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Expert has been a consultant in over 500 product liability lawsuits. He has often been called on to use his skills as a mechanical engineer. The range of subjects include the numerous mechanical and electrical systems in automobiles and trucks, a wide variety of tools and machines used in industry, and many items found in homes. He has, in the process of these consulting assignments, developed an understanding of what constitutes reasonable safe and proper products and what constitutes unreasonable dangerous and unsafe products.

The factor of product safety arises whenever a product is designed. Product safety is therefore a prime factor in all design decisions. Expert has critiqued existing designs from a safety standpoint and designed equipment that required detailed safety considerations. Four principles apply to product safety: 1) Each possible safety/hazard condition must be identified; 2) Each hazard must be eliminated if at all possible; 3) If the hazard cannot be eliminated then a suitable guard and warning must be used to make the product safe to use; and 4) If suitable means for making the product safe to use cannot be incorporated into the product then the product should not be made.


Expert has studied a large number of industrial accidents that have involved machine tools. For example, he investigated punch press accidents, transfer line accidents, and slip and fall accidents. He has owned machines used to fabricate metal parts and has designed and built machine tools. These experiences have given Expert an understanding and insight into the hazards that can exist in industrial atmospheres. He often evaluates industrial accidents to determine causal factors and to recommend modifications to the manufacturing process that would enhance safety and avoid accidents.

In the course of his extensive involvement in machine tools, Expert has designed or conceptualized many machine guards. In general, the concepts require evaluating how the machine will be both used and misused. Human factors become a part of the evaluation. There is need to predict and respond to the possible misuses to which the machine might be applied.

Expert has evaluated many machines to determine the possible hazards involved in their use. These studies have included powered machines as well as hand tools. Such evaluations require the understanding of their operation and of their applications. Human factors involving strength and fatigue are considerations. The need and application of guards and the need for interlocking the guards with the control system must be evaluated.


Expert has designed and built machine tools since 1971. These machines have assembled parts, formed parts, and machined parts. Operator safety and human factors were a part of each machine. He has performed cost justification studies for many industrial-manufacturing processes.


As a mechanical engineer, Expert has applied the disciplines of engineering to a wide variety of mechanical products. He specializes in strength of materials, engineering dynamics, and design of control systems. He has designed and built relay control systems and computerized control systems for machine tools and for processing equipment.

There are an increasing number of reports that a car accelerated out of control of the driver without the accelerator pedal being depressed. This condition is called "sudden acceleration." Expert has studied this phenomena in over 40 lawsuits. This effort has included studies of the engine electronic control system and of the cruise control system. These studies have shown that for an automobile to accelerate out of control the engine must receive significant amounts of air. The analysis thus becomes one of determining how the engine received air without the driver depressing the accelerator pedal.


For many years drivers have reported that they left their car with the transmission selector lever in Park and with the engine running. The car transmission then went into powered reverse and the car rolled backward causing injuries and damage to property. This experience is termed "illusory park." Expert has been involved in more than 100 of these cases.