I came across a story this morning from the AP, “World Trade Center Design Flaw Could Cost Millions.” The accompanying photo depicted WTC 1 under construction at New York’s Ground Zero, having recently topped 90 stories of its eventual 104. . I work both in construction claims and forensic engineering, but predominantly the latter. So [...]

Claims consultants are something of an unusual breed. A good deal of our work involves reconstructing past (sometimes long-past) events, to help us advise our clients how best to proceed in construction disputes. While we don’t build or design anything, we can help preserve working relationships on jobs that are starting to go sideways, minimize [...]

Among the many hats I wear, one is “lapsed amateur musician.” Many years ago I was a pianist of decidedly modest ability, and am far from even that level today. Happily, my digital prowess is greatly exceeded by my love of music and I patronize performances whenever I can. I’m fortunate to have many performing [...]

Since shortly after the start of the Great Recession, virtually every project owner has welcomed – and in some cases dreaded – the extreme low-bid environment we see today. Unprecedented in living memory, bids 20 to 30 percent below the engineer’s estimate are quite commonplace. 40 percent is not all that rare, and 50 percent [...]

Long before I was a claims consultant, I drove nuclear submarines for a living. So I took more-than-usual interest in the USS Greenville incident which you might recall from about ten years ago.

Oliver Twist’s Mr. Bumble famously declared, “..the law is a ass” [sic]. I imagine that every expert witness – and even many lawyers - have felt this way from time to time. Historically, one of the expert’s main irritants has been Rule 26 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (“FR 26″ hereinafter). But help is [...]