Van der Meer Consulting B.V.

COASTAL ENGINEERING CONSULTANCY & RESEARCH

Consultancy areas - Independent expert witness in arbitration

Van der Meer breakwaters and coastal structures 1 Van der Meer breakwaters and coastal structures 2

Coastal structures and breakwaters may develop unexpected damage or even failure during construction or during their life time. This may be due to unexpected events like severe storms, it may also be due to issues with respect to design and/or construction. Arbitration is sometimes the only way to come to a (forced) solution.

Dr Van der Meer has often been asked as independent expert witness in arbitration and as technical mediator:
  • Technical mediator in damage case for a head of a breakwater, Benin.
  • Expert witness for the contractor in arbitration where a berm breakwater showed unexpected damage and partly failure of the head, Brazil.
  • Expert witness in arbitration with respect to unexpected breakage of armour units, La Réunion.
  • Expert in a mediation case where, according to the contractor, the client demanded unreasonable construction methods that as an effect led to a three times longer construction period (Israel).
  • Expert in dispute resolution of applying (too) small underlayers under rock armour layers (The Netherlands).
  • Expert witness in court case on damage from a large storm during construction (Italy).
  • Expert witness in arbitration under UK-law on damage from a large storm during construction (Costa Rica).
  • Independent expert for breakwater damage (Costa Rica).
  • Member of Construction Advisory Board, with task to solve issues before arbitration comes into sight (Brazil).
  • Independent expert on breakwater damage assessment as preparation for a possible court case (Dominican Republic).
  • Expert in dispute resolution between client and contractor about application of filter criteria for a rock armoured structure (Sri Lanka).