Ron Joseph & Associates provide expert witness services in litigation concerning paint and coating failures; personal injury; VOC, HAP permit and emission violations; disposal of hazardous waste, including paints, coatings, solvents, and pretreatment chemicals.

As recognized experts in the Paints, Coatings and Solvents industry,
Paints & Coatings failures|
VOC and HAP emission violations
Permit violations
Improper disposal of hazardous materials, including chromium compounds from surface pretreatments, and chromate pigments in primers and topcoats
Personal injury as a result of inhaling solvents and hazardous paint ingredients.

We have provided extensive testimony in variance hearings that have involved environmental issues, specifically air quality (VOC) compliance.
Due to our many years of expertise in the industry, we can review painting and coating practices and procedures going as far back as the 1950's.
We have access to testing laboratories and can direct data acquisition.
An extensive library of reference material and contacts with most of the coating and equipment vendors in the industry is available to you.
We can provide a list of law suites for which Ron Joseph has been an expert witness. For more information please visit our web site at www.ronjoseph.com

CV FOR RON JOSEPH, BSChE, MS
Ron Joseph has spent the past 25 years dedicated to the Paints & Coatings industry. He acquired his early experience while employed with a paints & coatings manufacturer, where his responsibilities were to write comprehensive coating specifications for consulting engineers, architects and others who were designing large construction and engineering projects. In 1977 he joined the FMC Corp. in Santa Clara, CA, where he became the Corporate Manager of Coating Technology, and was responsible for introducing new coating and application technologies to the corporation. At that time FMC comprised over 15 machinery fabrication and assembly factories located internationally. In this job he wrote coating specifications, acted as in-house consultant in matters concerning paint failures, and worked closely with coating manufacturers to develop new technology formulations that met the corporation's production and performance requirements. Simultaneously, Joseph worked with spray equipment vendors to identify equipment that would be able to apply the new coatings.

In the early 1980's Joseph started to focus on the then new and emerging air pollution regulations that were to sweep across the nation throughout the 80's and into the 90's. On numerous occasions he participated in rule development in California, where initially he represented the FMC Corp., and later was retained as independent consultant to represent individual companies which were struggling to get into compliance with the newly regulated coating technologies. At times he was retained to consult to air quality agencies regarding the feasibility of implementing RACT and BACT technologies.

Ron compiled the first comprehensive Paints & Coatings training program for the EPA, and has given courses on the subject to most EPA regions and to several state air quality control agencies across the country. In addition, he gives training seminars on strategies to minimize the emissions of VOCs and HAPs to small and large corporations, to industry associations, and to government agencies such as the Air Force.

Ron recently completed a two-year contract for the California Air Resources Board and the South Coast Air Quality Management District to develop a standard Transfer Efficiency Test Protocol for evaluating the relative efficiency of spray guns. The protocol is intended to be incorporated into California regulations. Moreover, the EPA has referred to this project in its proposed NESHAP (or MACT standard) for the aerospace industry.

Mr. Joseph has also compiled a comprehensive three-day seminar on abatement control technologies for the control of VOC and HAP emissions. This seminar, first sponsored by the University of California at Berkeley, is now being presented to the industry. It covers all forms of abatement controls, methods of monitoring, data acquisition, record keeping and calculations.

As Coatings Editor for Metal Finishing Journal and the Organic Coatings Guidebook and Directory, published by Elsevier, Ron Joseph keeps abreast of state-of-the-art technologies related to the surface coatings industry. On behalf of Metal Finishing, he is required to attend at least five national seminars annually, and identify and speak to the key researchers who are working on new technologies in all fields related to the Paints and Coatings industry.

In his role as consultant, Ron consults to a wide range of industries which use surface coatings. He is therefore current on typical production processes in each industry, and what strategies can and cannot be achieved in terms of minimizing pollution using cutting-edge technologies.

In 1994/5 Joseph wrote a 15-chapter manual under contract to the EPA on better management work practices for the Paints & Coatings Industry. Each chapter focusses on process and technological strategies that can be implemented to maximize the efficiency of painting/coating operations while at the same time minimizing all forms of pollution, including emissions of VOC and HAP.

