Standard of Care Expert Witnesses: 138

Jeffrey A. Sugar, MD has been a practicing Psychiatrist for over 20 years. Dr. Sugar is board certified both in Child and General Psychiatry. He is Past President of the Southern California Society of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Dr. Sugar  is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at USC, and has been an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at UCLA. Dr. Sugar is the Director of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Trauma Program at the University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine in Los Angeles, CA where he sees patients, teaches psychiatry, and performs research. He is Attending Psychiatrist in both Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Adult Psychiatry Outpatient Clinics at USC. He teaches child and general psychiatrists-in-training and medical students on topics ranging from Trauma, Adversity, and Dissociation to Psychotherapy theory and methods.

Dr. Sugar was the founding director of the Hathaway Children’s Clinical Research Institute where he performed funded research on the effects of interpersonal child trauma. Dr. Sugar has presented at national and international meetings on child and adolescent Trauma and Dissociation. Director, Child Psychiatry Trauma Program at the University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine .. Dr. Sugar has been worked with the legal industry since 1988. Qualified in Superior court, he has been retained over 40 times as an expert in a broad range of child and general psychiatric cases, for both Plaintiff and Defense. His services include:

• Consultation Regarding Psychiatric Injury, Diagnosis, Treatment
• Record Review and Opinion
• Psychiatric Interview and Mental Status Evaluation
• Expert testimony

Dr. Sugar's litigation support is available to attorneys for both Plaintiff and Defense. His Areas of Expertise include:

Professional Training:

• MD: University of California, San Francisco
• General Psychiatry: Harbor-UCLA, Torrance, California
• Child Psychiatry: UCLA-Neuropsychiatric Institute
• Chief Fellow: UCLA

View Dr. Sugar's Consulting Profile.

Jay Hibert was in the Commercial Banking Industry for over 25 years before leaving to form his own company, a real estate lending and consulting company. The company provides services to banks, non-banks, and individuals in need of creative financing solutions.  Still an ACTIVE lender in the industry, Jay stays updated on current customs and practices and has transacted hundreds of real estate and non-real estate loan negotiations in times of economic growth as well as downturns in the economy. His extensive credit background arms him with the understanding of how banks and other lenders operate internally.  

Litigation Experience - Mr. Hibert has been providing expert witness and consulting services since 2010. He has been designated over 250 times as an expert in 25 different states concerning matters relating to commercial lending, real estate, construction finance, SBA loans, brokerage, hard money loan expert and investment issues. His experience includes both Federal and State court cases where he has provided deposition testimony, trial testimony and arbitration testimony. 

Jay is a licensed Real Estate Broker (Cal DRE #01523) and for 10 years his company was a California Finance Lender and Broker through the California Department of Business Oversight. He is experienced in trial and deposition testimony and his services are available to counsel representing both Plaintiff and Defense. 

Key areas of expertise in litigation work include:

• SBA Real Estate Loans
• Hard Money Loans
• Lending Policies, Custom and Practice/Lender Liability
• Broker Standards of Care and Fiduciary Responsibility
• Loan Underwriting and Credit Administration
• Loan Process and Bank Loan Restructure/Workout Process
• Note Valuations/Collateral Review
• Litigation and Discovery Consulting
• Banking Operations/Administration
• Expert reports adherent to Federal Rule 26
• Hard Money Lending
• SBA Lending
• Loan Syndication/Secondary Market Loan Sales
• Title Insurance Cases
• Private Money Lending
• Predatory Lending
• Financial Elder Abuse
• Covid Related Finance Issues

*****Experienced in trial and deposition testimony*****

View Jay Hibert's Consulting Profile.

