Machinery (General / Rotated) Expert Witnesses: 23

Michael A. Pollock, PE, USPTO, is a Mechanical Engineer responsible for the design and engineering of commercial, industrial, manufacturing, institutional, and residential venues, as well as efforts relating to services and products used in and around these facilities. Mr. Pollock's full CV can be viewed at cogentexpert.com.

Business and industries include electronics, safety and construction, building materials, polymers and plastics, instrumentation manufacturing, petrochemicals, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, colleges, athletic facilities, textiles, coatings and resins, food storage, biosciences, supermarkets, inks & pigments, automotive, facility and real estate operations, agricultural, transportation, nuclear, healthcare, nutrition, retail, distributors, pulp and paper, packaging, utilities, apparel, and R&D centers.

Litigation Support - Mr. Pollock is a subject matter expert in Commercial and Industrial Engineering Applications and Projects, as well as engineering standards and applicable codes (ASHRAE, ASME, NIST, NFPA, NBIC, ASTM, SAE, LEED, ASCE, GMP, ISA, BOCA, and EPA Regulations.) He has engaged with local, state, and governmental officials and agencies regarding numerous matters over his commensurate years of experience.

Areas of Expertise:

Investment Engineering Economics Mechanical Engineering Standard of Care Architectural Standard of Care Construction Delay Construction Defect Construction Schedule Analysis Accident Analysis Metallurgical Failure Rotating Equipment Electrical Failure Chemical Failure Processes Instrumentation and Controls

Chillers Coatings Refrigeration Thermodynamics Water Treatment Steam Systems and Boilers   Power and Utilities Energy Conservation Environmental Impact Safety HVAC Project Management Product Development

Registrations

• Professional Engineer: PA (PE075410)
• American Bar Association (ABA) – Construction Forum
• Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Clean Air Act Certification – Universal (includes Chillers, HVAC & Refrigeration)
• United States Patent & Trademark Office Registered (USPTO)                              

Forensic Consulting Experience

Warehouse Distribution Facility – Maryland - Evaluated a $10M (million) claim relating to purported construction defect claims by the 600,000 sq. ft. facility owner against the facility construction contractor and an original equipment manufacturer relating to installed infrastructure in the facility. Developed an expert opinion and expert report regarding the analysis of the purported defects and a proposed repair solution to correct said defects. 

 Psychiatric Hospital Facility – North Carolina – Evaluated a $28M (million) construction claim by the general contractor against a hospital facility concerning a $100M facility construction project.  Developed an expert opinion and report for general construction issues, constructability, design revisions, and corresponding delay analysis for mechanical, HVAC, electrical, smoke and fire, structural, security and building automation systems. 

Forensics Consulting Work-in-Progress 

• 2022 – International Trade Commission (ITC) Matter – Resin Manufacturing Facility Construction Delay / Completeness Analysis
• 2022 – Mechanical Systems Coatings Matter Analysis
• 2021 – Industrial Manufacturing Facility Standard of Care Matter, Construction Defect, Construction Delay     
• 2021 – Electrical Distribution System Construction Defect Matter, Standard of Care
• 2021 – Hotel Facility HVAC Materials of Construction Related Defect Matter

Thomas H. Burtness, PE, is an Electrical Engineer specializing in both Electrical and Building Construction - equipment selection, specification, and installation (actually “working with the tools”), as well as cost control techniques.

Background - Mr. Burtness has 40+ years of experience in the design, specification, construction contract administration, installation, startup, and troubleshooting of electrical power, on-site generation, distribution, control, and instrumentation systems and equipment for residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal occupancies. His experience also includes water, wastewater, and stormwater treatment plants, and military facilities.

Additional expertise includes Illumination Engineering for street, roadway, and area lighting including photometric footcandle requirements, calculations, field verification, equipment specifications, installation, and analysis of failure, glare, overlighting and underlighting.

Litigation Support - Since, 1981, Mr. Burtness has been providing forensic electrical engineering services to insurance companies and attorneys including accident and failure investigations, determination of cause and origin, litigation support, expert opinions, reports, and testimony. His services are available nationwide, with PE registration by comity available in most states.

Cases Involve:

Industrial Accidents Electrocution Personal Injury Fire Equipment and Machinery Failure

Failure of Safety Circuitry Grounding Lightning Damage and Fire Construction Defects / Contract Claims Design and Specification Disputes

View Thomas Burtness' Consulting Profile.

Cory W. Bruner has 28 years of experience in Safety in Construction and General Industry. Mr. Bruner is a qualified Safety Professional and holds a Safety Management Practitioner Certification. He has 25 years of Safety, Health and Environmental experience and 15 years specializing in Electrical and  Concrete Pumping. Mr. Bruner has provided services to clients in the Concrete Pumping, General, Construction, Electrical, Oil and Gas, Legal, and Insurance Industries. 

