Carl F. Thelin

And... the final efforts to make a difference

            WTS, Inc. is a real forensic investigation outfit. Let me confess here that this place is the model that I named CxSI for these stories and relocated to Columbus, Ohio. It is a medium sized forensic services firm in Indianapolis, Indiana founded by Jack Wolf, Ph.D. It has a variety of technical people, including a group for fire investigations and others for the creation of computer graphic animations, photogrammetry and image processing. The work creating computer animation on an Apple II computer with a monochrome display was pioneering. Today such work is commonplace, in computer gaming with fast action vivid colors. Image processing work was also ahead of its time – challenged only by the expensive things the government did to make poor photos clearer using mathematical enhancements. Photogrammetry – an uncommon word – describes another computer mathematical process that analyzes several photos to extract real-world dimensions. This is valuable to determining the extent of crash deformation of a car body when the car itself is no longer available. Another use will produce a scale drawing of tire marks and other evidence seen in a group of photos. 

            I was an independent forensic engineer in South Bend until I joined Jack Wolf in 1985. I continued to specialize in the auto-safety fields I still pursue. My reputation resulted in growth of business nationally for the firm which had been essentially servicing local insurance companies. I eventually became Vice President.

            I investigated serious motor vehicle collisions and testified for lawyers representing plaintiffs and insurance companies alike. My specialty as an expert witness was vehicle crashworthiness and occupant restraint systems just as it had been while I was independent. Joining WTS was good for many reasons. They had a good group of technicians who are able to make good photos, drawings and computer animations. I could consult with fellows having other disciplines such as physics, materials engineering, fire investigations and highway engineering.

            I stayed with Wolf though December 1994. Office complexity and politics grew more intense as the group increased business and employees. WTS attempted to establish satellite offices outside Indiana. When I reached age 65, in January 1995, I was able to leave the company health plan and be covered by Medicare. Now I had another chance to be my own boss and move where I wanted to be. Having Social Security made it easy to leave the WTS fringe benefits.

            CFT, Inc.

            In 1995 I was again, voluntarily this time, self employed. I became CFT, Inc. We initially moved from Indiana to Rio Rancho, New Mexico. That fast-growing city, a suburb of Albuquerque, is located almost the same distance from Santa Fe and the Albuquerque airport, fine for business. However, I discovered that being located on the other side of the nation from my regular clients was not good. The Albuquerque Sun Port is a very nice airport. However, airlines do not fly non-stop from there to many other places: Denver, Dallas and Phoenix. Going to see my eastern clients then meant an all-day ride with several stops and more expenses to charge them.

            Litigation was getting nastier and nastier as the auto companies built up a list of cases in which they could suggest to a jury that I was the losing expert. Lawyers for any other auto company would use that data to tell the jury to convince them that I was a poor, unreliable expert witness. I was also finding that lawyers were becoming unreliable about paying. If they did not win the case, they just abandoned their experts. Worse, I was learning that the local non-heavy hitter plaintiff lawyers were not hesitant to ask me to say things that they made up. More than once a small time lawyer called and asked me to review his material so that I could just write a report saying what he wanted. After looking at his file, I said, “Now wait. You think of this case as just a chance to make it big against a deep-pockets defendant. For me, one episode of being exposed as a liar will end my career.”

            On top of that, the disruption in the airline business following September 2001 made air travel tortuous. At the end of 2001, turning age 72, I just gave up. Ramona and I moved closer to Albuquerque in March 2003. My grown kids kept saying “Dad, you had such an adventurous life. You should write a book about your experiences.” 

            OK. This is it.