6/7/2018· Transportation
Safety Compromises, Part 6: Failing to Pull to the Curb
By: Ned Einstein
Other than airport-to-parking lot shuttles, and an occasional tour or charter trip, all public transportation services pickup and discharge their passengers at the side of a roadway. When it is available, they pickup and discharge them from or onto a curb, sidewalk, platform or other raised surface.
6/6/2018· Laws & Procedures
By: Darryl Horowitt
California law requires that contractors obtain the proper license before work can be performed on any project. (See Business & Professions Code § 7026.) Moreover, where a contractor files a lawsuit to recover monies owed for work performed, that contractor must plead and prove it was licensed at all times that the work was performed. (See Business & Professions Code § 7031.) The penalty for failure to maintain your license is severe. If you are unable to prove that you were licensed at all times, you are barred from recovering monies on any grounds, whether it be for breach of contract, fraud, or reasonable value of the services performed. (See Hydrotech Systems, Ltd. v. Oasis Waterpark (1991) 52 Cal.3d. 988.) But what happens if a contractor is licensed for most of the time that the work is performed and inadvertently allows his license to lapse for a period during the construction of a project? This article will discuss this issue.
5/24/2018· Telecommunication
By: Keith Mallinson
Radio spectrum is the lifeblood of wireless networks. Traditional methods of doling out spectrum have somewhat hindered rather than helped maximize the availability of affordable Internet access, even if this was not the case with voice and text. Instead of seeking to aggrandize auction proceeds by creating scarcity, more flexible allocations including shared as well as traditional licensed and unlicensed assignments are required.
5/23/2018· Logistics - Reverse Logistics
By: Rosemary Coates
"Economics is strategy." This phrase made me sit up and take notice. It was from an article in The American Interest about China's One Belt One Road initiative (OBOR). Of course, we knew that OBOR was all about economics. I have written about China's building influence around the world, but to simplify China's actions in this one impactful phrase makes it so clear.
5/18/2018· Business Management
My Life as a Microsoft Dynamics Expert Witness
By: Eric Kimberling
I have been involved with Microsoft Dynamics implementations for nearly 20 years now. I have also spent the last decade providing Microsoft Dynamics expert witness testimony in implementation failures and lawsuits.
5/17/2018· Transportation
Safety Compromises, Part 5 - Failing to Kneel the Bus or Coach
By: Ned Einstein
For many passengers, the 14-inch drop from the bottom step of a high-floor transit bus or motorcoach is challenging. In transit service, drivers do not assist or even spot boarding or alighting passengers. While motorcoach drivers typically assist or spot boarding or alighting passengers at the front door, the drivers of motorcoaches deployed in commuter/express service (provided by transit agencies or companies under contract to them) do not. Nor do scheduled service drivers do so consistently, especially at intermediate stops.
5/16/2018· Expert Witnessing
Lawyers, Expert Witnesses and Ethics-Beyond Mere Testimony
By: Greg Gerganoff
Lawyers and courts turn to expert witnesses to provide triers of fact with explanations of aspects of a case that are not commonly known. It is the subject matter expert's education, experience, and skill in a particular area that will help the triers of fact to reach a well-informed conclusion/decision. Examples of expert witnesses include medical doctors, accountants, engineers, DNA scientists, and more. Lawyers (and the courts) will employ an expert witness to shed more light upon factual issues for the purpose of discerning the truth. In short, expert witnesses educate, clarify, and explain a subject that is not common knowledge for most people.
5/11/2018· Construction
Construction Alert: Bidding On Public Works Projects
By: Darryl Horowitt
The courts have been busy dealing with issues relating to bidding on public works projects. Two recent decisions have been issued: Great Western Contractors, Inc. v. Irvine Unified School District (2010) 2010 DJDAR 13815 and Schram Construction Inc. v. The Regents of the University of California (Southland Industries) (2010) 2010 DJDAR 13398.
5/4/2018· Patents
Putting Economists in Their Place in Patents in Telecoms and the Internet of Things
By: Keith Mallinson
I participated as a panelist in a session entitled, "Economists: Do They Have a Place?," at the Patents in Telecoms and the Internet of Things conference at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. on November 10, 2017. This article is substantially my remarks in that conference panel session. Before my remarks, Stephen Haber of Stanford University said that I had posed the defining question for the entire conference in an audience question-and-answer exchange the previous day. It had perturbed me to hear a panel speaker mischaracterize the communications standards as platforms of preexisting technologies upon which Internet of Things (IoT) innovation will occur. In response, I said that communications standards are rich in technology innovation and patented intellectual property.
5/2/2018· Logistics - Reverse Logistics
How to Ensure Your Reshoring Project Won't Fail
By: Rosemary Coates
Consider Otis Elevator. OE is one of many U.S. manufacturers, including GE, Whirlpool and NCR, which announced they were bringing factories back to the U.S. from China, Mexico and other countries and whose efforts did not go well.
