Business Interruption Insurance Expert Witnesses: 10

BTI Appraisal is a broad-based appraisal company which provides a consistently high level of Real Estate Appraisals, Business Valuations, and Machinery and Equipment Appraisals for Business, Professional, Public and Private Sectors. When you choose BTI Appraisal, you benefit from a strong tradition of experience and accuracy.

 A corporate philosophy stressing efficiency and attentive service has made BTI a leader among independent appraisers. They are proud of their reputation for stability, responsiveness, and accomplishment in and out of the courtroom. At BTI, their seasoned staff of success oriented professionals treats each assignment with precise attention to detail, providing needed research and responsive service on a wide range of appraisal needs. 

Litigation Support - BTI’s Founder and Chairman, Ben F. Tunnell III, has headed the firm since 1974. Previously, he spent eight years with First Interstate Bank of California as vice president at their corporate headquarters in Los Angeles. He served on the board of arbitrators for both the American Arbitration Association and the Better Business Bureau. He has also been a Registered Investment Advisor and Broker/Dealer with the Securities and Exchange Commission and a licensed, California Real Estate Broker.

Mr. Tunnell is an ASA, the senior designation of the American Society of Appraisers, and a California Certified General Real Estate Appraiser #AG-6964. He has qualified and testified in Federal and Superior Courts, as well as in arbitration proceedings as an expert witness in Business Valuations, Real Estate, and Machinery and Equipment Appraisals.

View BCI's Consulting Profile.

Jane Marie Downey, M.Ed, ARM, has 35 years of experience in Risk Management and Property, Casualty, and Professional Liability Insurance. A well-known risk management consultant, leadership trainer, and frequent public speaker, she provides risk consulting, insurance broker management, outsourced risk management, insurance arbitration, as well as leadership and team training.  Background - Ms. Downey’s corporate experience includes risk management positions with IU International, PaineWebber Group, Inc., and The West Company. She also worked as an Account Executive in insurance brokerage with the Hobbs Group. She taught Risk Management at Temple University's Fox School and Crisis Management at Penn State's Graduate Program. She currently teaches Continuing Educations courses for agents and attorneys for the Institute of Strategic Educational Partners.

Litigation Support - Ms. Downey has provided expert opinions on policy language, coverage disputes, brokerage E&O and standard of care, risk control and risk management standard. She has successfully provided litigation support, testimony, depositions, certifcates of merit and expert opinions in over 60 legal actions. Ms. Downey Jane has represented both insureds and insurers and clients and brokers. 

Areas of Expertise:

Property Insurance Insurance Arbitration (ARIAS Trained) Insurance Carrier Bad Faith Broker / Agent Liability

Financial Institutions Coverage Directors and Officers Liability Insurance Pollution and Asbestos Liability Coverage Workers Compensation / Employers Liability Insurance

View Jane Downey's Consulting Profile.

CONSULTANT AND EXPERT WITNESS ON MATTERS REGARDING

• Insurance Industry Standards and Regulatory Compliance
• Good Faith / Bad Faith Claims Handling and Investigations
• Agent / Broker Errors and Omissions
• Insurance Underwriting Standards

FOUR DECADES OF LEGAL AND INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE

• Illinois Department of Insurance – Regulator and Head of Chicago Office
• Loyola University Chicago Law School - Insurance Law Professor
• Allstate Insurance Company - Property Claims Adjuster and Examiner
• Equitable Life Assurance Society - Life, Health, Property and Casualty Agent / Broker
• Insurance Committee for Arson Control – Legal Counsel and Executive Director

Janice A. Ramsay founded the law firm of Ramsay and Johnson, ALC in 1984. She merged her practice and that firm with Berger Kahn LLC in 1999. Since the late fall of 2007, she has primarily worked independently as an expert witness and consultant to other attorneys.

During her career, Ms. Ramsay has given advice on coverage questions, underwriting procedures, rescission rights, claims handling, and insurers legal and policy obligations. She is experienced with both commercial and personal lines policies. Ms. Ramsay is familiar with the business of insurance and the legal framework of that business and has performed the procedures that are unique to the claims process such as examinations under oath, and appraisals. She has drafted or revised insurance policies for several insurance companies and has handled coverage litigation.

