Electrical Shock & Fires Expert Witnesses: 18

John Chip Corbin is a 40+ year electronic Subject Matter Expert, Expert Witness and Technical Consultant providing Services to both Plaintiff and Defense.

His Specialty is Disputes & Litigation Involving "Smart Home" Technology such as Crestron, Lutron, AMX, Control4 and others.  Also Electrical Construction Defect and Personal Injury due to Technology.

Licensed as C7 & C10 (High and Low Voltage Systems) Contractor in the state of California since 1988 and Technical Expert Witness since 2010 with projects across the U.S. and Europe.

Areas of practice are Low-Voltage Communication, Entertainment, Automation, Lighting and Control Systems in mainly Luxury Homes.

Areas of Expertise Include:

View Consulting Profile.

Henry W. Stormer, IAAI-CFI(V), CFPS, is the President / National Manager for VERTEX FIRE INVESTIGATIONS LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of The VERTEX COMPANIES LLC. His responsibilities include management of a forensic fire investigation team conducting Fire Origin and Cause Investigations nationwide for the insurance industry.

Mr. Stormer has over 37 years of experience investigating in excess of 2,300 fires and explosions both in the public (25 years) and private sectors (12 years). He is a Certified Fire Investigator through the IAAI and a Certified Public Fire and Life Safety Instructor, with both certifications recognized by the National Board on Fire Service Professional Qualifications. He is also a Certified Fire Protection Specialist through the NFPA.

Litigation Support - Mr. Stormer has served as an expert witness and is actively engaged in several legal cases related to property damage, product liability, personal injury, and criminal activity. Mr. Stormer's legal support activities have included depositions, interrogatories, mediation, arbitration, and trial testimony.

Areas of Expertise:

Mr. Stormer is currently licensed as a Private Investigator, Manager in: AL, CT, DE, FL, IN, KY, MD, MA, MI, NH, NJ, NY, OH, SC, TX, VT, WV with reciprocal licensing in: AL, CA, GA, LA, NC, TN and VA.

Since 1988, Real-World Forensic Engineering, LLC ("RWFE") has provided engineering services to industries and government labs, as well as litigation support to both plaintiff and defense attorneys practicing in many areas.

RWFE Areas of Expertise Include:

At RWFE, we proudly distinguish ourselves by our Four C's:

CREDENTIALS. COMPETENCE. CREDIBILITY. COMMUNICATION.

Design Evaluation – Accident Investigation – Intellectual Property - Failure Analysis – Fire Cause & Origin – Component Testing - Computer Aided Drafting – Accident Animation - Expert Witness & Litigation Support

www.ExpertEngineering.com

Rapperport Associates, Inc., provides exceptional capability in Failure Analysis, Fire and Explosion Investigation, Accident Reconstruction, Structural Analysis, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Metallurgy and Materials Science. We have provided superior technical support for litigation since 1974, and possess an extraordinarily talented technical team with impeccable academic and industrial credentials and proven analysis capability. Our team of distinguished scientists and engineers is drawn principally from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) and Stanford University. 

AREAS OF EXPERTISE:

Engineering

• Mechanical
• Structural / Civil
• Metallurgy
• Materials Science
• Aeronautics and Astronautics
• Electrical

Dr. J. P. Purswell, PhD, PE, CPE has extensive experience in Human Factors, Ergonomics, and Safety Engineering. He holds a doctorate in Industrial & Systems Engineering from Virginia Tech. He has taught Safety Engineering and Ergonomics in the Industrial Engineering Department at CSU-Pueblo since 1999. 

A member of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society and the American Industrial Hygiene Association, Dr. Purswell also served as the Chair of the Industrial Engineers PE exam from 2005 to 2009. He continues to serve on the committee which is responsible for the preparation of the national professional engineering examination in industrial engineering. 

Dr. Purswell is the author of more than 20 publications and presentations on Product Safety, Occupational Safety, Printed Warnings, and Auditory Warnings. Examples of products addressed include silica, asbestos, cleaning chemicals, gasoline containers, and recreational equipment. Dr. Purswell maintains NIST-calibrated equipment for the measurement of light, sound, force, and whole-body and hand-arm vibration in addition to standard photo and video equipment. 

