Consultant and Expert Witness, Electrical and Mechanical Accidents

& Product Liability

Lawrence Kamm, Electrical and Mechanical Engineer

I am a consultant and expert witness in cases of electrocution, electric shock, flash burn, electrical injury, other electrical and mechanical accidents, and product liability.

I work for both plaintiffs and defendants. ("I calls 'em as I sees 'em" and have no reluctance to reporting an unfavorable opinion to a client, although this usually loses me the client.) My testimony has won million dollar cases. So far I have successfully refuted every adversary expert.

I have testified in court and in many depositions, and have sometimes even visited the event site to examine objects not cleaned up or removed after the accident. Some articles are sent to my office for examination. Most of my clents require only a verbal or written opinion based on my analysis of documentary evidence in my office.

Evidence
www.ljkamm.com/evidence.htm

I am a consultant and expert witness, licensed in California, with cases in New York, Florida, North Carolina, Washington DC, Washington State, Maryland, Kentucky, Canada,Texas, Ohio, and California.

Phone me to discuss your case. Then you may send me a package of evidence and I will phone you an opinion. (No charge.) You may then decide whether or not to retain me as a consultant or expert witness.

Lawrence Kamm | 619-224-3494 | ljkamm@ljkamm.com

My CV
www.ljkamm.com/resume.htm

My Home Page
www.ljkamm.com/home.htm

Product Liability and Industrial Accidents
www.ljkamm.com/indust.htm

My patent cases
www.ljkamm.com/patexp.htm

Typical Expert Witness Cases In Which I Analyzed Causes And Responsibilities

  • Expert Witness Electrical Cases

  • Advice to the Forest Sevice regarding investigating the possibility of a fire having been started by electrical transmission lines.

  • Shocked fireman. I demonstrated that the shock was due to current forced through his gloves and coat by a 480 volt supply and I successfully refuted the arguments of both expert witnesses brought by defendant. Case settled.

  • Electric shock. Determining whether an electrical injury was faked or a valid Workers' Comp.case: I judged the relative plausibility of alleged malingering vs.alleged fall from electric shock startle.

  • Electrical explosion. Engineering analysis of the cause of a multiple explosion in high power electrical equipment which caused severe burns, using the written testimony of many unskilled witnesses, the oral testimony of some of them in court, and my technical knowledge about the equipment involved. The polled jury said that they understood my technical testimony and awarded $1.1 million. Deposition, Declaration, and court testimony in two trials.

  • Electrical fire. Engineering analysis demonstrating that an alleged cause of a fire, blaming a neon sign transformer, could not have caused the fire.I successfully refuted the adversary's expert testimony and demonstrated that it did not support his case. A $2.5 million case was settled for $30,000.

  • Electrocution from an electric drill. I demonstrated that the electrocution resulted from water ingested into the tool causing an electrical connection to the case and that dependance on a wide blade two prong plug was inadequate. Product liability case against the drill manufacturer was settled with a commitment to secrecy.

  • A second electrocution from the same kind of drill.

  • Electric shock from an electric drill. I examined the drill and found that the ground wire had not been properly connected to the drill body.

  • Flash burn of a backhoe operator who dug up a buried power cable. A short circuit caused by cut insulation created a power arc.

    Flash burn of an electrician replacing a fuse blown by a short circuit without checking to see if voltages had been switched off and the short repaired.

  • Analysis of an industrial fire. I visited the site and made electrical measurements of the defective device.

  • Cause of electrical fire in a utility pole transformer.

  • A repaired electric generator failed. I studied the records and reported my opinion that both sides failed to require an acceptance test of a repaired machine.

  • Telephone advice to a victim of electric shock on the preparation of her evidence.

  • Advice to a different victim of electric shock on the preparation of his evidence. Physical examination and photography of the defect in the responsible appliance.

  • Electrocution due to inadequate grounding of an electric tool.

  • Alleged electric shock. My opinion that a shock in the circumstances was impossible influenced a settlement.

  • Electric shock incurred during work on live wires. Based on the evidence, I told the plaintiff's lawyers that the plaintiff was working improperly and I could not give favorable testimony. We agreed to transfer me from expert to consultant and I gave them a tutorial on electric shock.

  • Electric shock through the head from a research instrument.

  • Electrocution. Boys electrocuted at play by touching a high voltage wire with a long metal pole.

  • Electrocution of a boat owner when connecting shore power to his boat using a damaged connector.

  • Consultation with a European engineer to analyze certain high voltage electrocutions.

  • Report on the absence of burns in a low voltage electrocution.

  • Electrical fire. Product liability; cause of fire My opinion was that the fire was caused by a very old attic fan having no protective device but made and installed long before such devices were required. The case was abandoned.

  • Alleged product liability of a medical device. I demonstrated, from the surgeon's deposition, that the accident was due to her error and not from a device defect.

  • Electric shock from an electrified manhole cover. My photograph with the cover lifted showed the loose wire under the cover which electrified it. Case settled.

  • I rebutted the 'expert' allegation that an overloaded transformer started a fire by examining the transformer and showing that its insulation was not damaged.

  • I analyzed witness evidence and demonstrated that an electrical fire in a factory was caused by the utility wires and not by the factory wiring, all in American Somoa.

  • Patent infringement. Interpretation of patent claims on a consumer product. I submitted declarations including rebuttals of the adversary's expert's declarations.

  • Patent infringement, an electro-mechanical device. P>
  • Study and report on an alleged patent infringement. I explained why the product did not infringe.

  • Trade secret lawsuit. I advised the client how to present to the court his evidence of invention.