EJ Janik, CPA, CFF, CFE is a Certified Public Accountant with 40 years of professional experience. He specializes in financial audits, compilations and reviews, consulting for commercial litigation, antitrust matters, engineering and construction matters, real estate, and bankruptcy / business reorganizations matters. Mr. Janik holds a Master of Science in Accounting from Louisiana State University and a Bachelor of Commerce from Rice University. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants. Mr. Janik has provided over 150 financial audits and consulted in over 785 business disputes. He has provided expert testimony in over 88 matters including trial testimony in 58 trials or hearings in 8 states. Mr. Janik's accounting services include Damages/Lost Profit analysis, Forensic Accounting, Fraud Investigations, Fact Finding, Financial Analysis, and Expert Witness Testimony when necessary. Litigation Experience:

Mr. Janik is also uniquely qualified to measure construction claims and damages. With over 11 years of construction experience, he has accumulated over 13,000 Engineering and Construction (E&C) auditing hours, 10,000 E&C consulting hours, and 15,000 E&C supervised hours. Construction Claims Services include:

View EJ Janik's Consulting Profile.

Dr. Jane K. McNaught, PhD is a locally and nationally recognized Forensic Psychological Expert specializing in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder with adults and children. Over the course of her more than 35 years of practice, she has worked with both Defense and Plaintiff attorneys and has also been a Court appointed expert.

Dr. McNaught has administered more than 1700 psychological test batteries and testified on over 500 occasions as a forensic expert in the areas of: Civil, Criminal, and Family Law. She also provides trial consultation for attorneys. Dr. McNaught has  been qualified and testified as an expert in PTSD, for both the U.S. Army as well as the U.S. Navy. In addition she has testified as an expert in both District and Federal court. Dr. McNaught practices in the areas of Civil, Criminal, and Family Law cases involving trauma to both adults and children.

In the Civil area, Dr. McNaught is frequently hired as an expert when there are allegations of Emotional Damages involving Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Dr. McNaught has been hired in cases of alleged sexual misconduct within institutional settings such as: Schools, Churches, Treatment Centers, Hospitals, Residential Centers for the Handicapped, Jails and other Police alleged violations.

The following are cases where Dr. McNaugth has been an expert:  PTSD cases involving veterans;  injuries related to Motor Vehicle Injuries/Death; Dog Bite; Amputation; Burns; and Electrocution. Dr. McNaught has also been an expert in  Medical Malpractice Cases,Wrongful Death, and Infant Death cases. Employment Law Experience in cases  involving Age or Sexual Harassment where PTSD is alleged. 

In the Criminal area, Dr. McNaught is hired by both the Prosecution as well as Defense in cases involving Sexual Misconduct. She also conducts evaluations of Defendants in criminal cases where Underlying Psychological Conditions may impact sentencing. She has also  been obtained as an expert to evaluate the reliability of statements obtained from alleged victims of sexual assault. When doing so, Dr. McNaught addresses the following: Recantation, Memory Research, and the Standard of Care for Interviewing Victims of Sexual Assault. 

In the area of Family Law, Dr. McNaught specializes in High Conflict Divorce and and provides consultation in issues related to:  Relocation; Endangerment; Factitious Disorder by Proxy; Parental Capacity; and Parental Alienation. Dr. McNaught is also frequently obtained as an expert to critique other evaluator's reports.

View Dr. McNaught's Consulting Profile.

James H. Reich, MD, MPH, is a board-certified Forensic Psychiatrist with extensive civil psychiatry experience who has done hundreds of evaluations.

After getting his MD from the University of Colorado Medical Center in Denver, Dr. Reich earned his MPH at Yale University and did his psychiatric residency at UC Davis. Dr. Reich has held academic positions at Yale, Iowa, Harvard, and Brown Universities.  Currently, he has teaching appointments at the professor level at both UCSF and Stanford University. Throughout his career, he has published over a hundred peer-reviewed publications. 

Litigation Support - Dr. Reich’s services are available for civil and some criminal law cases. Clients are assured of his personal dedication to each case. He does high quality research, expert evaluations, writes a solid report, and will testify well. Dr. Reich has been deposed over 50 times.

