Expert Witness Features – page 24

How religious and ethnic issues can affect justice

THERE ARE SIX major religions in the world: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism. There are many other religions with smaller numbers of followers, of course, and every religion has many sects, cults or subdivisions. Some sects, however, are non-religious groups.

Names often have religious identity. Any shortening or modification of names can be hurtful to a devoted religious person, even if he or she remains stoical. It may also have legal consequences.

The expert witness in the wet

Many cases relate to flooding issues that can arise from a multitude of causes, for example faulty drainage (either private drains or public sewers), surface water run-off from developments and changes to land use, inadequate highway drainage, obstructed watercourses and culverts and associated maintenance regimes. Natural fluvial flooding on flood plains is not often a cause for a dispute.

Sewage disposal problems are frequently in connection with poorly performing privately-owned treatment plants and septic tanks, particularly the associated soakaway systems which often turn out be incorrectly designed and constructed.

With asbestos, it’s defining the risk that’s the hard part

ASBESTOS FALLS into two distinct categories of legal work: the personal claims of those exposed in the past and the cases involving recent occurrences that result in civil or criminal proceedings.

The personal claims area is fairly straightforward for the expert, particularly as they are usually dealt with by specialist legal teams backed up by medical experts. The matter for the asbestos expert is quantification of exposure of the plaintiff in the work situations described and, though not an exact science, presents not too many difficulties.

Who’s telling the truth?

SINCE MAY 1998, when the Housing Grants Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 came into force, adjudicators and judges have been tirelessly unravelling its complexities.

They arose from the novelty of the processes, some poor parliamentary draughtsmanship, and not forgetting the ingenuity of people determined to avoid payment.

Confiscation and ‘criminal lifestyle’

THE COURTS are increasingly hearing cases concerning confiscation of assets after conviction, usually where the defendant is said to have a criminal lifestyle under The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (PoCA 2002).

Following conviction, the court often considers confiscation orders where it must decide whether the defendant has a criminal lifestyle. This means that without your guidance, your client may not even know of the possibility of such action until the moment of conviction. Then, the prosecutor is likely to present a pre-prepared statement indicating if he believes that the defendant has a criminal lifestyle and his view as to how the defendant has benefited from the offences and, where a criminal lifestyle is asserted, his (assumed) general criminal conduct.