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Playground Surface - Experts Investigate Fall from Climbing Equipment
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Low Speed Collision - Experts Reconstruct Crash to Determine Injury Causation
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Vehicle Repair – Expert Investigates Engine Failure to Determine Cause
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Inattentive Driving – Expert Investigates Pedestrian Strike in Crosswalk
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Bartley J. Eckhardt, P.E.
Mechanical Marine Systems Expert Witness, Marine and Industrial Engineering Expert

What better expert for matters relating to marine and industrial engineering than a Merchant Mariner who’s versed in ship design and operation, who co-authored the U.S. Navy Towing Manual, and who’s been a recreational boater since childhood?

Bart’s experience doesn’t end there.  He took his shipboard experience ashore where he designed, built, tested, troubleshot, maintained, and repaired highly specialized machines and systems.  Machine guarding to piping, kettles to presses, rigging to blocking, Bart’s probably done it and crafted the instructions and warnings, too.

Bart holds a patent for remediation of contaminated soil, is a Professional Engineer registered by the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES), and is licensed in seventeen states.

Related Articles/Documents
  • Curriculum Vitae (CV)
  • Machine Interlock – Expert Opinion Integral in $510,000 Settlement
    • Machine Interlock – Expert Opinion Integral in $510,000 Settlement

      A butcher was seriously injured at work. The victim was standing between filling and canning machines, loading stacks of lids, when his supervisor asked him to hand over a tool; when the butcher reached over and between the two machines his jacket got caught on the rotating power take-off shaft, resulting in multiple fractures to his right arm.

      Robson Forensic expert, Bart Eckhardt, P.E., opined that the machine manufacturer failed to provide an interlock for the power take-off shaft guard and that the manufacturer failed to ensure the power take-off shaft guard was with the machine when the equipment was resold to the plaintiff’s employer. The absence of a shaft guard exposed the plaintiff to an unreasonable hazard and was a cause of his injury.

      The case settled for $510,000 in mediation.

      View Full Verdicts \ Settlement HERE

  • Fishing Boat - Expert Investigates Sinking of Brand New Vessel
    • Fishing Boat - Expert Investigates Sinking of Brand New Vessel

      An experienced delivery captain took possession of a brand new, high-end 35' sport fishing boat. Hours after leaving the dock, the boat sank in frigid water. The captain and crew died from hypothermia.

      View Full Verdicts \ Settlement HERE

  • The Forensic Anatomy of the Events on the Deepwater Horizon
    • The Forensic Anatomy of the Events on the Deepwater Horizon

      Forensic Anatomy of the Events on the Deepwater Horizon: A look at offshore drilling technology, both past and future.

      View Full Article HERE

  • Worker Trapped in Machine Sustains Crush Injuries, Receives Settlement of 2.2 million
    • Worker Trapped in Machine Sustains Crush Injuries, Receives Settlement of 2.2 million

      A worker was trapped and suffered crush injuries to his abdomen and internal organs, when attempting to clear a jam in a copper coil stacker.

      View Full Verdicts \ Settlement HERE

  • DuPont Found Grossly Negligent in 2004 Spill
    • DuPont Found Grossly Negligent in 2004 Spill

      On Monday, July 13, 2009, the jury hearing the 2004 DuPont Litigation returned a verdict in excess of $1.25 million for plaintiffs, who are but six of the 179 individuals suing E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Company for injuries they sustained as a result of DuPont's October 11, 2004 release of clouds of toxic fuming sulfuric acid from its Wurtland plant over large portions of Greenup County, Kentucky. The remaining 173 plaintiffs' cases will be tried, under the streamlined trial plan developed by the Honorable David L. Bunning, as soon as Octover 2009.

      View Full Verdicts \ Settlement HERE

  • Boating and Recreation Safety - Robson Forensic Experts
    • Boating and Recreation Safety - Robson Forensic Experts

      When you have cases involving recreational boating, aquatics, or summer recreation, we can help. Our specialized marine and aquatic experts possess extensive experience and training in watercraft design, performance and operations and stand ready to assist your litigation/subrogation.

      View Full Mailer HERE