NC ruling: engineering license requirements do not apply to expert testimony
A district court in North Carolina has ruled against the NC Board of Examiners for Engineers and Surveyors, ruling that the licensing requirements "are unconstitutional (1) when applied to unlicensed expert testimony requiring engineering knowledge and (2) when applied to expert engineering reports more broadly." In the case, the plaintiff was not licensed as an engineer (previously practiced under the industrial exception), but he provided expert testimony in a state lawsuit, "performing calculations, reference engineering literature and methodologies, and prepare visual representations, charts, and tables to offer an opinion within a reasonable degree of engineering certainty." According to the court, "some of that work may plausibly be considered conduct. But it ends up providing him the basis to speak his mind." The Board attempted to ban his expert testimony. However, the court concluded that "the Board has failed to demonstrate the link between the ban and its interest in promoting the public welfare and safeguarding property."