How is evidence assessment in civil litigation the same as data analysis in forensic investigation? Or is it?

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Both need to be thorough and objective, but the sameness ends there. Data analysis is based on numbers and the scientific method and is more precise. Evidence assessment is based on case law and legal principles – words – and is less precise. A hard analysis compared to a soft analysis.

Where does that leave the accident victim, the property owner, the claimant? It leaves them some wiggle room, or the butt of some. Think what lawyers – wordsmiths as they say – can do with wiggle room.

I’m not sure where these thoughts came from but they are relevant to recent blogs on the role observation plays in forensic investigation and the importance of peer review. (Refs 1 to 5) Observation – the soft underbelly of forensic investigation? (Ref. 6)

It’s interesting too that civil procedure rules governing experts, like Rule 55 in Nova Scotia, are prepared by the legal profession – the wordsmiths. Proponents of the soft analysis telling those of the hard analysis how to analyse their data and write their reports. Interesting.

But the Rule reminded me to keep my forensic report writing tight, including noting other possible causes of an incident and why they were dismissed. This echoes the scientific method in a big way – the hard analysis. I wonder if the wordsmiths realized this?

References

  1. One forensic observation does not a cause make. Posted July 18, 2023
  2. Observational Method: Example #1. Posted July 31, 2023
  3. Observational Method: Example #2. Posted August 29, 2023
  4. The science of peer review in forensic investigation. Posted November 30, 2023
  5. A mini application of the scientific method in a forensic engineering investigation. Posted December 31, 2023
  6. Google the Observational Method and learn about it at this level. For example, Google Observational Method in Geotechnical Engineering; a good example seeing as everything rests on the ground – like in Geo

(Posted by Eric E. Jorden, M.Sc., P.Eng. Consulting Professional Engineer, Forensic Engineer, Geotechnology Ltd., Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, February 20, 2024 ejorden@eastlink.ca)    

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