In many personal injury cases, insurance companies will hire experts such as a biomechanical engineer to challenge the likelihood that someone was injured in an automobile crash. In order to successfully fight and exclude such testimony you must file a motion to exclude the expert’s testimony. A court will conduct what is known as a Daubert hearing into the scientific validity and reliability of the expert’s proposed testimony. A typical case may involve a low speed collision with relatively minor property damage. The so called experts claim they are able to accurately measure crush to a vehicle solely from photographs without conducting an actual physical examination and measurement of the subject vehicles.
The experts rely on a formula known as Delta V which is the change in velocity to opine that there was not enough force to cause injury. More and more judges are disallowing such testimony as the so called expert’s methods are unscientific, unreliable, and invalid. Judges have ruled that limiting such testimony to the value for Delta V and nothing about the party’s injury or comparable activities that can cause the same Delta V.
Insurance companies and their defense counsel, despite having no empirical data or reliable studies to support their positions, claim that the amount of damage equates to the extent of person’s injuries. There is yet to be a proven study that correlates property damage to bodily injuries.
The Simon Law Group uses experts that are experienced in these types of injury reconstruction. When it comes to representing you in your personal injury case, we are the professionals you need on your side.
