Civil Litigation Services
Dr. Mellen has had considerable experience working in civil litigation cases. Her knowledge of a client’s experience whether assessing the psychological impact of injuries such as those that result from accidents or are associated with medical procedures that have problematic consequences for a patient, involves a comprehensive assessment that includes psychological testing, extensive clinical interviews and review of a substantial volume of collateral information. In these cases, psychological findings and testimony are crucial in order to establish that the tort affected injury to the client. Dr. Mellen is then able to provide expert witness testimony to follow up her investigation of a civil litigation case.
Her experiences working with adults and children who presents with a history of abuse has prepared her to provide testimony as a treating professional in court related matters. When retained as an evaluating expert in these matters, Dr. Mellen conducts a psychological evaluation of the victim and will provide a comprehensive written report as well as provide expert witness testimony regarding her findings in a hearing or trial. Of course, since Dr. Mellen treats clients, adults and children, who have been subjected to a sexually related offense, she has been asked to provide treating witness testimony to supplement an investigation and report completed by the evaluating expert.
Dr. Mellen also conducts competency evaluations in civil law competency cases. It is difficult to discern in many of these cases whether minor errors when completing specific tasks such as those that require intact memory functioning are pervasive enough to interfere with judgment in a significant way. A full psychological test battery will provide reliable evidence of a specific defendant competency if one exists as well is provide information to the court and family as to appropriate actions to take in order to meet the needs of the defendant.
Dr. Mellen’s training and experience in administering and interpreting a broad range of psychological tests that are accepted in the scientific community as providing a way in which to quantify the emotional and cognitive impact of injury and cognitive and mental health related consequences of injury aging assists the court and attorney by providing normative based data. When considering normative-based data, the psychologist is not relying solely on clinical judgment and can compare the performance of the individual examinee to the performance of a group of individuals who share many of the same characteristics. Opinions offered and predictions made that include data obtained from valid interpretations of findings from a battery of psychological tests, are more likely to be able to be relied upon as providing valid and reliable estimates of adaptive functioning.
