Fire & Fire Safety Expert Witnesses: 9

Kevin J. LaMalva, PE, has over 13 years of experience as a Fire and Structural Engineering consultant with dual US registration in both Fire Protection Engineering and Civil Engineering. 

Complementing his consulting work, Mr. LaMalva is a member of numerous industry committees, including ASCE/SEI, SFPE, ICC, NIST, NFPA, and others, which conduct research and develop standards for structural fire safety. He has also become a leader for the development and proliferation of structural fire engineering in the US, notably as editor of the ASCE Manual of Practice No. 138, and as principal investigator and industry champion of the ASCE/CPF Structural Fire Design Guide.

For his work in structural fire safety, Mr.LaMalva was awarded the distinction of ENR Newsmaker for serving the "best interests of the construction industry and the public." As a fire protection and structural engineer, he has the tools and dedication to deliver more efficient and economical designs while also providing more intrinsically-safe structures to fire.

Litigation Support: Mr. LaMalva has served as an expert witness on several cases involving fire cause and origin, fire sprinkler system failures, fire/life safety, building codes, and occupant access pertaining to serious trip / fall accidents. Mr. LaMalva's services include investigation, thorough reporting, depositions, and trial testimony as needed.

Areas of Expertise:

Fire Protection Engineering Structural Engineering Civil Engineering Fire Safety Fire Investigation

Fire / Explosion Evacuation Analysis Fire Sprinkler Systems Fire/Life Safety Fire Building Codes

Dale Wheeler is licensed in Fire Protection and Safety Engineering, and is certified in Basic Code Enforcement / Building Inspection by the Building Officials and Code Administrators (BOCA). He is published on fire safety in Atrium Buildings and in Exhibition Halls. Mr. Wheeler's Areas of Expertise include:

• Fire Protection System Design, installation and operation:
  - Fire detection
  - Smoke detection
  - Fire alarm
  - Central Station
  - Sprinkler systems
  - Fire suppression systems
  - Smoke control
• Fire and Smoke Barriers
• Building Code, Life Safety Code, and Fire Code Compliance
• Fire Hazard, Building Materials, Fire Resistance Ratings
• Fire Cause and Origin
• Arson
• Means of egress, egress signage, emergency lighting
• Forensic Fire and Fire Systems Investigation

Alan J.  Robinson brings over 35 years of Security / Law Enforcement experience to the  security, safety, fire safety, emergency management field. Mr. Robinson is a former Supervisor, Protection Services for Disney-ABC, Inc. in New York, where he coordinated the security of millions of dollars in equipment for both Reagan Presidential Inaugurations. While at Disney-ABC, he was credited with creating the first hostage negotiation training class after an incident at ABC News in Washington, D.C.

Background Experience: For  the past 25 years, Mr. Robinson has been the Director of Protection and Security Services/Emergency  Management for Atlantic Health System; a hospital system based in New Jersey where he manages: Public Safety and Security, Fire/Life Safety, Emergency  Management, Investigations, and Special Events for a healthcare system that approximately 10 million square feet of physical plant and campus, spread  throughout New Jersey.

Mr. Robinson directly and indirectly manages over one-hundred (100) security  officers, investigators, fire safety officers, emergency management officers, and contract law  enforcement officers. He has successfully navigated numerous external agency regulatory compliance  surveys including those from the “Joint Commission,” State Department of Health, New Jersey Office of Homeland Security, and New Jersey Office of  Counter-Terrorism.

Litigation Support: Mr. Robinson has been retained to provide consultation, security analysis, and security expert witness testimony by plaintiff and  defendant in a wide variety of civil suits. He is available to consult and testify in matters concerning:

Premises Liability Inadequate Security Negligent Security

Crime Foreseeability Private Security Officer Training Security Industry Standards

Areas of Expertise

Workplace Violence Prevention and Investigation · Public Safety & Security · Emergency Management · Preventing Infant Abduction · Child Predator Protection · Narcotic Diversion Investigations · Multi-Facility Management · Asset Protection · Hospital Security · Continuous Process Improvement · Crisis Event Management

View Risk and Threat Analysis Management, LLC's Consulting Profile.

