Inner Circle of Investigators

2004 Annual Conference

Levin, Papantonio, Thomas, Mitchell, Echsner & Proctor, P.A.

316 South Baylen Street, Suite 600

Pensacola, FL 32501

(SouthTrust Bank building on South Baylen St. just east of Courthouse in downtown Pensacola)

Accommodations:  

Clarion Suites, 20 Via De Luna Drive, Pensacola Beach, FL 32561

(850) 932-4300

*ALL rooms are cottage styled suites with queen size beds, a queen size sleeper sofa and kitchenette.  Continental breakfast is available at the property.  For additional information on the amenities please go to www.expedia.com.

Rates:          $108.00, plus tax    Non-gulf view

    $135.00, plus tax        Gulf view

 

CONTACT the Clarion direct for your reservations.

 

April 23, 2004

 

8:30-8:45      Registration and Welcome

Steve Lockman and Jim Harbert.

 

8:45-9:50      Downloading crash data from late model vehicles.

Brian Barton, certified Crash Data

Removal technician.

 

Brian Barton

Brian Barton Investigations, Pensacola Florida

Brian is a retired Pensacola Police Officer.  Brian has worked patrol, vice and intelligence, investigations and traffic.  For the 13 years prior to his retirement he specialized in traffic homicide investigation and accident reconstruction.  Brian has testified for the State’s attorney’s office as an expert in several high profile vehicle homicide investigations.  Brian is a certified CDR operator through the Institute for Police Training and Management at the University of North Florida and has used his Vetronix equipment in many cases. 

 

 

10:00-11:30  Preparing and Presenting Mediation Damages:

Explaining Who Your Client Was When They Aren’t There!

Virginia Buchanan, Esquire

Levin, Papantonio Law Firm, Pensacola, Florida

 
Virginia Buchanan, Esquire

Virginia Buchanan is a shareholder at Levin, Papantonio. She graduated magna cum laude from the University of Florida in 1985. She also received her Juris Doctorate Degree, with honors, from the University of Florida in 1989. While attending the University of Florida, Ms. Buchanan was a Bickel Scholar, Scripps-Howard Scholar and received several jurisprudence awards. She was selected to the University of Florida Moot Court Team and was a Finalist in the Florida Annual Moot Court Competition and Finalist in Benton National Moot Court Competition in Chicago, Illinois. She was selected to the Order of the Coif and to Phi Delta Phi, an honors fraternity, while in school. Ms. Buchanan is a member of the American Bar Association and the sections pertaining to insurance, premises liability and commercial litigation. She has been a member of the subcommittee of the American Bar Association on legislation affecting litigation and was appointed to a special committee of the American Bar Association on health care. Ms. Buchanan is a member of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America and the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers, as well as the Florida Bar Association. She is on the Board of Directors of the Florida Bar Foundation, the treasurer of ABOTA, chairman of the Civil Process Server Grievance Committee, and a member of the Chief Judge's Council on Children. Ms. Buchanan has served on the Judicial Liaison Committee of the Escambia-Santa Rosa Bar Association, is a member of the Escambia-Santa Rosa County Bar Association Grievance Committee for attorney complaints, and is a member of the First Circuit Fee Arbitration Committee. She has served on the Women’s Life Center Advisory Board to the West Florida Regional Medical Center and to the Board of Directors to the Shands Home Care Project. She is licensed to practice law in Florida and Alabama. She is admitted to practice in the Northern and Middle Divisions of the U.S. District Court. She is a member of the Alabama Trial Lawyers Association.

 

 

11:30-12:50  Working Lunch with Knights of the Round Table

Steve Lockman, CLI, FCI

Levin Papantonio Law Firm

 

This will be an open discussion of new investigative techniques, new trends in investigations and product liability theories, along with issues of concern.  All Inner Circle members are to bring their topics to the Round Table.