Areas of Expertise:

Presentations - As faculty at the Stanford Forensic Fellowship program, Dr. Reich has given two talks to the group. On October 27, 2023, he presented, "What Gets Psychiatrists and other Medical Professionals into Problems with the Law or Regulators." On January 19, 2024, he presented a talk on Psychiatric Disability to the same group. Dr. Reich is also supervising a fellow on his project on competency issues in older physicians.

James Apesos, MD, FACS, is Board Certified in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, General Surgery, and Hand Surgery, allowing him to deal with most any and all potential medical malpractice situations.

Dr. Apesos has decades of experience operating a busy private plastic surgery practice, training surgeons, managing emergency rooms, and hospital facilities. He has a wide experience dealing with both pediatric and adult surgery from congenital to reconstructive to cosmetic.

Education / Training:

• University of Pennsylvania, BS 
• Georgetown University School of Medicine, MD
• Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, General Surgery Chief Resident
• University of Virginia School of Medicine Chief Resident Plastic Surgery
• Certified Ohio State Police Officer 
• Certified Ohio State Firefighter

Litigation Support - Dr. Apesos is an expert witness for Medical Malpractice cases involving Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, including all cosmetic surgery, pediatric surgery, hand surgery, burn surgery, breast surgery, and cancer surgery. He has special skill in complications of surgery and post-surgery deaths.

Dr. Apesos has been providing services to the legal community for 30 years. He has been retained in 30 cases and been deposed over 25 times. A punctual strategist, he is adept at quickly assessing legal cases, cutting through medical jargon, and determining the merits of each case. Dr. Apesos' services include medical record review, thorough reporting, depositions, and trial testimony as needed for both plaintiff and defendant.

Areas of Expertise:

Mitch Jackson is a master communicator, lawyer and private mediator with over three decades of experience in the private sector. He's personally tried more than 70 trials and has a consistent track record of obtaining and negotiating numerous million-dollar verdicts and settlements, Mitch brings a massive amount of expertise to every case and matter he handles. He's served as a Judge Pro Tem with the Orange County Superior Court and fees mediator with the Orange County Bar Association.

Mitch’s accolades speak volumes: he’s an “AV” rated lawyer, the highest independent peer honor for ability and ethics by Martindale-Hubbell. He’s also been named California Litigation Lawyer of the Year in 2013 and Orange County Trial Lawyer of the Year in 2009.

When he's not in the courtroom or successfully mediating a resolution to a dispute, Mitch is on the move—traveling, speaking at conferences, and sharing insights through his blog and books. He’s written and co-written several notable works, including:

"AI in Law- Revolutionizing Your Legal Practice with Innovative Strategies and Tools" (click to read)

"Mastering The Art of Negotiation- Insider Secrets for Business Owners, Entrepreneurs, and Professionals"

"The Mediator's Handbook: Turning Conflict into Collaboration"

"From Courtroom to Boardroom: A Trial Lawyer's Guide to Winning Negotiations!"

"How to Create AI, Web3, and Metaverse Branding and Licensing Opportunities"

"The Web3, Metaverse, and AI Handbook"

"From AI to Blockchain: 14 Technology Trends Every Lawyer Must Know!"

"The Ultimate Guide to Social Media for Business Owners, Professionals, and Entrepreneurs"

Mitch’s influence extends beyond the legal field. He’s twice graced the stage at the Tony Robbins Business Mastery Event, captivating audiences of thousands. As a consulting expert in Sue Scheff’s "Shame Nation" and a contributing author to California’s Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB) in "Effective Introduction of Evidence in California - Chapter 54 Electronic and Social Media Evidence," Mitch is a sought-after thought leader.

Stay connected with Mitch on Linkedin and explore more of his work at his blog mitchjackson.com

C. Matthew Curtin, CISSP  Founder and CEO of Interhack is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional. An Expert in Computers and Information Technology, Mr. Curtin and his team at Interhack help attorneys and executives use data and computer technology in high-stakes situations. 

