Role of an Expert in a Court System Experts must earnestly try to be impartial in identifying and interpreting complicated data thrown up by the complexity of modern science and technology to help the courts Ideally, if courts pay the expert witness, the expert will become totally unbiased. But it is a very costly issue…
Aims of a Legal System is To administer a complex system of legal rights that define legal justice achieved through adversarial relationships, with rules about admissible forms of evidence and permissible forms of testimony
The expert witnesses must Not divulge their investigations unless called upon to do so by the court Not volunteer evidence favorable to the opponent Answer questions truthfully when opposing attorney puts forth pertinent questions But he should not just be the client’s mouthpiece.
They should present their qualifications to the client Investigate thoroughly the cases entrusted to them. Testify in court
1. Types of Cases I. Airplane crash II. Defective products III. Personal injury IV. Property damage V. Traffic accident 2. Stakes I. Legal liabilities II. Economic interests III. Reputations of corpns. and professionals
They should function as impartial seekers of facts & Communicators of truth but not as hired guns i.e. advocates for lawyers, officials, etc.
Engineers, in their position as experts, explain the happenings of the past in terms of Causes of accidents, malfunctions of equipment and other technological events. They also help in events of the future like, public planning, potential of patents and policy making (in technology)
1. Define how risks are to be apportioned and payment of fees to be made 2. Make contractual provisions for dispute solving vehicles to avoid legal battles in lines of mediation – arbitration 3. Mediator attempts to resolve first and if it fails, the arbitrators’ decision should be final. 4. National Joint Board for settlement of Jurisdictional Disputes will…
• Large projects involve owners, consultants and contractors and many participants at various levels in these three organizations. • Overlapping responsibilities, fragmented control, delays and inability to resolve disputes are some of the problems encountered during these projects. • Resolving disputes becomes especially difficult when projects last for several years and connected personnel also change during this period….
Consulting engineers have greater freedom with wider areas of responsible decision making compared to salaried engineers. This creates special difficulties for consulting engineers. In ‘design-only’ projects, consultants do not have any role in the construction or implementation as per the design specs. Ideally, only the designer would really know the areas of difficulty in execution….