 

Steve Lockman, CLI, FCI

Steve is a Certified Legal Investigator by examination through the National Association of Legal Investigators (99) and a charter Florida Certified Investigator (99) through the Joint Committee of FCI Certification in Florida. During his tenure with the Florida law firm of Levin, Papantonio, Thomas, Mitchell, Echsner & Proctor, PA, his knowledge and skills have expanded in the pursuit of claims investigation for the firm and its clients. Steve has a vast amount of knowledge and experience in personal injury investigation through cases involving motor vehicle collisions, commercial transport vehicles, multiple vehicle collisions and rollover accidents. His knowledge and experience of product liability cases involves motor vehicles, after-market motor vehicle add-ons, gym equipment, motorcycle helmets, bicycles and a host of other products. In addition to personal injury and product liability investigations, Steve also has extensive experience in the field of criminal defense and evidence photography.

 

 

1:00-1:50      Investigative Photographic Techniques

James Harbert CLI, FCI and Bob Parke CLI, BCEP

 

Jim and Bob will split this time to bring you up to date on new investigative photographic techniques.

 
Bob Parke, CLI, BCEP

Bob is the Chief Investigator at Fonvielle Lewis Foote & Messer in Tallahassee Florida.  Bob has written extensively on the subject of digital photography and has written and lectured on other investigative topics.  Bob is a Board Certified Evidence Photographer as well as a Certified Legal Investigator through the National Association of Legal Investigators

 

James W. Harbert CLI, FCI

Technical Management Services, Pensacola, Florida

Jim has an AS in Law Enforcement (72), a BA in Public Safety (74) and an MS Degree in Criminal Justice Administration (78). Jim is a Certified Legal Investigator by examination through the National Association of Legal Investigators (85) and a Florida Certified Investigator (99) through the Joint Committee on FCI Certification in Florida. Jim has just published his first book, “Complex Legal Investigations”, available through Ralph Thomas publishers.  In addition he has authored and published 50 articles and coauthored two books in the area of investigation winning five editor/publisher awards from the National Association of Legal Investigators. In 2000, the National Association of Investigative Specialists named Jim one of the Top 25 Investigators of the Century.  Jim's newest book, Complex Legal Investigations, is available through Ralph Thomas Publications or the PI mall. Jim is the owner of Technical Management Services and has conducted plaintiff's tort investigations and criminal defense investigations for over 25 years for the law firm of Kerrigan, Estess, Rankin & McLeod in Pensacola, Florida. Jim has attended the CDR operator certification school at the Institute for Police Training and Management at the University of North Florida and is a certified CDR operator.

 

2:00-2:50      How to best utilize the National Transportation Safety Board in

Aviation, Highway and Railroad accidents.

Troy Flemming

Brown and Jennings, Salem, Virginia

 

Troy Flemming

Troy has been a legal investigator concentrating in personal injury law and product liability since 1986.  He has investigated or participated in the investigation of over 15,000 cases.  He worked as a major case director (supervised three investigators) for Taft, Taft and Haigler in Greenville and Wilmington, North Carolina.  In 1989 he spoke to the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers regarding investigation interviews.  Troy specializes in motor vehicle collision, commercial motor carrier accidents, brain injury, bicycle and product liability investigations.  Troy is currently investigating litigation involving 15 passenger vans, tire separation and commercial vehicle rollovers.

 

 

3:00-3:50      Unguarded In-Running Nip Points:

Analyzing the Unreasonably Dangerous Product

Jeffery H. Warren, Ph.D., P.E., CSP

 

Unguarded in-running nip points are unforgiving and needlessly injure numerous workers every year. Once a worker is caught in the nip, there is no getting loose as the gap gets smaller and smaller. The safety literature and many codes and standards discuss how to properly guard nip points. With lots of examples, this talk will discuss how to analyze the unreasonably dangerous unguarded nip point and tell you where to find the literature, codes and standards necessary to analyze your case.  

 

Jeffery H. Warren, Ph.D., P.E., CSP

The Warren Group, LLC, formerly Safety Design Analysis, LLC, Columbia, South Carolina. CEO and Chief Engineer performing specialized consulting and training related to property loss analysis and the analysis of designs with regard to safety.

Property Loss Analysis

Determine the cause of the loss, establish scope of damage, estimate cost to repair, evaluate replacement cost, establish actual value, estimate salvage value, estimate time required to complete repair.


Safety Design Analysis (Personal Injury and Property Damage)

Industrial accident reconstruction, machine controls, machine safeguarding, warnings, OSHA compliance, standards and codes compliance, maintenance, fire and explosion analysis, products liability, product failures, premises liability, failure analysis, consumer products.