Mr. Curtin's work has been at the cutting edge of the intersection of law and technology. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit relied on Interhack's forensic computing practice and Mr. Curtin's expert opinion when it established standards for application of Federal wiretap statutes to Web technology, In re Pharmatrak Privacy Litigation (see link above). 

Academic references to their work include the Stanford Law Review and university courses throughout the world. Mr. Curtin maintains a regular academic appointment as a Senior Lecturer at The Ohio State University's Department of Computer Science and Engineering. He currently chairs the Recruitment subcommittee of the Business Advisory Network that advises the Ohio Department of Education's standards for technology education in secondary and postsecondary schools throughout the state. 

C. Matthew Curtin's services are available for plaintiffs, defendants, and for the courts directly on technical matters. 

Areas of Forensic Expertise:

• Electronic Discovery
• Preservation and Forensic Analysis of Data
• Complex Analysis of Non-Standard Data Sets
• Investigations
• Data Breaches

View Mr. Curtin's Consulting Profile.

Jason C. Goodwin, MS, MPH, RN, CNOR, is a highly skilled and decorated Veteran Nurse Corps Lieutenant, honorably discharged in 2006. As a Registered Nurse, Operating Room Manager, Director, and Administrator, he has extensive experience with regulatory mandates, expertise in national clinical standards, and ensuring best practices in procedural safety culture.

As a procedural department administrator and clinician, Mr. Goodwin has personally supervised the safe care in and around various procedures and operating room venues for 17 years, totaling approximately 300,000 individual patient encounters. An expert with quality and safety compliance regulation, he has successfully prepared teams for Joint Commission, AAAHC, Medicare, Inspector General, and State audits.  Mr. Goodwin has experience managing as many as 20 managers, 4 Lean/Six Sigma process-improvement personnel, 500 total employees, and $1.8 Billion in annual gross revenue.

Litigation Support - Mr. Goodwin provides expert witness services to attorneys representing plaintiff and defendant. He has been retained in approximately 30 cases. His services include medical record review, thorough reporting, depositions, and trial testimony as needed. 

Areas of Expertise:

Spine Surgery and Spine Medicine Consultant

The concepts of evidence-based medicine have been the cornerstone of Dr. Dillin’s education during his spine surgery fellowship in Neurosurgery and Orthopaedic Surgery and the format for decision-making in his subsequent practice. The critical analytic features inherent in the ‘best evidence’ approach to patients have permeated his writing and his lectures, allowing flexible adaptation as the science has changed. Since July 1985, Dr. Dillin has been exclusively devoted to clinical spine, interventional spine, and spine surgery practice. The combination of clinical critical thinking in conjunction with evidence-based medicine practice, allows spine specialty focus on any Independent Medical Evaluations or Medical-Legal Reviews. He is in clinical practice performing spine surgery, spine interventions, and evaluating patients with spine conditions. He is licensed in California, Texas, Arizona, Florida and Nevada. Dr. Dillin was a former partner at the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic. I spent 2022-2023 in clinical practice and at the Effective Writing in Health Care program sponsored by Harvard Medical School. The program encompassed online and onsite (Boston) attendance. My study subject was the history of the expert witness in general, and more specifically, the medical expert witness. My capstone project, from the ‘Writing for the Public’, division is attached. This is the narrative account of “The Trial of the Medical Expert Witness.”

Litigation Support - For over 35 years, Dr. Dillin has traveled to refine and acquire the technical skills invested in Spine Surgery and Spine Interventions. His expert witness activity is embodied in his Harvard Capstone, "The Trial of the Medical Expert Witness." Dr. Dillin offers Independent Medical Evaluations and/or Medical-Legal Review, thorough reporting, depositions, and trial testimony as needed.

Areas of Expertise:

Erik B. Hysinger, MD, MSCE, is a board certified Pediatrician and Pediatric Pulmonologist and Associate Professor in the Division of Pulmonary Medicine at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (ranked #1 by US News) with more than 10 years of clinical experience in Pediatrics.

