Thomas McCloskey is a Litigation Consultant for The Insurance Expert Network. He has testified in over two hundred cases and is a sought-after expert for policy interpretations, insurance company operations and standards; and claims handling. Mr. McCloskey is a contributing author to several training materials including tax industry publications and courses and is a certified Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU).

In this episode…

Whether a consulting or testifying expert witness, it is crucial to understand the underlying case. When giving testimony, or responding to the engaging attorney’s questions, a solid foundation is crucial. Our guest, insurance expert, Thomas McCloskey notes:

Now both [consulting and testifying expert witness engagements] require me to do the same steps. I need to see the file material. I need to read it, annotate it, internalize it, and be prepared to be asked anything within the four corners of the litigation. So, it is a lot of reading and a lot of note taking. To get prepared I need to know the case as well as, and sometimes better than the attorney.

He continues:

I start [by] first reading all the filings with the court, and I make notes on who's doing what [. . .] Then I look at the proofs that they have submitted to the court to see if I agree or disagree. And the whole time I've got my trusty legal pad next to me with a pen, and I'm writing questions. ‘Who did this?’ ‘Why are we doing that’? ‘Why did you do that?’ That sort of thing [. . .] I have to put myself in the position of actually being in the middle of the litigation.

Our conversation includes bringing in experts early enough, when to leave an engagement, and avoiding “customer golf.”