TRB's 63rd Annual Workshop on Transportation Law
Sejin Brooks, Thomas Dover, Christine Ryan and Jill Jaffe participated in the Transportation Research Board’s 63rd Annual Transportation Law Workshop that took place July 7-10, 2024 in Kansas City, MO.
On July 7th, Sejin moderated the panel “Stupid Expert Tricks: The Care and Feeding of Expert Witnesses in Eminent Domain Proceedings.” This was a lighthearted conversation about some of the tragic things the panelists have witnessed in condemnation, particularly by experts giving sworn testimony in front of juries. The panel consisted of two experienced litigators and two experienced witnesses who took part in a fireside chat swapping war stories of cases they’ve personally witnessed where a lack of preparation of witnesses led to an impeachment of the case or cases where ego or competence issues have undermined credibility. The litigators shared lessons they’ve learned regarding proper vetting of witnesses and the witnesses shared lessons they’ve learned to make themselves more effective.
On July 8th, Christine discussed “Risk Allocation in Contracts.” This panel examined the trends in risk allocation for contracts for various types of project delivery models, as well as best practices for risk allocation for mega-projects delivered through alternative delivery models.
Thomas addressed “Artificial Intelligence in Real Transportation: Going from Gimmick to Game Changer” on July 9th. This panel discussed the rapidly developing software and applications of artificial intelligence. Specifically for the transportation sector, Thomas addressed AI and machine learning privacy and information security issues, government procurement and contracting concerns and the regulatory landscape.
Jill discussed “False Claims Act” on July 9th. This panel provided different perspectives on False Claims Act investigations and claims during the development and implementation of transportation projects. They also explored how these cases arise, what is required to establish the elements of a False Claims Act claim, what that means from an investigatory standpoint, how these claims differ from other types of claims on transportation projects and best practices for avoiding false claims from public and private viewpoints.