Litigation Support - Dr. Hysinger has been participating in medical litigation for the past five years, working with both plaintiffs and defendants. His services include medical record review, thorough reporting, depositions, and trial testimony as needed.

Areas of Expertise:

Background Experience - Dr. Hysinger completed his undergraduate degree at Vanderbilt University where he graduated Magna Cum Laude and remained at Vanderbilt for medical school and Pediatrics training.  Following residency, Dr. Hysinger completed his Pediatric Pulmonology training at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia where he also obtained a Master's of Clinical Epidemiology from the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Hysinger joined the faculty at Cincinnati Children's Hospital in 2016 where he founded and serves as the Co-Director of the Cincinnati Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia Center and spends approximately 75% of his time in direct patient care.  In addition to his clinical work, he is also very active in clinical research and has published widely in multiple high impact journals such as The American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine and Chest, among many others, with over 50 publications.  Dr. Hysinger has lectured on his research and clinical work nationally and internationally, hosted national and international conferences and courses,  and is funded by the National Institute of Health and Patient Centered Outcome Research Institute.

Charles H. Heller, PhD, is a Forensic Psychology Expert with over 35 years of experience in his field. Dr. Heller is currently on staff at Rutgers University Biomedical Health Service, specializing in criminal behavior and risk assessment. He also serves as a forensic psychologist consultant for the Rockland County (NY) court evaluation service, where he has performed hundreds of child custody, as well as criminal competency and child abuse/neglect evaluations.

Litigation Support - Dr. Heller specializes in conducting custody evaluations, providing the review and analysis of potentially mitigating circumstances in connection with criminal behavior, and providing consultation to attorneys regarding civil litigation. He has extensive court experience in Civil, Criminal, and Family Court cases. Dr. Heller is a fully vetted and approved forensic psychologist for the NJ Office of the Public Defender as well as other Public Defender offices. (Federal Public Defender, Legal Aid in Manhattan, Bronx, Kings, and the NYC assigned counsel program). He often travels throughout the US as a forensic consultant in important court cases including military Court Martials, death row assessment, sexual abuse, assault, and multiple homicides. He is well-known and respected among his colleagues as a clinician and as a forensic psychologist/expert witness.

Civil Litigation - (Emotional and Mental Injury) - Dr. Heller is retained by both plaintiff and defense counsel to assess plaintiffs for emotional and mental injury. He takes an unbiased, ethical approach to assessments and is not "a hired gun." He is an expert in objective evaluations that assess the probability the plaintiff is suffering PTSD, other emotional injuries, or if there is an exaggeration of symptoms based upon psychological testing and other data. He has expertise in cases that involve group home / residential schools, provider negligence, and assaults.

Criminal Litigation - Dr. Heller is experienced in providing successful rebuttal testimony explaining the scientific issues related to the problems of validity, reliability, and usefulness of "Syndrome evidence" such as "Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome" and "Rape Trauma Syndrome." He testifies in child sexual abuse cases and explains research related to false allegations, recantations, memory, suggestibility, child testimony, interview protocols, and "Believed-In Imaginings" in children and adults. He has expertise in domestic violence and has assessed women who have been victims of intimate partner violence and "Battered Women Syndrome" that contributed to homicides, assaults, and other felonies by the victims of abuse.

View Dr. Heller's Consulting Profile.

Hayden Burrus, FCAS, MAAA, is an accomplished Casualty Actuary with over 30 years of leadership experience in the Insurance Industry. Former President of Casualty Actuaries of the Southeast, Chief Actuary of publicly traded workers' compensation insurance company, actuarial experience at multiple insurance rating organizations (National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) and Insurance Services Office (ISO)), Mr. Burrus is experienced with all sides of the insurance industry. 

Litigation Support - Mr. Burrus is highly skilled at taking complex insurance and actuarial calculations and decisions and making them easy to understand. For 10 years, he has been offering expert witness services to public and private entities, and attorneys representing plaintiff and defense. Services include thorough reporting, depositions, and trial testimony as needed.

