Client References & Comments
Bracewell & Giuliani
Littleton Joyce Ughetta Park & Kelly
Michael Best & Friedrich
Dewey Ballantine
Sheldon & Mak
Vinson & Elkins
Ropes & Gray
Fullbright & Jaworaski
Roylance Abrams
Baker & Daniels
Duane Morris
Marshall Gerstein Borun
Christian & Small
Brazeale Saches & Wilson
McKinsey & Company
Vista Research
Gerson Lehrman
Landstar Risk Management
Zurich Insurance
Fidelity Casualty Insurance
Battelle Memorial Institute
Key Energy Services
AT&T Services
Ashland Inc.
CompuMed Inc.
Oceaneering International
Alyeska Pipeline
"Your ability to explain to a lay audience the workings of patents and of the device itself was extraordinary." Attorney, New Orleans LA
"The complex mix of engineering and business in this litigation required an expert with diverse and credible real-life experience. You delivered just what I needed, right when I needed it."
Attorney, San Francisco CA
"You have a remarkable talent for communicating with a jury, which you demonstrated in the San Francisco trial. Few experts have your ability to take a very complex subject...and distill it into concepts that can be (and were) understood by average people who have no technical background." Attorney, Tulsa OK  
"It was a pleasure working with you. You were definitely the smartest guy in the room." 
Attorney, New York, NY 
"I was extremely fortunate to find you after our previous consultant abandoned us on the eve of trial. You must have worked long, late hours to have analyzed the problem within the short time given....such dedication is truly appreciated" Attorney, Chicago  
"I can tell you that we were very pleased with your service and the opinion you had on the case. I think you were able to take a somewhat abstract and brief bundle of information and truly put into words the frustrations that we went through." Client, Houston TX
"Thanks for accepting this assignment. Your survey was one of the best and most concise I've read in my twenty years in the business." Adjuster, New Orleans  
"You had the rare ability to understand and explain the complex workings of both the equipment and the computer program...... Having found you, I no longer have to worry in this type of case. I truly look forward to working with you again, and hope I never have to face you as an adversary."
Attorney, Mid West
"Your analysis helped seal the settlement. My client was very pleased with your prompt and concise report." Attorney, Pasadena CA
"You certainly have a talent for writing in a most understandable way. It was a pleasure to read the manuscript and experience the smooth, effortless flow of words and logic."  
Technical Editor, Chicago, IL
"I cannot imagine any expert who is better suited to make the complex seem uncomplicated. That rare ability, combined with your down-to-earth and even appropriately humorous presentation of subjects that might otherwise be considered dry, made all the difference in the world."  Attorney, Metairie LA
"So often, experts in complex cases remind me of the old story about the blind men describing an elephant; each describes a portion of the animal, but none grasps the creature as a whole. [However,] you did. You literally pulled the case from the fire and made it possible to negotiate an otherwise impossible settlement"  Attorney, Chicago  
"You did a nice job showing that plaintiff's [patent claim] construction, even if literal, is invalid..... By the way, [you did a] very thorough and well organized job." Attorney, Milwaukee WI
"With your excellent work we were able to quickly and fairly settle the case."
Attorney, Chicago IL
"Your attention to detail greatly simplified processing of this claim. It's rare when an insured and an underwriter so quickly find common ground." Insurer, Jacksonville FL

Copyright © 2011 Artzat Consulting. Photos modified for confidentiality or illustration clarity.

Best viewed in Mozilla Firefox

Artzat Consulting is owned by Arthur Zatarain, PE in Metairie Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans Artzat provides consulting and expert witness services to attorneys, insurers, and end users. Typical projects relate to equipment, automation, instrumentation, and control systems. Service is available nationwide with engineering licenses held in Louisiana, Alabama, California, and Alaska.

Forensic Engineer

A forensic engineer performs analysis and reporting on technhical matters that are typically being pricessed through some form of legal matter. However, a legal environment isn't required for a forensic examination. The analysis may be performed merely to determine the cause of a specific event or condition. For example, a forensic examination may be made on a control system to determine why an accident occured, or why a system did not perform as expected. The forensic analysis may be of software code such as ladder lofic in a PLC, or it may involve hard wired relay logic, electrical controls, power distribution, or instrumentation. Forensic engineering is therefore useful in a variety of situations regardless of the legal entanglement.

Industrial Equipment

Typical equipment includes programmable logic controller PLC, distrubited control system DCS, and electric relay logic. PLC systems use ladder logic for most operations, while a DCS will often use function block programming. The concepts of PLC and DCS have merged into a unified control platform based on open architecture interfaces. The use if ladder logic is widespread due to its earlier application to relay logic circuits.