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:

Failure Analysis Structural Design Analysis Metallurgical Failures Finite Element Stress Analysis Fracture and Fatigue Analysis Scanning Electron Microscopy Corrosion

Accident Reconstruction Automobiles / Trucks Biomechanics / Injury Mechanism Off-Road Vehicles Occupant Motion Aircraft Animation

Fire & Explosion Analysis Cause and Origin Electrical Gases, Liquids and Dust Industrial Processes

Safety Machine and Industrial Safety Machine Guarding Construction Failures Slips, Trips, Falls

Engineering

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

Management and Homeland Security

Dr. Hargreaves is a Brazilian emergency physician, holding an MA in Security Management (Webster University) and an MS in Political Science with a focus in International Terrorism. His passion for the field of Crisis and Disaster Preparedness having been engaged for some years as Director of the Medical Department at the Brazilian House of Representatives as well as the Emergency Coordinator of the Special Operations Unit.

His previous experience extends to planning and managing emergency response operations, disaster preparedness and homeland security, including five presidential inaugurations, mass gathering, sporting and entertainment events involving many celebrities and some official visits by Heads of State and other authorities. 

In the Academic field, Dr. Hargreaves has lectured at different Universities and worked as a speaker in many conferences abroad. He also has many years of experience as a Professor and Academic Coordinator for several Graduate programs. He is the author of various books and articles in the field of disaster preparedness, crisis management, and Homeland Security. 

Core Competencies:

Emergency and Disaster Preparedness Crisis Management Event Safety & Security Homeland Security / CBRNE Multicultural Team Integration

Online Education Public Safety Organizational Security Political Science

Languages Spoken: Portuguese, English, Spanish, French (Basic) and Italian (Basic).

Areas of Expertise:

Crisis Management Public Safety Emergency Preparedness Disaster Preparedness, Response and Recovery Health Care and Hospital Management

Hospital Disaster Plan Security Event Emergency Planning for Mass Gathering Events Disaster Preparedness

John F. Leyenberger, CSP, CPCU, ARM, Principal Consultant at Centerline Risk Solutions, LLC, is a National Safety Board Certified Safety Professional with over 25 years of Retail Safety and Consulting experience. For 23 years, Mr. Leyenberger managed various aspects of Customer and Worker Safety for the world’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart-Stores, Inc.

Career Accomplishments:

• Responsible for managing health and safety programs, including 5,000 domestic retail facilities and International Health and Safety Compliance covering 26 countries with 6,200 retail facilities
• Impacted the OSHA ergonomic regulatory process and improved the guidelines for retail grocery stores by testifying and presenting to OSHA officials through trade associations
• Co-chaired industry work group including retailers and suppliers to establish global standards on product ingredient reporting within the Global Data Synchronization Network
• Consistently reduced customer and worker injury rate per million dollar sales over an eight year period resulting in a 52% improvement

Litigation Support - Mr. Leyenberger's experience includes being a fact witness or company representative for Walmart in over 80 depositions and 9 court trials, primarily involving Premises Liability and Product Safety cases. His services are available to attorneys representing both plaintiff and defendant.

Areas of Expertise:

Risk Management Safety Management Chemical Handling Environmental Health and Safety Root Cause Analysis Ergonomics Property Casualty Retail Premises Safety Accident Investigation and Cause Analysis

Falling Merchandise / Objects Display Safety / Top Stock Safety Slip, Trip, and Fall Incidents Logistics OSHA Safety Compliance / DOT Retail Safety Fire Safety Product Safety Workplace and Customer Injury Prevention

View John Leyenberger's Consulting Profile.

Gregory J. Cahanin, CP works in the Fire Protection Engineering field. Over 40 years of experience in the application of sound engineering principles work to produce results in litigation cases. He is nationally recognized as a Life Safety and Fire Protection expert. He performs fire origin and cause, fire alarm, fire sprinkler, kitchen suppression, fire wall and compartmentation failures, and slip and fall forensic investigations. Gregory J. Cahanin Fire & Code Consulting has been based in St. Petersburg, FL for over 25 years.