Litigation Support - Ms. Ramsay has been retained in over 150 matters as an expert work during her law practice beginning as early as 1989. She has testified frequently in both deposition and trial on the standards and practices of the insurance industry. She has testified for insurers, insureds,brokers, and agents.

Types of Losses:

Fire Losses Organized Insurance Fraud Landslides Earthquakes Water Damage / Mold Defective Construction

Latent Defects Riots Acts of Civil Authority Business Interruption Suit Limitation Issues Mortgagee Rights

Speaking Engagements - Ms. Ramsay has frequently been a speaker and/or panelist for the Orange County Bar Association, PLRB Annual Conference, the Combined Claims Conference, and many more. She has also given in-house seminars for several insurers.

Jeffrey D. Diamond specializes in Insurance Coverage Disputes and Litigation. He has established his law firm as one of the premier Insurance Coverage law firms in the Metro Atlanta area on behalf of policyholders, as well as throughout the State of Georgia and, as he was initially admitted to the State Bar of California in 1978, he serves policyholders in California, as well.

In addition to his full time law practice, Mr. Diamond has served as an Adjunct Professor of Insurance Law since 1995 in both California and Georgia, having joined the Georgia State University College of Law faculty in 2009 as an Adjunct Professor of Insurance Law and, in 2012, he joined Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School in a similar capacity. 

Mr. Diamond is also a law instructor for the National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts (NACVA), a national educational organization which conducts continuing education programs for financial professionals across the country, teaching in NACVA’s Expert Witness Bootcamp program. Mr. Diamond has been an invited guest speaker on topics of interest at numerous insurance conferences throughout the country.

Over his 37 year career, Mr. Diamond has successfully represented policyholders, and formerly Insurance companies, in a wide variety of insurance coverage and bad faith actions including:

• Business Insurance Litigation
• Homeowners Insurance Litigation
• Construction Defect Litigation
• General Business Property and Liability Claims
• Long Term Disability Claims
• Life Insurance Claims

Litigation Support - Mr. Diamond's experience as an insurance litigator and insurance law professor allows him a unique perspective as an expert witness. His extensive knowledge of insurance law and keen insights into insurance policy interpretation, as well as the covenant of good faith and fair dealing under each State’s insurance related statutes and case law, make him an exceptional expert witness with regard to coverage and bad faith actions. 

Mr. Diamond's services are available to counsel for both Plaintiff and Defense. He has been retained more than 20 times for his expertise in matters regarding Bad Faith, First and Third Party Insurance Coverage, and Insurance policy Interpretation for the following:

Liability & Property Insurance Fire Insurance Life Insurance Business Insurance

Homeowners Insurance Automobile Insurance Disability Insurance

View Jeffrey Diamond's Consulting Profile.

Lezlee Liljenberg, CIC, CRIS, MLIS, PA, MA, entered the Insurance business in 2004 as she started her first agency from ground zero, growing the business to over $6 million in revenue in less than 12 years.

Ms. Liljenberg holds a BA in Journalism/Public Relations and a MA in Political Science/Public Administration from the University of Texas at Arlington. She is a Professional Financial Representative holding licenses as 6 & 63 Securities, a Property & Casualty Agent, Life & Health Agent, Risk Manager, Public Adjuster, and Texas Real Estate Broker.

She is well-known in the insurance and real estate industries for her responsiveness, knowledge, and professionalism in handling situations in both of these industries. Her 36 years of contractual knowledge is extensive and is strengthened by her years as a Commodity Electricity trader during Deregulation in 2001.

Litigation Support - Ms. Liljenberg provides Insurance Expert Witness services to attorneys representing plaintiff and defendant. She offers thorough reporting, depositions, and trial testimony as needed.

Areas of Expertise:

Insurance & Real Estate Agents Errors & Omissions Insurance & Real Estate Bad Faith Life & Supplemental Health Benefit Claims Personal Auto Homeowners Insurance Product Liability Insurance Commercial Auto Insurance Commercial General Liability Commercial Umbrella Professional Liability Insurance

Directors & Officers Liability Product Liability Employment Practices liability Business Interruption Flood Insurance Inland Marine Insurance Boiler & Machinery/Equipment Breakdown Farm & Ranch Owners Watercraft/Boats Personal Umbrella

Florida Office:
Andrew Avalon, PE, PSP
Chairman & CEO
8633 Willow Kane Court
Orlando, FL 32835
aavalon@long-intl.com
T: (407) 445-0825     F: (407) 650-3399