An expert witness is used to investigate and evaluate the technical and commercial aspects of accidents, intellectual property, and commercial matters. Artzat consulting can assist clients in all these areas, with experience with steam boilers, paper mill, steel mill, burner management, and telemetry scada. Other areas include medical devices, flow measurement, meters, power distribution, and refridgeration.

Expert Witness Services

Expert witness can be provided in any state, with experience in Louisiana, California, Alabama, and Alaska. Other states include North Carolina, Olkahoma, Illionis, and Indiana and Texas. Michigan has also been served, with the states of Washington, Colorado, Oregon, and District of Columbia DC. Any state such as New York or New Jersey can also be served by expert witness service. Professional credentials are important, such as licensed engineer or registered engineer. Also importnat is a masters degree in engineering or similar field. A phd is not a necessity for an expert witness because career experience and expert witness experience is more useful to the client than a phd with no relevant experience.

product Liability

A forensic engineer is useful for matters of product liability and product defects. Artzat Consulting has experience with product liability for industrial and commercial equipment. Product liability has also been analyzed for control systems, programmable controllers, ladder logic, and engineering design. Product liability can result from an original product manufacturer oem, or from a systems integrator who combines components into a complete system.

Forensic Engineering Locations

Service in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and Alabama is efficient due to the proximity of Metairie to those areas. However, an airplane will take Artzat anywhere within the USA in a matter of hours. Travel to Alabama areas such as Birmingham or Montgomery or Mobile is easy, with Huntsville also accessible by car. Visits to Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, and Austin are also less than one day away by car. A phd is not unusual for an expert witness, but is not really important when compared to real life experience with equipment, controls and automation with PLC and DCS control system equipment.

Service in California includes Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego as well as outlying Bakersfield and Antioch. Seattle is a bit far, but the airline does most of the heavy lifting. Travel to New York NYC occurs easily on JetBlue and Delta. Once in NYC the entire tri-state area is easily accessibls, as is upstate new york.

Service to New England is welcomed, so please inquire with your technical requirements for an expert witness. Travel to new England such as Boston is by JetBlue, or other carriers, which can then lead to other New England cities.

Engineer for Machine Accident

An engineer ma be required to serve as an expert witness or forensic for a machine accident such as with a conveyor, power press, steel mill, or extraction machine. The instance could be an equipment accident, or it could be a process accident. A typical example is an expert engineer for a manufacturing accident. This could be an expert engineer or forensic engineer in an assembly plant, or an expert engineer in a production line or on a vehicle assembly line.

Oilfield accident

An expert engineer can be useful to evaluate an oilfield or oil and gas accident. Those events may include oil and gas or the related products such as water, co2, h2s, and sulfates. The accidents occur on oil wells, gas wells, pipelines, storage tanks, and production vessels such as separators, treaters, waste heat recovery units, and water treating facilities. Such events can be generally divided into an oil and gas drilling accident or an oil and gas production accident. An oilfield accident requiring an expert engineer can occur onshore of offshore. The expert engineer can be for control system, production system, safety system or automation system, or instrumentation. The system can be electrical, electric, electronic, hydraulic, and pneumatic. A computer control system can also require an expert engineer. An industiral engineer can also be used if the matter involves safety and production systems.

Automatic control

An expert engineer may be required for an accident involving automatic control. That expert could be for electrical engineer, control system engineer, or automation engineer. A mechanical engineer or someone with experience with mechanical engineering can also be useful for an automatic control accident. A certified systems integrator is someone who can be an expert engineer for automatic control. The systems integration involves combining multiple equipment and techology into a single control system. This involves design, programming, fabrication, testing installation, and maintenance.

industrial accident

An industrial accident may require an expert engineer or forensic engineer to analyze and evaluate the control system connected with the event. The accident may have nothing to do with the control system. Still, a forensic engineer may be required to analyze the system to determine that the control system was not af fault.

Equipment accident

An equipment accident can require an expert engineer or expert witness to help evaluate the circumstances and situation including the mechanical and electrical components of the equipment. This can be industrial equipment, process equipment, manufacturing system, commercial equipment such as heater or dryer, or pump and compresssor. Industrial equipment is also a flow meter, electrical switchgear, control switch, button, and instrumentation. End devices are pressure, temperature, level, and other physical measurement. Many equipment is used for food production, packaging, transportation, storage, and conveyor. Metal processing such as steel mill, paper mill, refinery, petrochemical, and tank farm. Vehicle can also be equipment itself, or it can contain devices related to an equipment accident.