Speaking & training
Lithium-ion fires are showing up in more files every year, and the technical questions decide the outcome. Energy Forensics Group brings a practical, plain-English session to law firms, subrogation groups, and claims teams — taught by an investigator who designs and builds these systems and investigates their failures.
The course
A one-session primer that turns an intimidating technical subject into working knowledge. Attendees leave able to recognize how these fires happen, protect the evidence that decides a case, spot the liability questions early, and work effectively with a battery-fire expert.
The session is built around real investigative practice, not theory. It uses plain language, annotated examples, and short scenario walkthroughs drawn from the kinds of matters these teams actually see — e-bikes and scooters, power tools, consumer electronics, EVs, and energy-storage systems. It can be delivered as an accredited CLE, a lunch-and-learn, or a claims-team training, and is tailored to a plaintiff/subrogation audience, a defense/product audience, or a mixed room.
Learning objectives
Explain in plain terms how lithium-ion cells fail, what thermal runaway and propagation are, and why these fires behave differently from ordinary fires.
Identify what must be preserved in the first hours, how to avoid spoliation, and when to bring in an investigator — the moves that make or break a case.
Recognize where responsibility tends to sit — cell, pack, charger, aftermarket component, installation — and how that shapes subrogation and defense theories.
Read an origin-and-cause report critically, ask better questions in deposition, and understand what a defensible investigation requires.
Sample outline · ~90 minutes
Timing and depth flex to the format — a 60-minute lunch-and-learn trims the scenarios; a half-day workshop expands the hands-on segments. A version weighted toward plaintiff or defense concerns is available on request.
Why lithium-ion fires are surging, where they surface in litigation and claims, and what makes them uniquely challenging to investigate.
Objective: Frame the scope of the problem and the stakes for each attendee's practice.
Cells, packs, and the battery-management system in plain English; thermal runaway, venting, and propagation; and the three branches of causation — defect, misuse, and external cause — that the rest of the session works through.
Objective: Give attendees the vocabulary and mental model to reason about causation.
What misuse actually looks like in the field, taught from the manufacturer's side of the industry: overcharging and over-discharging, owners attempting to revive a deeply discharged pack themselves, defeated or bypassed battery-management systems, packs returned to service after damage or a venting event, and storage conditions that turn a stable pack into a hazard. Why a deeply discharged cell can fail well after the misuse that caused it — and what foreseeable misuse means when a manufacturer already knows the behavior is common.
Objective: Equip attendees to test a misuse theory against the evidence rather than accept or dismiss it.
How origin and cause are established under NFPA 921, what physical evidence survives a battery fire, and why the origin cell is often recoverable.
Objective: Show what a rigorous investigation looks like — and what a weak one misses.
The first 72 hours, chain of custody, why damaged cells must be preserved in place by qualified personnel, protecting chargers and accessories, and arranging joint examinations. The highest-leverage segment for most attendees.
Objective: Equip attendees to protect a case from day one and avoid spoliation pitfalls.
Aftermarket vs. OEM components and the chain of liability; subrogation and product-liability theories; defense strategies; and how to read — and cross-examine on — an expert report.
Objective: Connect the technical findings to legal strategy on both sides.
Short, real-world fact patterns worked through as a group, followed by open Q&A tailored to the room's practice areas.
Objective: Cement the material against concrete cases and answer attendees' live questions.
Formats
A focused 60-minute session at your office over lunch — the fastest way to level up a claims or litigation team.
A 60–90 minute continuing-education presentation, delivered in-person or remotely, with materials for attendees.
An expanded, hands-on format with extended scenario work — ideal for subrogation groups and SIU teams.
A technical, evidence-first session on NFPA 921 origin-and-cause methodology — how a lithium-ion failure is traced from the fire scene and cells to a defensible determination.
Also available · 60 minutes
A standalone session for teams that already have the fundamentals — and the one topic where the defense and the claim most often collide. It can follow the primer as a second visit, or stand on its own for a group that has already had battery-fire training.
Most training on this subject is taught by investigators who see what is left after the fire. This session is also taught from the other side of the product's life: as Chief Technology Officer of a battery manufacturer, Dustin sees what comes back from the field, what owners do to packs between the sale and the failure, and which of those behaviors a manufacturer already knows to design against. Examples are drawn from general industry observation — no client matters, and no specific incidents.
What it covers
Your presenter
Founder and Principal Investigator of Energy Forensics Group, and Chief Technology Officer of a battery manufacturer.
Dustin brings more than a decade of designing, building, and maintaining lithium-ion battery systems to the investigation of their failures. As a Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator working to NFPA 921, he translates deep technical knowledge into language a courtroom — or a claims team — can use. That combination is exactly what makes the training practical rather than academic.
Full background & credentialsSpeaking background
References from past hosts and attendees are available on request.
Tell us your audience, format, and timing — we'll send the outline, references, and available dates.
