Legal Legislation

Expert Witness

• The first job of an expert witness is to try to keep you out of court.
• The second job of an expert witness is to honestly tell you if you should be going forward with your case. We will tell you if you are in a "no win" situation.
• The third job of an expert witness is to educate your lawyer better than the opposition can educate their lawyer.
• The fourth job of an expert witness is to anticipate as many questions as possible and to be sure that enough field work and analysis has been done so that the questions can be answered.

Boston Harbor

Carr Research Laboratory, Inc. was contracted by the City of Quincy when they sued the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority (MWRA) concerning bacterial pollution of the beaches. CRL conducted the water quality study. A testing program was designed and implemented which showed that Quincy’s storm drains were not the bacterial source. The Court Master found that an MWRA study was poorly executed and the final court decision was the start of the major Boston Harbor clean up.

Land Acquisition

The City of Beverly took a large piece of land next to a reservoir and tried to pay the land owner less than the appraised value. The city claimed that wetlands on the site severely constrained development. Dr. Carr challenged the wetland line as mapped by the city’s consultant and showed the engineer how to better place the road system calling for no wetland crossings at all if the land were to be developed. The land owner won $4.5 million plus interest.

Beach Management

A small number of beach houses were being buried by a migrating sand dune. The homeowners wanted to move the sand back onto the beach to protect their dwellings. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) initially denied the permit. CRL demonstrated that replacing the sand would act as "beach nourishment" and that transporting dune sand was a similar activity to the State’s sand moving which was regularly done just a short distance away. In the end, the encroaching sand dune was permitted to be relocated, and the houses were saved.

Wetland Cases before DEP

The DEP administrative law judges preside over wetland disputes. CRL has won permits for coastal docks, for large residential subdivisions near lakes, for small houses with septic systems sited in coastal areas. Many additional DEP wetland disputes have ended in favor of CRL clients.

Cement Waste as Hazardous Fill

Cement waste was discovered to have been used as fill on a site for a residential development. The neighbors tried to claim that the cement waste was "hazardous waste." CRL was hired by the land owners to clearly demonstrate that there was no significant air or water quality threat. After a thorough investigation and a court case, building continued.