Litigation Support - An Expert Witness in the legal industry since 1997, Dr. Purswell has been qualified as an expert in state and federal courts across the nation in safety engineering, including safety analysis techniques such as Fault Tree Analysis and FMEA as well as product warnings / instructions and OSHA compliance issues. His services include site inspections, document review, drafting Rule 26-compliant reports, deposition, and trial testimony. He has been retained by attorneys for both Plaintiff (40%) and Defense (60%) more than 100 times, has been deposed approximately 50 times, and has testified at trial over 20 times. 

Areas of Expertise:

View Dr. Purswell's Consulting Profile.

Mari S. Truman, PE, has more than 40 years of experience in Orthopedic Product Design and Development. As Principal Engineer with her company, Orthobiomech, LLC, she acts as an R&D design and development consultant to the orthopaedic industry and an injury biomechanics and medical device forensic expert. Ms. Truman's design experience includes implants and instrumentation systems used to repair fractured bones, torn ligaments and/or to reconstruct spine, knee, wrist, hip, ankle, elbow, thumb based cmc, and other finger and toe joints for many of the USA based orthopaedic conglomerates and a few Asian, Australian and European firms. Having designed and developed implants and instruments used for both human joint reconstruction and skeletal trauma repair, Ms. Truman is named on 12 Orthopaedic Patents and frequently gives talks on implant design and injury biomechanics on topics such as: knee and thumb-based joint surfaces and kinematics, joint design, rapid prototyping, medical device design control, and injury biomechanics. Litigation Support - Ms. Truman has been providing Forensic Impact and Injury Biomechanics and Orthopedic Biomechanics to the legal industry for over 15 years. She draws on her strong knowledge of FDA and ISO EN13485 compliant design control processes, failure modes and effects analysis, clinically relevant tissue loading, and design safety assurance, including device performance requirements and warnings, during her medical device litigation reviews. Ms. Truman has a strong knowledge of the production and quality assurance processes used in the manufacture, cleaning, and sterilization of medical devices and the effects of such processes on product performance. Analysis of Traumatic Injuries Related To:

View OrthoBioMech LLC's Consulting Profile.

John Miller, CFI, CFEI, CVFI, ECT Fire Capt. (Ret.), is a Certified Fire Investigator, Explosion Investigator, Vehicle Investigator, and Evidence Collection Technician licensed in California. He has 29 years in the fire service, over 24 years in the private sector, and 3 years as a major city fire investigator. Mr. Miller has investigated over 2,500 fires. He started in the fire service in 1972. 

Litigation Support - Over the courses of his career, Mr. Miller has handled over 18,000 pieces of evidence. His services include retrieving, transporting, and storing evidence (evidence examination facility available.) He works with public and federal defender offices and is NFPA 921 & 1033 compliant.

As of October 2022, Mr. Miller has been retained in 10 Defense cases, 7 Plaintiff cases: 5 Criminal cases, 12 Civil cases, and 7 trials. He recently participated in a 1.7 million dollar court case with a unanimous decision in his client's favor. See Case List.

Areas of Expertise:

• Fire Investigation
• Arson
• Fraud
• Insurance Subrogation

Background Information - Since 1998, Mr. Miller has served as President of JMI, INC., conducting fire investigations in California. Prior to that, from 1980-2000, he worked as a fire investigator and ultimately Fire Captain with the Sacramento City Fire Department.

Mr. Miller also served with the United States Air Force from 1972-1979 as a firefighter, crew chief, and dispatcher, in charge of extinguisher maintenance at Mather. He worked at McClellan, Mather, and Kunsan, Korea Air Force bases.

Certifications:

• Certified Fire Investigator by the International Association of Arson Investigators
• Certified Fire Investigator by the California Conference of Arson Investigators
• Certified Fire Investigator California State Fire Marshal's Office
• Certified Evidence Collection Technician by the International Association of Arson Investigators
• Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator by the National Association of Fire Investigators
• Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator by the by the National Association of Fire Investigators
• Certified Vehicle Fire Investigator by the National Association of Fire Investigators
• Certified Evidence Collection Technician by the International Association of Arson Investigators
• NFPA 921 & 1033 Compliant
  

View JMI Fire Investigation's Consulting Profile.

The four PhD and registered PEs at Miller Engineering are celebrating 40 years of Professorships at three universities along with providing services to Government, Insurance, and Industry—through research, publications, presentations, and expert testimony. We have a dedicated office with a full time staff of engineers, researchers, and technical writers. The span of our collective academic and experiential expertise covers well the Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical, Agricultural, Industrial, Human Factors, Ergonomic and Safety fields of engineering. The areas listed below are from actual projects completed in our 40 years of history. 