Background - Mr. Cahanin served as a Senior Life Safety Engineer with the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), the organization that writes Fire Protection Codes and Standards. He was staff liaison for building construction standards and the Fire Prevention Code. Special project work included support of the International Division of NFPA in a survey of fire protection for all oil production facilities of LaGoven SA in Venezuela; an evaluation of the existing airport terminal in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil; and a code comparison study for the National Institute of Building Sciences. Mr. Cahanin investigated multiple fatality fires for NFPA and his reports are nationally published and peer reviewed. Mr. Cahanin holds Professional Grade Membership in the Society of Fire Protection Engineers. Mr. Cahanin has earned three undergraduate degrees in Fire Science and Fire Protection and a Master in Public Administration.

Litigation Support - Mr. Cahanin regularly testifies in fire cases offering opinions on the origin and cause of fires in addition to component failures in construction, fire sprinkler systems, kitchen suppression systems and product failures. He is nationally published on fire protection requirements in the building code as a contributing editor on the 2006 edition of the International Building Code (IBC) Commentary where he edited the sections on fire-resistance rated construction. He currently serves on code committees with both the NFPA and ICC. Mr. Cahanin holds a NALA paralegal certification and is well versed in Civil Procedure, interrogatory, expert report writing, and trial procedures.

Mr. Cahanin meets the professional qualifications of NFPA 1033, Standard for Professional Qualifications for Fire Investigator as documented in a Florida Declaratory Statement held by no other fire expert in the state of Florida.

Investigations of note include the Warwick. R.I. Station Nightclub Fire in 2003 with 100 fatalities. In Wyatt v. Security Alarms Co., Inc. key testimony on the failure of a Viking automatic fire sprinkler established a product liability that resulted in a $1.4M dollar jury award for Wyatt in Oklahoma.

Mr. Cahanin's services are available to plaintiff and defendant attorneys. Case work can include site investigation, materials testing, thorough reporting, depositions, and trial testimony.

Areas of Expertise:

Fire Origin and Cause Determination Kitchen Fire Suppression Systems Fire Hazard Analysis Fire Sprinklers Fire-based Construction Defects CPVC Sprinkler Pipe Failure

Fire Walls and Compartmentation Life Safety Egress & Compliance Fire & Building Code Compliance Explosion Analysis and Cause Fire Alarm Failures Walking Surface Slip Trip & Fall

View Cahanin Fire & Code's Consulting Profile.

Experienced in Fire Cause and Origin, Arson Prosecution and Defense, Product Subrogation, Fire and Building Codes, Life Safety Codes, Fire Injuries and Fatalities, as well as Fire Department Operations and Management. 

John Michael Agosti & Associates provides assistance to insurance companies, attorneys and other agencies in the determination of cause and origin in fires and explosions. Our goal is to provide independent and articulate findings to you the client, quickly and accurately. 

With over 28 years of fire department experience and 15 years in the private sector, Mr. Agosti has completed over two thousand investigations of fires, explosions, and life safety incidents. He has testified in both federal and state courts for both plaintiff and defense clients.

PROPERTY MANAGEMENT EXPERT

• Depositions: 800+
• Mediations & Arbitrations: 100+
• Trial Testimony: 80 in 30 Superior Courts
• More than 10,000 properties inspected.

RETAINED BY 400 LAW FIRMS IN 30 STATES

• California, Florida, Texas, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Ohio
• Nevada, Arizona, Washington, South Carolina, North Carolina, Wisconsin
• Hawaii, Idaho, Alabama, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma
• Montana, Tennessee, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Georgia
• New Mexico, Indiana, Iowa, Alaska, Washington D.C., Virginia

STATES QUALIFIED & TESTIFIED 

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

• Standard of care; Custom & Practice 
• Building & Safety Codes Fair Housing Practices (FEHA), 
• Personal Injury (Slip, Trip & Fall)
• Premises Liability
• Slip, Trip & Fall
• Standard of Care
• Wrongful Death
• Fire Safety
• Landlord/Tenant
• Habitability, Health and Safety Codes
• HUD Housing (Section 8)
• American with Disabilities Act
• Senior Housing
• Discrimination

PROPERTY TYPES

• Multi-family Units Managed: 25,000
• Association, Hospitality, & Timeshare Units Managed: 100,000
• Associations Managed: 1,000
• Commercial Properties Managed: 1,250,000 sq.'
• Mobile Home & RV Spaces Managed: 3,800
• Single Family Units Managed: 3,500
• Commercial Property Inspections Performed: 900
• Association Property Inspections Performed: 3,600
• Parking lots & Parking Structures: Personal Injury; Snow & Ice