Lawsuits involving the actions of a private investigator are rare. However cases concerning alleged negligence, intrusive or unethical activities by a private investigator--or significant deviations from generally accepted practices--do appear from time to time. Most notably, these cases stem from actions of an undercover private investigator, or an investigator working on surveillance or drug-related operations.

Over the years, Mr. Schmedlen has personally worked thousands of investigative cases, ranging from surveillances, undercovers and routine workers' compensation claimant inspections to multimillion dollar international frauds which took him to such diverse venues as Australia, the South Pacific and Southeast Asia. Additionally he has conducted investigations in European, British and Latin American locales, as well as throughout most of North America.

For many years, he was responsible for as many as forty investigators acting under his direction and has held a variety of elected positions in investigation trade associations, as well as serving on the Michigan State Police Private Investigator Advisory Board for several years. Additionally, he has taken an active part in legislative matters effecting private investigators and from time to time has been a guest lecturer on this subject at local colleges.

Although he has consulted with attorneys on many cases involving the actions of private investigators, the only litigation matters where he has acted as an expert witness per se have been cases involving surveillance. The plaintiff case related to a licensed private investigator's use of a clandestine electronic vehicular tracking device. (To view a Michigan Lawyers Weekly article concerning such devices, please follow this link to: Clandestine Tracking Devices.)

Because of the scarcity of these cases, Mr. Schmedlen's curriculum vitae does not provide much in the way of detail on his investigative background. For detailed information on Mr. Schmedlen's experience and expertise in investigative matters, please request this by e-mail expert@lpconline.com or call him direct at 810/629-7569 during normal business hours.

Please scroll down to view private investigator negligence expert witness case titles.

SECURITY EXPERT WITNESS LITIGATION CASE HISTORY
PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR NEGLIGENCE

Tezak v
Huntington Research et al
Private investigator negligence expert witness for plaintiff
Oakland County, Michigan

Jane Hughes v
Gill & Associates, et al
Private investigator negligence expert witness for defendant
Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

An attachment to Mr. Schmedlen's curriculum vitae identifies the clients in each of these matters and contains a recap of each of the cases.

Questions on this subject? Write Roger H. Schmedlen, CPP, CFE, CII, MIPI

Private Investigator Negligence Expert Witness travel time is capped as follows on litigation cases:
3 hours round trip: Illinois (Northeast Illinois including Chicago IL), Indiana (North of Muncie IN), Michigan (All of Michigan except MI Upper Peninsula), Ohio (Columbus OH and Northern OH)
4 hours round trip: Delaware (All of DE), District of Columbia (Metropolitan Washington DC area), Florida (Orlando FL south including Florida keys), Illinois (All of IL except, Northeast Illinois, Chicago IL), Indiana (South of Muncie IN), Iowa (All of IA east of Council Bluffs IA), Kansas (Eastern KS area including Kansas City KS), Kentucky (All of KY), Maryland (All of MD), Michigan (Central and Eastern Upper Peninsula, MI), Minnesota (East of Detroit Lakes MN), Missouri (All of MO), New Jersey (All of NJ), New York (All of NY including NYC), North Carolina (West of Raleigh Durham NC metro area), Ohio (Southern OH, south of Columbus OH), Oregon (Coastal OR areas including Portland OR), Pennsylvania (All of PA), South Carolina (Greenville SC Spartanburg SC area), Tennessee (All of TN), Virginia (Western VA west of Richmond VA), Washington (Coastal WA cities), West Virginia (All of WV), Wisconsin (All of WI)
5 hours round trip: Alabama (All of AL), Arkansas (All of AK), Arizona (Southern half of AZ south of Prescott AZ to Nogales AZ and including the Phoenix AZ and Tucson AZ areas), Arizona (Northwest AZ including Lake Mead, AZ and Las Vegas, NV areas), California (Western CA coastal cities regions and Southern California including Los Angeles CA, Orange County CA and northwestern regions such as San Francisco CA), Colorado (Boulder CA and Denver CA areas), Connecticut (All of CT), Florida (North of Orlando FL metro area, Florida Panhandle and of of FL in Central Time Zone), Georgia (All of GA including Atlanta GA), Iowa (All of IA west of Council Bluffs IA), Kansas (Most of KS west of Kansas City KS), Louisiana (All of LA), Maine (All of ME), Massachusetts (All of MA), Michigan (Western Upper Peninsula MI), Minnesota (West of Detroit Lakes MN), Mississippi (All of MS), Nebraska (All of NE east of CO), Nevada (Extreme southern NV including Las Vegas NV region), New Hampshire (All of NH), North Carolina (Raleigh Durham NC east), North Dakota (East of Minot ND), Oklahoma (All of OK), Rhode Island (All off RI), South Carolina (All of SC except the Greenville SC Spartanburg SC area), South Dakota (East of Rapid City SD), Texas (Northeast TX including Dallas Fort Worth TX), Vermont (All of VT), Virginia (Eastern VA including Richmond VA)
6 hours round trip: Arizona (Northern half of AZ), California (Eastern CA north of Death Valley CA area), Colorado (All of CO except for Boulder CA and Denver CA areas), Idaho (All of ID), Montana (All of MT), Nebraska (Western NE), Nevada (All of NV except extreme south Las Vegas NV region), New Mexico (All of NM), North Dakota (Minot ND and west), Oregon (Eastern 3/4 of OR), South Dakota (Rapid City SD and west), Texas (Northeast TX including Dallas Fort Worth TX), Utah (All of UT), Washington (All of WA except coastal WA cities), Wyoming (All of WY)
Negotiable: Alaska, American Samoa, Guam, Hawaii, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands

INVESTIGATOR NEGLIGENCE EXPERT SECURITY EXPERT WITNESS

INVESTIGATOR NEGLIGENCE EXPERT
SECURITY EXPERT WITNESS