Concurrently with Bruner Safety Consulting, Mr. Bruner serves as Corporate Director of Risk Management, Safety and HR at Facility Solutions Group, Inc.  In this role, he oversees all aspects of Safety and Health including but not limited to policy and development, implementation, training, pre-qualification coordination, injury prevention investigation and reporting, site loss control auditing, management of facility safety trainers and staff, safety, and safety budgeting. 

Litigation Support - Mr. Bruner has provided expert opinions in numerous state and federal accident and injury cases. He specializes in electrical, concrete pumping accidents, and fatalities in construction, oil and gas, chemical process, and systems industry accidents and fatalities. Mr. Bruner is experienced with Federal and numerous State DOT / FMCSA regulatory compliance matters. He provides root cause analysis with corrective measures. 

Areas of Expertise:

Concrete Pumping Accidents Work Place Accidents Fall Accidents Roof Fall Accident, / Fatality Ladder / Scaffold Accidents Crane Accident Energized Electrical Accidents Power Line Accidents Pinch Point Accidents Lockout Tagout Concrete Pumping Injury OSHA Safety

Workplace Amputation Heavy Equipment Accident Blast Drill Rig Accident Power Tool Accident Power Tool Fatality Oil and Gas Safety Ammonia Refrigeration Accidents Commercial Vehicle Accident Parking Lot Trip / Fall Chemical Accidents Workplace Ergonomics Meat Packing Accidents

View Bruner Safety Consulting's Consultant Profile.

Carl Berkowitz, PE, Ph.D., AICP, is a Transportation and Traffic Engineering expert with almost 50 years of expertise. He's held various managerial and administrative positions in the transportation industry, government, private, and academic sectors.

Dr. Berkowitz has extensive multi-modal experience in planning, design, engineering, safety, security, construction, maintenance, operations, and management. He has written and edited numerous reports, studies, articles, and columns for major publications, journals, newspapers and scholarly periodicals.

Background Experience:

• Transportation and Traffic Engineering Consultant, 1988 - Present
• New York City Department of Transportation, New York, 1970 – 88
• New York State Office of Planning Coordination, New York, 1967 - 70
• New York State Department of Transportation, Babylon, NY, 1963 - 67
• New York City Transit Authority, New York, 1962 - 63

Litigation Support - Dr. Berkowitz has served as a litigation consultant since 1997.  He has the background and experience to make him ideally suited to contribute important information at every stage in the litigation process. Dr. Berkowitz is able to explain complex issues in layman terms, suggest strategies, investigate and uncover facts, perform literature reviews, research, and prepare safety evaluations. He has been deposed / testified over 50 times in the last 5 years.

Accident Investigation & Reconstruction Slip Trip & Fall Pedestrian & Bicycle Safety Railroad Safety Bus & Truck Safety Biomechanics & Human Factors Student Safety FELA & OSHA Accessibility / ADA Parking Lots & Garages

Construction Safety Elevators & Escalators Equipment & Machinery Traffic Engineering Traffic Lighting / Visibility Transportation Engineering Transportation Safety Transportation Rules & Regulations Terminals Walking & Working Surfaces

Thomas Barth has a foundation of 47 years as a Crane Operator, Crane Inspector, and Crane Operator Trainer, approved by the U.S. Department of Labor.

As a crane operator and crane inspector, Mr. Barth has proven his professionalism as an expert witness in crane accident investigations across the country. His career-long commitment to crane safety has led him to carefully study the industry's practices, procedures and equipment.


Experience:

• Water - Mr. Barth has 13 years of experience working cranes on the water, including off loading barges, jack-up platforms, general cargo and construction materials, pile driving, clamming and hook work


• Land - His operator experience on land includes working in Prudhoe Bay oilfield, setting steel, tilt ups, building trades, heavy picks, drag lining, and using multiple cranes to make various heavy picks

Litigation Support - Mr. Barth has over 15 years of experience as a crane accident investigator and expert witness. He has investigated more than 55 high-profile crane accidents.

Piers Morgan interview with Thomas Barth on CNN News

Mr. Barth's experience with a wide variety of cranes in diverse industries and locations has been invaluable to attorneys and legal teams in need of a professional evaluation. He has a keen understanding of the underlying principles and potential causes in accident scenarios. Mr. Barth also knows how to evaluate accident reports from government agencies, witness depositions, inspection reports, lift plans, and other evidence. He is an excellent communicator with the ability to clearly express his answers, and the reasons for them, during video or written depositions, or in the courtroom.

Types Of Cranes:

• Cranes - Crawlers, Trucks, Hydraulics, Pedestals, Overheads, Hoists, Lifts
• Construction & Farm Machinery
• Industrial Equipment & Machinery

View Thomas Barth's Consulting Profile.

David Smith is an experienced mechanical engineer (MS, PE) with seven issued patents. Award-winning inventor. Vice President of Alpine Engineering and Design, a mechanical engineering consulting company with clients around the United States ranging from individual inventors to Fortune 500 companies. Worked on the development of multiple successful products including among other things: aerial lifts, garbage trucks, thrill rides, ziplines, trailers, oil and gas equipment, exercise equipment, manufacturing equipment, and multiple consumer products. 

