John M. Newell, P.E.

Background

A graduate of Louisiana State University, Mr. John Newell holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering and is a registered professional engineer in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.

Mr. Newell has in-depth knowledge and experience spanning multiple industries, including oil & gas, construction, and forensics.  Mr. Newell has managed, inspected, investigated, and analyzed numerous simultaneous damage claims, engineering failures, and consulting projects for the legal industry, insurance carriers and independent adjusters, contractors, large-scale civil municipal projects, government organizations, and other private parties and institutions. He has performed forensic investigations and analyses within specialized areas including, but not limited to, single- and multi-family dwellings, warehouses, office buildings, shopping centers, large residential housing complexes, car washes, daycares, hotels, agricultural storage facilities and pole-barns, churches, swimming pools, hospitals, live fire training structures, athletic facilities, and schools, as well as apartment and condominium complexes.

Mr. Newell has investigated damages to residential and commercial properties resulting from various causes, including catastrophic weather events such as floods, hail, hurricanes, ice/snow storms, and tornadoes, construction defects, engineering/construction design defects, damage caused by wood-destroying insects, construction projects, construction-induced ground vibrations, failure of sewerage and drainage structures, slope failures and deflection of temporary retaining structures, and other geotechnical phenomena, as well as the analysis of residential and commercial building structures and their relative compliance with the local governing building code(s).  Mr. Newell has performed, organized, and managed forensic engineering investigations and consulting projects throughout Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Arkansas.  He has performed cause and origin investigations of water/moisture intrusion, rot and decay to structural framing members, differential foundation movement, and structural collapses.

Mr. Newell has determined the structural salvageability of residential and commercial properties damaged by the aforementioned causes, determined the requisite scope of repair and restoration, and managed subcontractors of varying disciplines in the preparation of line-item cost estimates for the remediation of the damage.  Upon the conclusion of the inspection and documentation for each respective forensic engineering investigation, Mr. Newell delivers a comprehensive analysis related to each individual property and prepares technical reports to present the findings of each investigation in layman’s terms. Mr. Newell has also completed engagements in the field of premises liability, which includes the inspection and evaluation of property and building components in and out of the means of egress, as well as evaluations regarding the safe usage of construction equipment.  Mr. Newell has evaluated, inspected, analyzed, and prepared technical reports for more than 1500 property damage claims throughout his career and has provided expert witness testimony on assignments/claims involving construction defects, weather damage, and construction-induced ground vibrations.