 

Accident Prevention

Hazards identification, risk assessment, engineering design for safety, component testing, OSHA compliance, standards, codes compliance and products liability.


Training
Hazards identification, risk assessment, engineering design for safety, standards and codes, machine safeguarding and products liability.

 

 

Saturday, April 24, 2004

 

*For Saturday’s session we will meet at McSwain Engineering located in Ellyson Industrial Park in Pensacola:

            3320 McLemore Dr.

Pensacola, Florida 32514

Phone:          (850) 484-0506

Fax:                (850) 484-0508

 

8:30-9:50      Vehicle down load and crash damage analysis.

Jack Murray CLI, & Richard McSwain, P.E., PhD, Brian Barton.

 

For this session we will obtain a late model GM vehicle to demonstrate an in vehicle download with Brian Barton.  After the down load we will have Brian, Jack Murray and Richard McSwain go over the supporting evidence that an accident reconstructionist can obtain from the vehicle. 

 

Jack Murray CLI

J.W. Jack Murray, Jr. is a Certified Legal Investigator and accident reconstructionist qualified as an expert in State, County and Federal courts, Murray has testified in both civil and criminal cases all over the United States. Combining his investigative skills and training as an accident reconstructionist he has successfully investigated and sent for prosecution, numerous cases of insurance fraud.  Award winning author of seven books in his field, Murray is internationally recognized as a lecturer and teacher and has received numerous accolades from his peers. He has twice been a winner of the prestigious Editor-Publisher Award of the National Association of Legal Investigators. In 1998, he was named one of the top five investigators in America by PI Magazine and in 2000 was named one of the Top 25 Investigators of the Century by the National Association of Investigative Specialists. In 1996, he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Investigative Specialists and in 1997, received the National Directors Award from the National Association of Legal Investigators. He is a former Regional Director of the National Association of Legal Investigators and former President of the North Texas Private Investigators Association.

 

10:00-11:30  Metallurgy:  Application to Personal Injury Litigation

Richard McSwain, P.E., PhD

McSwain Engineering, Pensacola, Florida.

 

Dr. McSwain will discuss metallurgy and its application to personal injury litigation and will take us on a tour of his engineering and metallurgy facility that includes:

 

Materials Failure Analysis:

  • Dimensional Analysis
  • Nondestructive Analysis
  • Macroscopic Evaluation
  • Fracture Surface Characterization
  • Scanning Electron Microscopy
  • X-Ray Microanalysis and Bulk Chemical Analysis
  • Fourier Transform Infrared Microanalysis
  • Micro-structural Analysis
  • Hardness Testing and Evaluation
  • Mechanical Property Testing and Evaluation
  • Crash Testing and Impact Testing
  • Failure Mechanisms and Mode Evaluation
  • Specification and Standards Compliance
  • Materials Deficiency Determination

 

Materials Engineering Investigation:

  • Component Failure History Research
  • Fracture and Corrosion Analysis
  • Crack Propagation Evaluation
  • Materials Joining Analysis
  • Nondestructive Testing
  • Residual Stress Analysis 

 

Material Failures Investigated:

  • Helicopters and Fixed Wing Aircraft
  • Piston and Turbine Engines
  • Automobiles, Trucks and Trailers
  • Ships and Hovercraft
  • Industrial Equipment
  • Construction Equipment

 

Dr. Richard McSwain

Dr. McSwain obtain his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Materials Engineering from Auburn University and his Ph.D. in materials Engineering from the University of Florida.  Following 27 years of metallurgical and materials engineering analysis, evaluation and testing, Dr. McSwain has narrowed his focus to materials engineering and failure analysis and to engineering investigation of failed components.  He is currently the President and Principal Engineer of McSwain Engineering, Inc.  During his tenure as a Materials Engineer and Expert, Dr. McSwain has been awarded the Department of the Navy Special Achievement Award, the Department of the Navy Outstanding Performance Award, and was a Member of Product Oriented Survey Audit Team for the Presidential Helicopter (1988), and the Naval Air Systems Command Lead Technology Engineer for Fractography and Scanning Electron Microscopy (1982-1989).