TRAINING AND SHORT COURSES
Mr. Joseph provides both technology and environmental paints & coating training programs to companies as in-house short courses, as well as to government agencies. In this field, Joseph's courses are now recognized nationally, and have been attended by several thousand professionals across the US. A current list of companies, organizations and government agencies that have contracted with and RJA is available.

EDUCATION:
M.S., Corrosion Science
University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, U.K, 1967

B.S., Chemical Engineering
University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, 1965

Certified Manufacturing Engineer
AFP Section of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, U.S., 1979

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES:
Consulting Editor, Metal Finishing Journal, Elsevier Science Publishing Company.
Federation of Societies for Coatings Technology
AFP Section of Society of Manufacturing Engineers
Professional and Technical Consultants Association

PAPERS PUBLISHED
Joseph Ron, "Regulations Controlling the VOC Emissions from Paints - The Benefits", 84-38.4, Air Pollution Control Association, 77th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, June 24-29, 1984.
Joseph Ron, "Understanding California's VOC Rules for the Coating of Metal Parts and Products", Finstrat 84 Conference, AFP/SME, Anaheim, CA., Nov 27-29, 1984 Joseph Ron, "California's VOC Rules for the Coating of Metal and Plastic Parts - An Example to the Nation?", Metal Finishing, 31-34, May 1985.
Joseph Ron, "Getting into Compliance with California's Air Pollution Laws for Industrial Coatings - A Manual of Laws, Coating Technologies & Available Coatings", Ron Joseph & Associates, Inc., 1985
Joseph Ron, "Which Coating?", Products Finishing, 54, April 1987
Joseph Ron, "Silicon Valley's Unique Painting Requirements", Metal Finishing, 15-18, January 1987
Joseph Ron, "Selecting Low VOC Waterborne Coatings in the '90s", Metal Finishing, 15-19, April 1991 Joseph Ron, "Low VOC Waterborne Coatings", Metal Finishing Guidebook and Directory Issue '92", 449-456, Elsevier Science Publishing, New Jersey; 1992
Joseph Ron, and M. Murphy, "Painting Systems", Metal Finishing Guidebook and Directory Issue '92", 457-469 Elsevier Science Publishing, New Jersey; 1992
Joseph Ron, "How Current and Future Regulations Impact Spray Application Technologies", Forest Products Society Symposium, Seattle, WA., April 1, 1996.
Joseph Ron, Bonnie Hobster and John Franz, "Transfer Efficiency Training at Hill and Edwards AFB - Results in Significant Pollution and Cost Reductions", presented to Air & Waste Management Association Conference, Nashville, TN, June 1996.
Joseph Ron, "Hazardous Air Pollutants", The Coatings Agenda America, National Paints and Coatings Association, 1966/67, Campden, UK. p 154.
Joseph Ron, "Transfer Efficiency: The Secret to Cutting Finishing Costs and Emissions", NASFM News, Oct/Nov 1996, p17.
Joseph, Ron, "Savings of 10-30% Pollution Reduction - Air, and Hazardous Waste in Painting Facilities", A&WMA Conference, St. Louis MO. June 21, 1999
Joseph, Ron, "Savings of 10 to 30% Pollution Reduction - Air and Hazardous Waste", Metal Finishing, September 1999, 74-78.
Monthly Columns in Metal Finishing Magazine These have been published every month since 1993.
1994 Development of EPA Manual "Pollution Prevention in the Paints and Coatings Industry" EPA/625/R-96/003