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Long International provides expert engineering and construction claims analysis, expert testimony, project management consulting, and insurance claims analysis services. We focus on projects in the following industries: building and construction; gas, gasification, GTL, LNG, and NGL; industrial and manufacturing; mineral and mineral processing; offshore oil and gas; oil sands; pipelines and utilities; power; refineries, petrochemical, and chemical; transportation; and water, wastewater, dams, and marine. We analyze claims, not limited to, disputed change orders, schedule delay, acceleration, time extensions, liquidated damages, loss of productivity, defective specifications, and deficient project management performance.

Richard J. Long, P.E., P.Eng., Founder of Long International, has over 50 years of U.S. and international consulting experience involving construction contract disputes analysis and resolution, arbitration/litigation support and expert testimony, project management, engineering/construction management, cost and schedule control, and process engineering. As an internationally recognized expert in the analysis and resolution of complex construction disputes for over 35 years, Mr. Long has served as the lead expert on over 300 projects having claims ranging in size from US$100,000 to over US$2 billion. He has presented and published numerous articles on claims analysis, entitlement issues, CPM schedule and damages analyses, cumulative impact claims, and claims prevention.

Rod C. Carter, CCP, PSP is President of Long International and has over 20 years of experience in construction project controls, contract disputes and resolution, negotiations, mediation, arbitration support, and expert testimony on scheduling, loss of productivity, and quantum issues.  He has experience in entitlement, schedule, and damages analyses on over 30 construction disputes ranging in value from US$100,000 to US$7 billion, related to oil and gas, oil refinery, LNG, heavy civil, nuclear, environmental, chemical, power, industrial, commercial, and residential construction projects. Mr. Carter specializes in loss of productivity, cumulative impact, and quantum calculations, and had a lead role in assessing damages on more than a dozen major disputes.  In addition, Mr. Carter has developed cost and schedule risk analysis models using Monte Carlo simulations to address the uncertainty of estimates and claims.

Scott M. Francis, P.E., PSP is a Vice President of Long International and has over 20 years of experience in project management, contract disputes analysis and resolution, CPM schedule preparation, execution, and analysis, productivity analysis, contract administration, design engineering, construction management, and government contracting.  He provides schedule development and assurance services, cost estimating, and claims analysis services on projects for both owners and contractors.  Specific responsibilities include CPM development and reviews, CPM schedule delay and acceleration analyses, change order impact analysis, issue identification, correlation of impacts to schedule activities, and productivity evaluations.

Joe L. Williams, CPCU, partner in Pozmantier, Williams & Stone Insurance Consultants, LLC, has over 55 years of experience as an Insurance Agent / Broker and Insurance Consultant. From 1970 until 2007, he was a principal shareholder in a large Houston firm, Wisenberg Insurance + Risk Management, and was Chairman and CEO when the firm was sold to a subsidiary of Wells Fargo Bank. One of the youngest people ever to receive the CPCU professional designation at the age of 23, Mr. Williams is very familiar with all phases of the insurance industry, including consulting on bad faith, customs and practices, and standards of care. He has particular expertise in property coverage, business interruption, non-subscription, and risk transfer techniques. Litigation Support - Mr. Williams provides expert services to counsel representing both Plaintiff and Defense. He offers objective opinions on the following matters:

• Agent / Broker Bad Faith
• Insurance Industry Customs & Practices
• Agent / Broker Standards of Care
• Coverage Terms and Conditions
• Agent / Broker Services
• Insurance Program Design
• Agency / Company Disputes
• Claims Management by Agent
• Insurance Agency Management

View Joe Williams' Consulting Profile.

David Stegall is the Principal Consultant and Founder of Risk Consulting & Expert Services since January 1, 2007. He has over 40 years of insurance, reinsurance, bond and risk management industry experience. He is a Chartered Property & Casualty Underwriter, an Associate in Risk Management, an Associate in Reinsurance and a Registered Professional Adjuster. He has experience as an underwriter, an agent, a broker, a surety bond producer, a reinsurer, a managing general agent, a third-party administrator, a captive manager, a selfinsured fund executive, a risk management consultant, an expert witness and has been retained as an arbitrator.

