De Facto Engineering Standards

Abstract This chapter will focus on engineering standards that are “understood,” that are not placed in a formal document by a standards organization, and that can generate the statement: “Well, everybody knows that.” The definition of a de facto state of existence is described by the word “actual,” in Webster's Dictionary. The legal definition is found in Black's Law Dictionary and also uses the word “actual.” In the context of the case study in this chapter we find testimony of an expert that presents “common industry practice.” Although only general standards documents were admitted into evidence, the expert's testimony describing what amounted to a de facto industry standard was admitted.