Auto • Airbag • Bicycle • Boating • Bus • Chair Design / Safety / Failure • Diving and Drowning • Electrocution and Shock • Elevator • Escalator • Fires and Explosions • Forklift • Gate • Golf Cart • Highway Design and Safety • Ladder • Law Enforcement • Lighting & Illumination • Loading Dock • Metallurgy • Motorcycle • Paintgun • Playground Safety • Press • Ramps • Rollercoaster • Safety Guards • Scaffolding • Seatbelts • Slip / Trip and Fall • Spas • Stairs • Swimming Pool Design and Safety • Tractors • Trailers • Trucks • 3D Scans

A Licensed Professional Engineer in 11 states, John Averrett specializes in Electrical Shock / Electrocution, Utilities, Lightning Strikes, and Grounding cases involving death, personal injury, industrial equipment failure, vehicular accidents, fire cause/origin, contract, and construction disputes. 

Areas of practice include: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, Kentucky, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas; other states by comity. 

John Averrett is Executive Vice President of Goodwyn Mills & Cawood headquartered in Montgomery, AL. He has more than 25 years' experience in plan development for governmental, municipal, industrial and commercial clients and is currently coordinating a group of twelve other electrical engineers and designers. In addition to his design efforts, Mr. Averrett's experience includes work with electric utilities that includes transmission, sub-stations, and distribution; work with investigating lightning strikes; work with investigating grounding insufficiencies; and work analyzing and providing solutions for arc flash hazards.

Litigation Support - Mr. Averrett offers expert witness services to attorneys representing plaintiff and defendant. He provides site review, thorough reporting, deposition, and trial testimony as needed nationwide.

Envista Forensics is a global leader in Forensic Engineering & Recovery Solutions. They provide Cause & Origin, Failure Analysis, Fire and Explosion Investigations, Accident Reconstruction, Damage Evaluations and Equipment Restoration Services following disasters of all kinds. Envista has offered Consulting Services to the insurance, legal and risk management industries, as well as businesses, public entities, and universities for over 25 years.

Their Experts travel globally from 30 offices located across the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the U.K., Australia and Singapore. Envista's experience counts when equipment, systems, structures, or data have been threatened by catastrophe or litigation. Their experts and advisors determine cause and responsibility, and identify the nature and extent of damage or loss and provide a full range of solutions to protect their assets.

Envista's technical professionals are trusted advisors and industry leaders. Their expertise is broad and deep, capable of withstanding all forms of scrutiny. Envista's services are available globally so that certainty is assured no matter where in the world it is needed. As the recovery from disasters has grown more complex, Envista has developed a comprehensive array of services to help their clients and has associates located around the globe to provide assurance no matter the type of loss or location of the disaster. Envista helps attorneys quickly get to meaningful answers on the many technical issues at the center of a dispute. Their engineers have decades of experience working with both defendants and plaintiffs.

They offer effective Expert Witness Testimony, with the ability to communicate effectively, build rapport with juries and judges, and maintain adherence to structured, methodical approaches in drawing conclusions are all extremely critical. Envista Forensics understands how critical the selection of an expert can be, and we understand what makes experts effective. Their court qualified experts have extensive experience providing expert testimony on a wide variety of engineering and technical matters.

Areas of Expertise:

View Envista's Consulting Profile.

H. Landis “Lanny” Floyd II, PE, CSP, CMRP, CRL, CESCP, Life Fellow IEEE, has over 45 years of experience in Electrical Safety in the Workplace. His work has advanced the application of Human Factors Engineering, Electrical Technology, and Safety Management Systems in preventing occupational electrical injuries. Mr. Floyd retired from DuPont in 2014, holding the positions of Principal Consultant - Electrical Safety & Technology, and Global Electrical Safety Competency Leader. 

Click here for my current CV

Background Experience - For the past 35 years, Mr. Floyd focused on electrical safety in the construction, operation, and maintenance of industrial and commercial facilities worldwide for DuPont. This included safety management systems, competency renewal, work practices, and the application of technologies critical to electrical safety performance. From 1992 to 2014, he led the team that designed and facilitated implementation of a strategy for continuous and sustainable improvement in occupational electrical safety for DuPont Global Operations. This work enabled breakthrough performance in prevention of serious injuries and fatalities from electrical energy in DuPont facilities worldwide. In 2013, Mr. Floyd was invited to join the faculty at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he teaches in the Advanced Safety Engineering and Management Master of Engineering degree program. 