Mr. Stegall was President of the Society of Risk Management Consultants in 2017 and continues to serve on the Board of Directors. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Alabama Captive Association, a member of the Society of Chartered Property & Casualty Underwriters, the American Association of Insurance Management Consultants, the Society of Registered Professional Adjusters, ARIAS-US, Defense Research Institute, and an Associate Member of the American Bar Association – Tort, Trial and Insurance Section.

Expert witness testimony for complex litigation involving damage analyses of lost profits, reasonable royalties, lost earnings, and lost value of business, forensic accounting, fraud investigation, investigative analysis of liability, marital dissolution, and tax planning and preparation. Excellent communicators with extensive testimony experience. Prior Big Four accountants. Specialties include: accounting, antitrust, breach of contract, business interruption, business dissolution, construction defects, delays and cost overruns, fraud investigation, asset tracing, intellectual property including patent, trademark and copyright infringement and trade secrets, malpractice, marital dissolution, personal injury and employment litigation, product liability, real estate, securities, spousal support, taxation, unfair advertising, unfair competition, valuation of businesses, and wrongful termination.

Experts:

Business Litigation and Valuation Barbara Luna, PhD, CPA, CFE, ASA,     CVA, ABV, CGREA, CCRA, CREA Dean Atkinson, CPA, CFE, ABV, CAC, CFF John Luna, JD/MBA, CPA, ABV, CFF David Turner, CPA, ABV, CFF Drew Hunt, MBA, CPA, ASA

Personal Injury / Employment Litigation Barbara Luna, PhD, CPA, CFE, ASA,     CVA, ABV, CGREA, CCRA, CREA Venita McMorris, MA

Dr. Barbara Luna is the partner in charge of the commercial litigation department of White Zuckerman. She has been providing Forensic Accounting, Economic Damages, Valuation, and Expert Witness Services for the past 30 years and has testified in court over 450 times. She has a PhD in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University with application to Physics and Finance and a BA in Physics from Wellesley College. Barbara is a Certified Public Accountant, a Certified Fraud Examiner, an Accredited Senior Appraiser in Business Valuation, a Certified Valuation Analyst, Accredited in Business Valuation, a Certified General Real Estate Appraiser, and a Certified Financial Forensic. She previously was a partner with Coopers & Lybrand and has taught working capital management, business finance, forensic accounting and intermediate accounting at UCLA Graduate School of Management, California State University at Northridge and Pepperdine University.

Dean Atkinson is a partner in the commercial litigation practice of White Zuckerman. He has testified as an expert witness in Commercial Litigation and Family Law Matters and has been involved in Resolution and Settlement Negotiations since 1987. He holds credentials from the AICPA as a Certified Public Accountant, Accredited in Business Valuation and Certified Financial Forensics and from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. Dean is experienced and has qualified as an expert in business valuation, business litigation and family law matters.

John Luna is a partner in the commercial litigation practice of White Zuckerman. He analyzes Financial, Accounting, Economic Damages, Business, Real Estate and Valuation issues and testifies as an expert witness on his findings. He has been an investment banker with Macquarie Capital, GCA Savian and Lazard. John has a JD from UCLA School of Law (Order of the Coif), an MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management (Edward W. Carter Fellow), and an AB in Engineering Sciences from Harvard University. He is a Certified Public Accountant, Accredited in Business Valuation, a Certified Financial Forensic and a member of the California Bar.

Venita McMorris is a partner and an Economist in the Personal Injury and Employment practice of White Zuckerman. She has been providing economic damages and expert witness services for over 20 years and has testified extensively in court. She has a Master of Arts degree in Economics from California State University, Fullerton and a Bachelor of Arts degree from San Diego State University. She previously was a manager with Coopers & Lybrand and an economist with a medical malpractice trust in Southern California. Venita has taught macroeconomics and microeconomics to college students at Pasadena City College as a full-time tenured instructor and at Glendale Community College as a part-time instructor.

Los Angeles 15490 Ventura Boulevard, Suite 300 Sherman Oaks, CA 91403 Phone: (866) 981-4266 or (818) 981-4226 Fax: (818) 981-4278 Email: expert@wzwlh.com Website: www.wzwlh.com

Orange County 4 Park Plaza, Suite 200 Irvine, CA 92614 Phone: (949) 219-9816 Fax: (949) 219-9095 Email: expert@wzwlh.com Website: www.wzwlh.com