Attorneys obtained dismissal on behalf of an engineering firm who was the design engineer for the renovation of a rest area on an expressway

Attorneys obtained dismissal on behalf of an engineering firm who was the design engineer for the renovation of a rest area on an expressway. Plaintiff, a cement truck operator, claimed he was injured when his truck rolled over at the job-site while he was delivering a load of concrete. Plaintiff claimed that defendant was in control of the job-site and was responsible to oversee safety of all work which occurred. Defense attorneys successfully argued that Plaintiff's Affidavit of Merit was defective because the affidavit failed set forth any statement that the affiant was qualified or had the expertise in the particular field necessary to author the affidavit. The Statute is explicit regarding what must be stated in the Affidavit by the expert. The Court agreed with defense attorneys in that the Affidavit only mentioned that the plaintiff's expert was an engineer, but failed to specify his specialty, area of expertise or experience. Therefore, that Affidavit did not meet the standards required under the Act. Because Plaintiff did not serve his Affidavit of Merit until the last day permissible under the Act, Plaintiff could not amend or cure the defective affidavit.