Litigation Support - Mr. Floyd has been providing expert witness services and litigation support for over 10 years. His expertise is available to counsel representing both plaintiff and defendant. Mr. Floyd's services include consulting, site inspections, testing, reports, depositions, and trial testimony when necessary. 

Areas of Expertise:

View Lanny Floyd's Consulting Profile.

Robert C. Hoffman Jr, PE, CFEI, is a licensed Professional Engineer certified as a Fire and Explosion Investigator. With 30 years of experience, the primary focus of his knowledge is a deep understanding and application of all aspects of Product Safety for the Consumer Goods Industry.

Background Experience: For 27 years, Mr. Hoffman worked with the Whirlpool Corporation in various roles. He served the company as a Drum Sub-System Design/Development Engineer, a Laundry Product Approval Engineer, and Dryer Platform Structures Sub-System Leader and Engineer. His final position with the company before retirement was Principal Engineer, a position he served in for 8 years. 

Mr. Hoffman's primary areas of specialization are Heat / Combustion Containment strategies, and Electrical System Design strategies in expected customer abnormal use.  His involvement in field investigation evaluations and product liability support allow him to understand how products react in the field and produce both relevance safety tests and design solutions.

Litigation Support: Mr. Hoffman works as an expert witness with clients needing to understand if a product in the field has some type of design or manufacturing defect, as well as clients needing support to defend their product against a potential field hazard allegation. His background in statistics and presentation of data allows him to take complex situations and break the information down into simple, yet accurate assessments of the situation.

Mr. Hoffman's services include product failure mode and effects analysis, root cause investigations, thorough reporting, depositions, and trial testimony as needed.

Areas of Expertise:

View Robert C. Hoffman's Consulting Profile.

" WHO IS AN EXPERT?
ONE WHO HAS ACQUIRED COMPREHENSIVE SPECIFIC EDUCATION,
ADVANCED AND CONTINUING TRAINING, AND EXTENSIVE SPECIFIC
EXPERIENCE TO GAIN THE KNOWLEDGE AND AUTHORITATIVE ABILITIES
REPRESENTING THE MASTERY OF THE SPECIFIC FIELD AND OF THE SUBJECT."

Nation Wide and International Expertise.

Timothy G. Galarnyk: Educated in Construction and Safety.  Continued Training in Construction and Safety. More than 45 Years of HANDS-ON Field Experience. Actively involved in construction since 1976. Equipment operator, member of International Union of Operating Engineers since 2004, Certified by ATSSA in Construction Work Zone Traffic Control - MUTCD since 1988. More than 1,000 Incidents Independently Investigated. 

Traffic Crashes in Construction Work Zones - Related to MUTCD Compliance. CERTIFIED by ATSSA in Work Zone Traffic Control since 1988. 

Construction Risk Management, Inc., is a corporation with experts in construction safety, structure collapses, construction means and methods, and construction work zone traffic control.  Investigation focuses on:

Bridges, Buildings, Residential, Industrial, Commercial, High-Rises, Marine, Highways, Underground, Water, General and Subcontractor Issues

Litigation Support - We conduct Forensic Investigations of Construction Accidents / Injuries / Deaths to establish the Cause. What happened? How did it happen? Where and When did it happen? Why did it happen? Who is Responsible? Depositions and Trial Experienced. State and Federal Courts. Defense and Plaintiff - Makes no difference as the case facts and evidence rules. 

Areas of Expertise (include but not limited to):

Randy Clarksean,  PhD, PE, CFEI, CFII, is a Mechanical Engineer with over 30 years of engineering experience on a wide range of Mechanical and Thermal Systems. Specializing in Failure Analysis and Forensic Engineering, he has over 40 engineering conference and journal publications.

Dr. Clarksean is a Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator (CFEI), registered Professional Engineer (PE Idaho), and Certified Fire Investigation Instructor (CFII). He has extensive experience in the application of engineering analysis techniques for new designs or the analysis of system failures. Analysis experience includes hand calculations and spreadsheets all the way to complex three-dimensional heat transfer, fluid mechanics, and structural analysis.

Litigation Support - Dr. Clarksean offers expert witness services to attorneys for plaintiff and defendant. Services include thorough review, depositions, and trial testimony as needed. Types of cases have included personal injury, design defects, patent infringement, trade secrets, and insurance subrogation. Forensic investigations have included the review and application of engineering standards to numerous different systems (pipelines, irrigation systems, pressure vessels, HVAC systems, lithium-ion battery fires, etc.).

Areas of Expertise: