The bulk of our work is completing assignments for clients related to body size information measurements and studies. That said, our duties sometimes have us putting the scanners and measuring tapes to the side in order to provide a service that can make a major impact in people’s lives and law: expert witness services.
What is an expert witness?
An expert witness is someone who is called into the legal process to add scientific or professional expertise to the case at hand. Both prosecutors and defense attorneys – and sometimes judges – rely on experts to help them understand technical areas in which the attorneys have limited personal knowledge or experience. The expert will conduct research and answer questions on the stand or in a deposition about certain scenarios – in our case – scenarios involving the human body, its size, and its capabilities.
Our experience as a witness
Over the years, we have participated in several cases, a few of which were on behalf of the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division. Here are some examples of topics Anthrotech experts were called to discuss:
- An apartment building developer built a complex that didn’t follow guidelines to accommodate people with disabilities with appropriate ramps, access to doorways, etc. The developer was trying to prove that they guidelines were inaccurate, and the building was fine for those with disabilities. Anthrotech, as an opposing expert, showed that the builder’s expert was incorrect, and the design truly was inadequate.
- A truck driver hit a pothole and bounced up, hitting the ceiling of his truck cab and getting hurt. The question was whether or not the truck cab was designed adequately for normally-sized truck drivers. Our role was to measure the truck driver and identify where he was in the overall distribution of seated heights.
- A dentist was accused of inappropriately touching his legs against his female assistant’s legs as he was working on patients. We were called in to express an opinion of whether or not the alleged action could actually have taken place, given the dentist’s measurements in relation to his colleague.
One unique thing about anthropometry experts is that there truly aren’t very many of us working in the United States, especially compared to other scientific specialists. As a result, we do receive several calls for expert witness cases, and we work hard to accommodate them. Though we are based in Ohio, we are happy to travel for these cases, just as we travel for our other client work.
If you have any questions or think you may need an expert witness in the anthropometry field, contact us today.