  • Expert Witness Product Liability Cases

  • Alleged product liability: I opined that a fall from a ladder was due to operator negligence and not from an alleged defective tool.

  • Surgical ablator. Alledged product liability as cause of scalded patient. I opined that the product was not defective but that the surgeon was negligent in its use and the case was settled accordingly.

  • Prduct liability. Defective design of customers' carts in a supermarket caused a fall injury.

  • Opine alleged product liability of a medical device.

  • Alleged product liability: I tested the accused cosmetic heater and found that it was not defective.

  • Product liability. A woman was splashed with spit-back gasoline when a nozzle valve failed to close. I was deposed and testified that her deposition was plausible. I then showed her attorney that the nozzle lacked a safety device offered in the manufacturer's catalog as an option. He filed a second suit against the nozzle manufacturer for product liability and settled with both the gas station ownerand the manufacturer.

  • Product liability. Patient burned by a hot dental drill. In my report I criticised both the safety of the product and the dentist's inadequate care in its use.

  • Product liability. A second identical case. Patient burned by that same model hot dental drill.

  • Product liability. Fire caused by a dangerous heating tool. At issue was the adequacy of a printed warning in small type.

  • Product liability. Spa allegedly overheated by hydraulic pumping power from a Jacuzi pump motor.

  • Product liability. Faulty operation of an electrically controlled wheel chair lift injured the operator.

  • Product liability. Worker crushed to death in a sawmill log feeder because of inadequate electrical safety interlocks and inadequate lockout provision. .

  • Product liability defense. Electro-mechanical focusing device based on precision screw threads and a TV sensor chip. I demonstrated that the lawsuit was based on incorrect blame for rejects and incompetent manufacturing engineering.Cell phone camera optics: mechanical tolerances and blame analysis.

  • Product liability for an electric shock

  • Product liability. A child was burned by touching an unguarded glass fireplace screen which was heated by radiation from the fire.

  • Pole top transformer failure and fire. Telephone conferences on the cause of fires.

  • Product liability. A workman was burned by the flash from a short circuit caused by an uninsulated tool being used to modify a control panel in a high voltage system. It was my opinion that the tool could have been inexpensively insulated by its manufacturer who knew its purpose.

  • Industrial product liability lawsuit. I suggested a better engineering solution to the problem to obviate litigation.

  • Specimens of a kitchen appliance caused several fires. I analysed the defect. Product liability.

  • Expert Witness Miscellaneous Cases

  • Wrongfull discharge. I evaluated the technical merits of the employee's proposals and safety actions which were part of the excuse for the discharge and I evaluated the employee's excellent competence, based on an extensive interview.

  • Telephone advice and internet research for an insurance adjuster faced with a vandalism case in an electrical system.

  • Machine operator injured by reverse rotation of a three roll rubber mill as a consequence of a "lockout-tag out" situation neglected by both codes and contracts. I demonstrated that the defendant had performed his electrical wiring task properly and fully under the informal procedures then in effect.

  • Visit to the site of rain damage to an electron microscope and submission of a report.

  • Telephone advice to people needing attorneys

  • Tutorials to attorneys on engineering details of their cases

  • Phone consultation with an attorney to determine whether his client fell because of an electric shock, as he claimed, or a medical condition.

  • Seller sued buyer for inadequate specifications for a complex electrical product. My function was to demonstrate what an adequate specifications would have been..

To discuss your case, telephone me, Lawrence Kamm, at 619-224-3494.

I analyze accidents ("Accident Reconstruction") and defective products. I apply electrical and electro-mechanical engineering to lawsuits as an:

  • Expert Witness For Electrical Injuries

    • Electric Shock
    • Electrocution
    • Electrical Fire
    • Electrical Explosion
    • Electrical Flash Burn
    • Electrical Power Tools
    • Electric Heat
    • Automation
    • Electrical Safety
    • Electrical Medical Equipment
    • Product Liability (defective products)

    • For attorney references: References(www.ljkamm.com/reference.htm)

    My Methods

    My opinions are based on engineering analysis of evidence. I assist my clients in finding sources of evidence.

    Evidence

    In most cases I find sufficient evidence in documents: depositions, court filings, photos, videos, catalogs, internet searches, OSHA and police reports, correspondence copies, manufacturing drawings, specifications, standards, law texts, telephone, email, facsimile communications, interviews with attorneys and their clients, issued patents and file folders, and my own library.

    In some cases I study portable objects sent to my office. In some cases I visit accident scenes and have found evidence otherwise unrecognizable without an extensive engineering background. In some cases I perform tests.

    I am frugal with my clients' money so I suggest that specific researches be done by the client rather than by myself and I travel only when it seems necessary.

    Analysis

    My analyses are based on a half century of diversified engineering experience plus extensive case experience.To see my full CV,

    Click here
    www.ljkamm.com/resume.htm

    Reports

    I always telephone my opinion to my client to avoid its discovery and write it only when my client asks me to. Occasionally my opinion is unfavorable to my client's case in which case it becomes the opinion of a consultant and I stop work. When my opinion is favorable, the client names me as an expert witness. In either case my opinion guides the client in settlement negotiations.

    I am required by California law to have a written contract with my client. My usual form is Contract although I will be glad to modify it to suit your own needs.

    (www.ljkamm.com/contract.htm)

    I have an M.S. in engineering, a Professional Engineer License (California Certificate E 5897,) have been a registered patent agent, and have 38 issued patents. To see my full CV Click here

    (www.ljkamm.com/resume.htm)

    To see my home page, including a list of my books and articles,

    Click here.

    (www.ljkamm.com/home.htm)