{"id":607,"date":"2012-09-26T11:17:17","date_gmt":"2012-09-26T11:17:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/?p=607"},"modified":"2012-09-26T11:17:17","modified_gmt":"2012-09-26T11:17:17","slug":"the-role-of-a-professional-engineer-assisting-counsel-prepare-a-statement-of-defence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/26\/the-role-of-a-professional-engineer-assisting-counsel-prepare-a-statement-of-defence\/","title":{"rendered":"The role of a professional engineer assisting counsel prepare a Statement of Defence"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Defendant\u2019s\u00a0counsel prepares a Statement of Defense that replies to each allegation made by the Plaintiff.\u00a0 The Defendant may file counter-claims and also claims against third parties with the court.\u00a0 The\u00a0Statement of Defense\u00a0sets out the facts and the legal grounds that the Defense is relying on in their reply to the Plaintiff and in their allegations against the Plaintiff and third parties.<\/p>\n<p>The Statement of Defense is the third step in the Pleadings:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Notice of Claim<\/li>\n<li>Statement of Claim<\/li>\n<li><strong>Statement of Defense<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Affidavit<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A\u00a0professional engineer retained by the Defense might focus on the following in his or her forensic engineering investigations:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Review the technical evidence supporting the\u00a0Plaintiff&#8217;s claims<\/li>\n<li>Carry out engineering investigations to confirm or refute\u00a0the Plaintiff&#8217;s investigations<\/li>\n<li>Carry\u00a0out engineering investigations of perceived wrongs and damages that could give rise to counter-claims and cross claims<\/li>\n<li>Assess the technical strengths and\u00a0weaknesses of all parties<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Once the last of the Statements of Defense have been filed, including any amendments,\u00a0\u2013 one for each party, the pleadings are said to be closed.<\/p>\n<p>The parties involved in the dispute may now exchange informal letters to try and come to an agreement and settle their differences before proceeding with a number of other steps.\u00a0 In a sense, the clock starts ticking at this point in the countdown to going to trial.<\/p>\n<p>The role of a professional engineer retained by the Defense at this stage would be similar to that of a professional engineer retained by the Plaintiff:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><em>Visit and visually examine the site<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Review the technical facts given in support of the Plaintiff&#8217;s claim and the technical evidence supporting these facts<\/em><em><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Review available documentation and\u00a0evidence of lay witnesses, and experts and specialists<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Identify and explain the technical issues in the allegations in the Statement of Claim <\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Carry out engineering investigations to confirm or\u00a0refute the thoroughness and reliability of the Plaintiff&#8217;s investigations and the\u00a0evidence and facts arising from these investigations<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Assess the technical strengths and weaknesses of the Plaintiff\u2019s case and for each party identified by the Plaintiff<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Identify the technical facts relevant to the Defense\u2019s position and the evidence supporting these facts<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Assess if enough technical data is available for the Defense to respond to the Statement of Claim<\/em><em><\/em><em><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Assess\u00a0the technical strengths and weaknesses of the Defense\u2019s position<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Carry out engineering investigations for the Defense of perceived wrongs and damages that might give rise to counter claims and cross claims<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Evaluate preliminary design and costs of repair of the damaged structure<\/em><em><\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Identify parties that could be involved in the engineering failure or accident that have not been named in the Statement of Claim, the Defense, or any counter claims and cross claims<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Review the Statement of Defense and counter claims, and response to Statement of Claim, for correct understanding and representation of the technical issues and facts\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Prepare a report, on instruction of counsel, describing the forensic engineering investigations, the analysis of the data collected, the findings, the conclusions, and the opinions formed relevant to the Statement of Claim\u2019s allegations, the Defense\u2019s response, and counter claims and cross claims<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>References<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Steps in the civil litigation process.\u00a0 Published August 28, 2012<\/li>\n<li>The role of a professional engineer in counsel&#8217;s decision to take a case.\u00a0 Published June 26, 2012<\/li>\n<li>The role of a professional engineer assisting counsel prepare a Notice of Claim.\u00a0 Published July 26, 2012<\/li>\n<li>Stockwood, Q.C., David, <em>Civil Litigation, A Practical Handbook<\/em>, 5th ed., 2004, Thompson Carswell<\/li>\n<li>ASCE <em>Guidelines for Forensic Engineering Practice<\/em>, 2003, American Society of Civil Engineers<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Defendant\u2019s\u00a0counsel prepares a Statement of Defense that replies to each allegation made by the Plaintiff.\u00a0 The Defendant may file counter-claims and also claims against third parties with the court.\u00a0 The\u00a0Statement of Defense\u00a0sets out the facts and the legal grounds &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/26\/the-role-of-a-professional-engineer-assisting-counsel-prepare-a-statement-of-defence\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=607"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":649,"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607\/revisions\/649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}