RJA was retained by Easter Research Group, under contract to the EPA to develop a 16 chapter manual on Pollution Prevention opportunities in the Paints & Coatings industry. The manual covers the following topics:
Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 Overview of Paints and Coatings Operations
Chapter 3 Adhesion as a Critical Factor
Chapter 4 Considerations Regarding Vendor-supplied Materials
Chapter 5 Surface Degreasing - Alternatives to Conventional Solvent-based Methods
Chapter 6 Phosphating Metal. Surfaces: Process Efficiency and Waste Minimization
Chapter 7 Rinsing Process Efficiency and Alternatives to Chromate-based Sealers
Chapter 8 Abrasive Blast Cleaning of Metal Surfaces: Process Efficiency
Chapter 9 Transfer Efficiency as it Affects Air, Water, and Hazardous Waste Pollution
Chapter 10 Liquid Compliant Coating Technologies
Chapter 11 Powder Coatings
Chapter 12 Viscosity Management for Pollution Prevention
Chapter 13 Minimizing Solvent Usage for Equipment Clean-up
Chapter 14 Paint Stripping: Alternatives to Solvent-based Methods
Chapter 15 Minimizing Pollution from Spray Booths
Chapter 16 Problem Solving: Case Studies of Some Typical Paint Facilities This 190 page reference manual contains 66 tables and 55 figures.

LITIGATION
Joseph has been retained to provided expert opinion on several occasions, some of which are listed. Law Office of James R. Murphy Jnr., 221 E. Branch Str., Arroyo Grande, CA 93420. Retained 1993 by plaintiff who claimed that the finish on her new motor car was defective. Deposition was canceled when Joseph concluded that original finish was not defective, but that damage had occurred during ownership by plaintiff.
Thayer, Harvey, Hodder & Gregerson, 1100 14th Street, #F, Modesto, CA 95354. Retained approximately, 1993. Plaintiff was not paid by customer (defendant) who complained that the coating applied to vehicles which had been purchased by customer did not match. Joseph provided deposition and case was settled out of court.
Cartwright Law Firm, 101 California Street, San Francisco, CA 94111. Retained 1994/5. Case concerned a father and son who had allegedly inhaled paint fumes and toxic paint contaminants while building a boat in a boatyard. Joseph was deposed, but case was settled out of court.
Russo, Weintraub, Bella & Morton, 521 Georgia Street, Vallejo, CA 94590. Retained 1995. Case involved spray painters who had allegedly inhaled paint solvents and particulates while contracting on a construction project. Joseph was not deposed.
Law Offices of Trac N. Vu, 556 N. First Street, Suite 100. Retained 1996. Provided expert opinion regarding alleged theft of motor car and components by tracking paint finishes. Joseph was not deposed.
Gary Moore, Attorney at Law, 19100 Cox Ave. #A, Saratoga, CA 95070 - (408) 865-1000. Case is ongoing but deals with a person who was severely hurt when he slipped on a smooth coated concrete floor.
Scott Handelman, Law Office of Stephen Kass, 1939 Harrison Street, Suite #600, Oakland, CA 94612, (510) 273-8777. Pacific Commodities versus Snow. Case concerned the deterioration of a coated warehouse roof that severely corroded. Plaintiff alleged that he was evicted for lack of cause. Defendant counter sued because he believed that the roof coating failed on account of the acetic acid that is emitted when the cocoa beans which were stored in the warehouse, fermented. Case was apparently settled out of court.
Scott Voelz - O'Melveny & Myers LLP, 400 South Hope Str., Los Angeles, CA 90071, (213) 669-6680. Elsie A. Abel et.al. versus Lockheed Martin Corporation. Class action suit in which Plaintiff is accused of allegedly polluting the environment surrounding its plant over a period of 20 years or more. (This case is ongoing)
Seibert Oxidermo (Defendant) in a case brought by Venture Industries Corp. (Plaintiff) alleging that faulty paint manufactured by Defendant resulted in the recall of a large number of automotive fascia panels for repainting. This case is on-going
Pitre & Teunisse, LLP. This case is currently scheduled to go to trial in February, 2000, and concerns the failure of powder coatings on grape stakes. RJM Enterprises vs Quiedan Company, Stanislaus County Superior Court Case No. 172081. We are being retained on behalf of one of the cross defendants.

ENVIRONMENTAL LEGAL CASES
Joseph has been retained on numerous occasions to provide expert witness in cases where clients have not been able to get into compliance with air quality regulations. In some instances the clients were being pro-active and requested variances before District Hearing Board in California. In other instances, clients had already been cited. Joseph has appeared before hearing boards with and without client's attorneys. In all instances Joseph was successful in having variances granted in favor of the client.

CITIZENSHIP
Mr. Joseph is a citizen of the United States.