Articles by Expert Witnesses

Renowned nationwide banking expert witness Don Coker explains some important issues that impact Electronic Funds Transfer Act litigation over missing ATM stickers or decals.

How to establish and effectively demonstrate for litigation the various elements of Economic Damages that resulted from the BP Deepwater Horizon Explosion & Oil Discharge is explained by renowned nationwide Banking & Economic Damages Expert Witness Don Coker who was chosen to serve as the economic damages expert witness for the 900 business owners in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward and St. Bernard Parish and that were damaged by the Ingram Barge’s Industrial Canal breach during Hurricane Katrina.

How to recognize, establish and effectively demonstrate Economic Damages in litigation is explained by renowned nationwide banking and economic damages expert witness Don Coker who was chosen to serve as the economic damages expert witness for the 900 business owners in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward and St. Bernard Parish and that were damaged by the Ingram Barge’s Industrial Canal breach during Hurricane Katrina.

The author, renowned nationwide banking expert witness Don Coker, provides an informed inside view on important and confusing issues that often arise in banking litigation and business litigation involving funds wire transfers by Fed Wire, CHIPS, SWIFT, Automated Clearing House transactions, and Electronic Funds Transfers, and how to handle them in litigation.

When calculating damages covering future periods, the future amounts must be reduced to present value to account for the time value of money. In the majority of cases, economic damage calculations in personal injury, wrongful death, and employment cases use discount rates that are too low. Consequently, the calculated damages pertaining to future periods are too high.

In August 2010, we summarized an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report that concluded the U.S. is broke. Last week the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued similar conclusions in its report on the Federal Government's Long-Term Fiscal Outlook.

State Attorneys General and other entities have filed class-action lawsuits against many mortgage investors and mortgage servicers over alleged foreclosure errors, alleged missing documents, alleged business practices that they do not like, mortgage loan modifications, and other matters. Renowned nationwide banking expert witness Don Coker explains some important issues that impact defending these class action lawsuits.

As baby boomers prepare for retirement, many are planning on future medical benefits from their employers. Unfortunately, many retirees will be disappointed to learn that these benefits can be changed or terminated. Studies indicate the number of companies with 200 or more workers offering retiree health insurance fell from 66% in 1988 to 33% in 2005. This article explores several key provisions of retiree medical benefits and associated ERISA guidelines.

The author, renowned nationwide banking and mortgage banking expert witness Don Coker, explains from a banker's and valuation professional's viewpoint how to analyze one of the major supporting issues that impacts Rating Agency Litigation involving mortgage-backed securities.

Personnel Policy Manuals are an important tool in guiding on duty and off duty behavior of your employees. Most Personnel Policy Manuals have not been revised for many years and may contain material not appropriate for today's workforce and out of compliance with current laws.

A renowned nationwide mortgage banking expert witness explains that mistakes occur in banking, like all businesses. When a missing documentation or foreclosure error is found, it should be corrected as quickly and accurately as possible. Like other businesses, banks follow established industry standard procedures utilizing the universal economic principle of division of labor in correcting documentation problems, and follow up with a ratifying, authorizing signature on the foreclosure documents.

The article will examine litigation arising from failed banks and the Gulf oil spill. These high profile cases involve catastrophes that are alleged to have been caused by risk management failures attributable to human error. The author will demonstrate how behavioral economics and a branch of study known as ‘decision making under risk and uncertainty’ is used to quantify human factor risks. The article was first published by the Institute of Continuing Legal Education on October 1, 2010.

This article discusses the "ins" and "outs" of fire loss investigation for the insurance industry discussing major fire loss investigation procedures - applicable also to smaller fire loss examinations. A focus upon preservation of subrogation potential and recovery is its major theme. A guiding document, NFPA 921, Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigation is discussed, as are the proper procedures when investigating a major fire loss. The author is a seasoned veteran in the field.

While the author has maintained a burglar alarm system for many years, he does not rely on this system as his sole protection source. There are many other actions that can be used to protect your home. Burglars will normally by pass homes that appear more challenging to gain access. Most access is made through doors and windows during daylight hours.

Since no two people write exactly alike, signatures are used for identification on legal and financial documents. However, some signatures are poorly written enabling others to successfully forge their signatures. This article offers suggestions to improve your signature so that it cannot be easily imitated.

Are Florida attorneys doing a disservice to Florida homeowners?

In an economic downturn, many companies begin to encounter issues with their primary lenders as a result of financial losses and diminishing liquidity.

Most news regarding the armored car industry is the result of news media covering robberies or truck crashes. This article provides insight into this little known industry and the men and women who risk their lives daily transporting and guarding valuables.

Far too many churches in our country provide little or no physical security for parishioners. I believe that this lack of security is due to concern that a security program will create unnecessary alarm for parishioners. Many church leaders believe that a security incident will not occur at their church.

Customers are using tamper evident deposit bags thinking that if these bags are compromised, tell tale signs are evident. When a tamper evident bag is compromised, a marking such as VOID should appear on various parts of the bag; the type of marking varies. If these markings do not appear, the bag is considered uncompromised when in fact a poorly designed bag may not reveal that the bag was indeed compromised. The absence of industry standards adds to the confusion.