Graduated Cum Laude with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. Completed a master's of science degree in mechanical engineering and an MBA with an emphasis in product development. Licensed professional engineer (PE) and certified safety professional in comprehensive practice (CSP). Certified trainer for boom lifts, scissor lifts, rough terrain, and counterbalanced forklifts. Over 10 years of experience in product development, patents, equipment safety, and risk assessments. 

Experienced expert witness having drafted over 200 reports/declarations in patent cases and catastrophic injury and death cases. Designed and built multiple custom testing devices to obtain data and evaluate opinions. Created multiple demonstratives to explain the mechanics and circumstances of accident sequences and patented devices. Testified in deposition 11 times and in trial once.

Expert Witness Services Professional Expert Reports Testing Forensic/Failure Analysis Accident Reconstruction Demonstratives Inspections/Measurements Compliance with Standards Expert Testimony Patent & Patent Related Issues Patent Searches Provisional Patent Complete with Illustrations Patent Infringement Review

Product Development Innovative Concept Multi-Industry Experience Powerful Design Tools Full Service Fabricating Materials Design Analysis Finite Element Analysis (FEA) Hydraulics, Pneumatics, Electrical Structural Integrity Tests Value Analysis

Dr. Adam K. Aleksander, PhD, PE, CSP, has over 40 years of experience in the areas of Mechanical Engineering, Human Factors, and Safety Engineering. He combines both academic credentials and active work in industry to provide a grounded perspective in Product Liability, Industrial Incidents, Warnings, and OSHA related issues. He is also a VP of an Energy Services firm, with over 35 overseas assignments related to forensic services, power utility issues, and equipment failures.

Dr. Aleksander has been a practicing engineer since 1972, focusing his Manufacturing, Consulting and Forensic investigations on Problem Definition and Root Cause Analysis of complex problems in confidential issues. His firm has experience encompassing an enormous variety of claims, from large $45 million dollar dam claims, to environmental clean-up claims, to small road construction claims. His litigation services often involve reconstruction, perception reaction studies, warnings, equipment operation, mechanical failures, industrial accidents, skiing, and bicycling injuries.

As an Expert Witness, Dr. Aleksander has worked with many clients, including plaintiff's and defendant's attorneys, both civil and criminal, attorneys representing corporations, corporations in the power utility area, and corporations that produce products. His services are also available to insurance executives with complex claims issues that involve industrial or utility related losses. Dr. Aleksander has been retained over 125 times in a wide range of technical investigations.

Litigation Expertise:

• Product Liability - Design, Manufacturing and Marketing Defects, Involving Damage, Injury or Fatality
• Equipment Failures - Proximal Cause of Failure with Contributing Factors
• Human Factors, Visibility, Ergonomics, and General Research Issues - Product Usability, Warnings, Instructions, Perception, Reaction Time, Visibility and Conspicuity Issues
• Construction, OSHA, and Safety Engineering - Regulatory and Safety Issues
• Industrial Projects
• Power Utility - Service and Equipment Failures

View Dr. Aleksander's Consulting Profile.

Peter J. Sullivan is a World Class Certified ASE Technician and ASE Certified Master Technician in Heavy Duty Truck, Passenger Car / Light Truck, Collision Repair, and Machinist, (National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence). He has over 35 years of technical, academic, operational, and managerial experience in the private and commercial transportation, heavy equipment, marine, and recreational vehicle industries.

Mr. Sullivan has extensive experience performing vehicle inspections and downloads of event data recorders and electronically stored information (ESI), including analysis, validation, testing, and preservation on almost all makes and models of vehicles and equipment.

Litigation Support - Mr. Sullivan utilizes his comprehensive legal, technical, and FMCSA / DOT knowledge to specialize in:

Product Defect Cases Driver or Motor Carrier Compliance Electronic Engine Control (ECM) Electronic Throttle Control Electronic Power Steering

Anti-Lock Brake Supplemental Restraint Computerized Systems Closed-loop Systems Hydraulics

He and his team perform accident site and vehicle inspections, perform data downloads, including analysis, on most all makes and models of vehicles and equipment, reconstruct accidents, perform exemplar and product testing, metallurgical testing, fluid analysis, and CMV driver and motor carrier compliance analysis. His primary areas of expertise include medium duty / heavy duty truck, hy-rail, light duty car / truck, motorcycle, ATV, marine, heavy equipment, machinery, tire, bicycle, commercial motor carrier safety and DOT compliance, and commercial motor vehicle driver / operator qualification and compliance, and job site safety.

Mr. Sullivan's services are available to counsel representing both Plaintiff and Defense. His litigation support services also include expert reports, depositions, and testimony for trial, OSHA, and governmental hearings.

View Peter Sullivan's Consulting Profile.