Areas of Expertise:

Past Consulting Experience:

• Opining actuary and Loss Reserve Specialist for a captive reinsurer domiciled in Bermuda.
• Numerous engagements for self – insurers. Clients include governmental and private companies.
• Lines of business include workers’ compensation, general liability and other liability. Jurisdictions include US and Bermuda.
• Deposition regarding the rates and stacking practices of Uninsured Motorist / Auto Liability coverage for a large multistate auto insurer.
• Actuarial valuations of commissions due from an insurance company.
• Retained Chief Actuary services for a growing publicly traded workers’ compensation insurer; charged with building actuarial expertise from the ground up.
• Expert preparation for appeal of NCCI rulings on experience rating modification factor process.
• Opinion Letter to Ohio Department of Insurance on a Regulatory Settlement Agreement.
• Actuarial Expert for Insurer in Receivership.
• Negotiations and sworn statements with Florida Office of Insurance Regulation over excess profits statutes.
• Expert opinion and deposition related to the filed policy forms with a state insurance department.
• Expert Report concerning the cause of the insolvency of a captive insurer.
• Workers’ compensation premium calculations for a premium dispute between insurer and insured.

Harry I. Aronowitz, DMD, is a Board Certified Orthodontist who has been in private practice in Beverly Hills,and West Hollywood California for over 30 years. He is Clinical Professor of Orthodontics at the University of Southern California in the Graduate Department of Orthodontics where he helps train future orthodontists. Licensed in California and New York, Dr. Aronowitz has experience as a Former Chief of Dental, Oral-Maxillofacial Surgery Section at the Beverly Hills Medical Center and served as Chairman of the Orthodontic Peer-Review for the Los Angeles Dental Society. Dr. Aronowitz is a Diplomate The American Board of Orthodontics anda current member of Orthodontic Peer Review for the Los Angeles Dental Society. He is a member of the American Dental Association, The California Dental Association, The Los Angeles Dental Society, as well as The American Association of Orthodontists. 

Litigation Support - Dr. Aronowitz serves as an Independent Medical Examiner for The State Board of Dental Examiners in California. He provides expert witness services to attorneys for both defense and plaintiff, including medical record review, second opinions, depositions, mediation, and trial testimony as needed. 

Areas of Expertise:

Scott S. Margraves, CIC, has over 32 years of Commercial Property and Casualty Insurance experience. He is the Principal Consultant and Founder of Gulf Coast Risk Management, LLC (GCRM). GCRM provides research, analysis and advice to commerce, industry, government and individuals. 

GCRM operates COIs R Us, a certificate of insurance (COI) compliance and tracking company. COIs R Us compares the contractual obligations of a lease agreement with the COI. COIs R Us processes thousands of COIs for landlords and general contractors for compliance annually.

Litigation Support - Mr. Margraves has been designated as an expert witness in 17 case assignments: 13 State cases and 4 Federal cases. Case assignments are divided between 10 for Defense and 7 for Plaintiff, including Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas. Services include standard of care review, deposition question preparation, document review, and trial testimony as needed.

Areas of Expertise:

Background Experience - GCRM provides consulting services to attorneys, property managers, and general contractors regarding insurance placement, interpretation, and recommended contractual insurance requirements while explaining the relationship and alignment with indemnity and insurance provisions.

Mr. Margraves is well-versed in the placement of insurance policies from an insured's perspective. As a front-line producer, he weathered five major hurricanes, three “five-hundred-year floods” and multiple catastrophic fire claims. Agency roles include insurance broker, claims supervisor, agency partner, and risk manager. He is Past President of the Independent Insurance Agents of Houston, Past Vice chairman of IIAT IMPACT Region 10, Member of Insurance Academy, and Lifetime Committeemen for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

Mr. Margraves started his second career as a full-time consultant in 2021. He is an insurance industry expert that brings extensive experience in all aspects of property casualty insurance interpretation, policy forms, claims, safety programs, HR coordination and contract integration.

View GCRM's Consulting Profile.