Casinos are the most sophisticated industry when it comes to customer identity issues and fraud control. Banks can learn from some of their techniques.

Having worked as a fraud-reduction consultant for many years, the author finds many banks have opportunities to strengthen their anti-fraud programs.

In this article, the author writes about premise liability and the responsibilities of homeowners to protect the public by maintaining their property in a safe, hazard free condition. The same responsibility to protect the public has been increasingly extended to trees and hazardous conditions they represent. Are your trees creating a legal liability?

The recent lack of an effective fire fighting response to a house fire in the rural area surrounding the city of South Fulton (Obion, Tennessee) has created a national fire storm of discussion related to rural fire protection, the moral obligation of the firefighters and how to pay for these services.

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), the federal law that governs private pension, group life, and health plans, requires that plan participants receive a document known as a summary plan description ("SPD"). Although the SPD must be drafted in accordance with two Department of Labor regulations, it does not have to be called "The Summary Plan Description." This article describes the general content and distribution requirements of the summary plan description.

The now-finalized form is required in 2010. We provide the background, changes, potential solutions (for some), and the remaining difficult legal privilege issues.

This week, President Obama signed the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010. The law contains $12 billion of tax decreases & increases, and creates a $30 billion Small Business Lending Fund that allows the Treasury Department to make capital investments in smaller banks.

The author, renowned nationwide banking expert witness Don Coker, explains some important issues and banking industry standard policies, procedures, and practices that impact bank garnishment litigation.

Is there a way to reliably determine impairment due to marijuana consumption?

It is no secret that power supply related patent disputes can be highly lucrative. And it is not hard to see why - power supplies are ubiquitous. If you are thinking of filing a patent infringement suit, I invite you to consider the intellectual property related to power supplies.

There has been a lot of controversy and discussion about diversity in the fire service. Some fire service authors have indicated that we have too much diversity; others that we don’t have enough diversity; and still other that there is room for all at the table.

COBRA is widely known to both employees and employers as a way to provide continued health insurance coverage when a period of employment ends. Many people do not realize that COBRA is actually an acronym for the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, passed by Congress in 1986, and not an acronym related specifically to the language of employee benefits. The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) was amended with the passage of COBRA.

Because the cost of a lawsuit is so steep, make sure your "horse transaction" is memorialized with a lawyer-prepared, well-written contract.

The author explains some important issues that impact the Mark to Market debate taking place today.

Recognizing Forgeries in Land Documents.

The author discusses the challenges created by the economic downturn and ongoing drought in California. Property owners, businesses, homeowner associations and property managers have reduced or eliminated budgets for landscape design, renovation, construction and maintenance, and are having to make decisions on their own. He introduces a simplified method called Horticultural Design for those going it on their own.

The author describes sectional scaffolding in which his expertise is essential for the attorney in determining causation of injuries suffered by workers.

Banking consultant, former high-level governmental banking regulator, and renowned banking expert witness consultant Don Coker explains some important economic substance and banking issues in CARDS tax shelter litigation.

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ("ERISA") was enacted by Congress to protect the retirement funds of hard working Americans. While the law does not require an employer to offer a pension plan, it does set minimum federal standards and reporting requirements for corporations, unions, and other entities that choose to provide employees with a retirement or benefit plan. Read the full story for details.

If you have a suspicious document or handwriting, any or all of these clues should alert you to the need for a document examiner.

There are good reasons to carefully select the right scaffolding for your project, probably the least important of which is the cheapest bid for the supply and its erection. What follows is based upon many years of experience in the design, fabrication and erection of this equipment.

This article looks at the trends of Cities and Town's looking to reduce the cost of providing services to the community targeting public safety.

Q: Is it possible to differentiate between lightning related surges and artificially generated electrical surges?

Continuing his monthly expert witness publication, Jeremy Rappoport, President and founder of Rappoport Development Consulting Services LLC discusses the importance of impartiality governing the decision to represent defendant or plaintiff cases.

Electricity may be, correctly or incorrectly, a source of a liability claim.

After most industrial accidents insurance compensates their victims with workers' compensation paying medical bills and wages. There is no tort liability of the employer even if he is guilty of negligence.

Electrical accidents create personal injuries which are the subjects of attorneys' lawsuits. Expert witnesses reconstruct these accidents for lawyers and establish their liabilities. Among these accidents are electric shocks, electrocutions, electrical explosions, electrical fires, and flash burns. Lawyers are particularly interested in product liability cases. This lawyer's tutorial explains the basics of electrical accidents as an introduction to dealing with expert witnesses.

This article explores the reasons or motivations behind firefighters setting fires, and what is missing in the recruitment, hiring, testing and training process that allows these individuals to become members of our profession.

The term “other post employment benefits” refers to a type of deferred compensation. Certain specified non-pension benefits are promised after the employee retires or leaves a company, in exchange for their current service.

In order to pay for health care benefits, the scope of Form 1099 was considerably extended. Effective for payments made after December 31, 2011, practically all business transactions will require 1099 reporting. We provide suggestions for the considerable additional work and systems, which should be started soon.