Insurance
Death, Injury, & Property Damage from Trees
March 29, 2019During February, I received four requests from different insurance companies to render an opinion on the unfortunate outcome of trees falling on people and onto property causing property damage. One death, one personal injury, and two homes with extensive damage. One month. Trees can be and are dangerous. That danger grows exponentially when the subject […]
Fat Cats and Honesty: An Expert Witness Needs to Tell the Truth
February 25, 2019One commodity weighs heaviest among all professionals: the truth. Nothing separates success in the professional marketplace and private relationships quite like the truth. Synonymous with honor, integrity, and character, the truth and a reputation for telling it (especially as an expert witness) are priceless, except when the truth interferes with a constructed reality based on […]
Signs, Signs: There are Signs Everywhere!
January 26, 2019Have you noticed that signs are everywhere on our highways? But there are rules and laws that govern most, if not all, of them. In this matter, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), the Florida Outdoor Advertising Association (FOAA), and Citizens for a Scenic Florida (Citizens) were caught in a quagmire of legal lawsuits regarding […]
The Cart Before the Horse
January 3, 2019This insurance claim came from an insured in a metropolitan city. A construction company installing a new sidewalk accidentally (is it ever any other way?) hit the limb of a 17-inch-diameter tree growing in the cutout of the sidewalk. The limb tore and broke off. The guardian angel for trees in the city inspected the damage […]
Creeping Normalcy
December 11, 2018This matter came to me as an insured was named a defendant in a multi-million dollar personal injury claim. The matter regarded a landscape installer who allegedly failed to properly secure a newly installed tree in a new landscape. The tree failed during a significant weather event at a theme park. The theme park was […]
Ten Commandments (Recommendations) of Settling Tree Claims
November 26, 2018Across my desk came the assignment for the insured claim of irreparably damaging a protected tree during construction. It seems as though the construction personnel, shall we say, drifted across the tree barricades and smacked a protected tree but good. The government arborist cited code violations and a six-figure number for mitigation. There were pictures. […]