Our law office utilizes animation and technology to clearly illustrate our client’s cases. Our in-house animator develops reenactments and recreations (visual and using 3D printing) to give an in-depth look at the harm our clients have suffered due to the negligence of another.
Careless Trainer vs. Older Client
Incident
A 55 year old woman hired a certified trainer with years of experience to help her loose a few pounds. The trainer instructed her client to stand on the flat side of a BOSU ball and do squats and then the trainer walked away so the woman had nothing to grab onto when she fell and landed on her tailbone. The instructions on the BOSU say “standing on platform not recommended” and the trainer knew this.
Injury/Treatment
The 55 year old woman suffered a “burst” fracture to the T10 vertebrae that almost paralyzed her. She had surgery to stabilize the spine by inserting two titanium rods that screwed into her vertebrae above and below the damaged one. This surgery technique was problematic because without replacing the damaged vertebrae with an artificial one, there was too much pressure on the screws which are now working themselves out. This means she needs an additional major surgery in the near future.
Demonstrative Evidence
The Law Office of Nelson C. Barry III was faced with the challenge of demonstrating to a jury how the trainer’s negligence caused the woman to be injured and how to communicate the seriousness of this injury. Through the use of an animation recreation of the incident the viewer can see what a mistake it was for the trainer to walk away from her client. Next, another animation showing the vertebrae being crushed made it easy to understand how this serious injury occurred. Pictures of the spine showing the rods and screws inserted into the spine made it clear as to how serious the injury was and how understandable it was that she would have pain for the rest of her life. Finally our office is equipped with 3D printer expertise which allowed us to make a life size replica of our clients damaged spine which the members of the jury could touch and feel with their own hands. This was very powerful.
Drug Abuser vs. Little Person
Incident
A little person (LP/dwarf) was being a good Samaritan by walking her neighbor home who had abused her anti-depressant medication again which caused her to be very instead on her feet. The neighbor had a history of falling due to drug and/or alcohol abuse. On this day she fainted and fell and fractured her little friend’s femur when it got pinned between her body the the edge of the plantar box.
Injury/Treatment
Our office employs a full-time professional animator who in this case was able to illustrate exactly how the large neighbor’s fall fractured the little person’s leg. When seen from three different angles, it is becomes clear that the neighbor’s fall onto the little person caused a serious injury. This animation got the homeowner’s insurance carrier to change its mind from paying nothing to paying a substantial amount.
Demonstrative Evidence
Our office expert animator also is highly experienced in creating 3D models of the injured parts of our client’s body. In this case it was important to be able to show the seriousness of the injury to our little person’s leg. A 3D model that was life size and 100% identical to the bone that was injured demonstrated that the femur was completely fractured in two pieces. It also conveyed clearly the grossness of her having to have a bar with 14 screws to stabilize her leg while it healed. It was also useful to be able to show the jury that this poor woman would have to live with all this hardware in her leg for the rest of her life.
Rear Ender with Double Impact
Incident
An elderly couple was at the stop sign waiting for traffic to clear when their car was rear-ended by a young driver and pushed into the intersection where they broadsided a passing car. The young driver claimed that he did not hit the elderly couples’ car with enough force to push it into the intersection and therefore his insurance company said the elderly driver was solely responsible for the second collision.
Injury/Treatment
Our in-house expert created an animation that illustrated how the sequence of events showed that the first impact pushed the elderly couple’s car into the intersection at precisely the time that the passing car was in its path. The animation also proved that a witness in the nearby parking lot who supported our case had a clear view of the accident and therefore was credible.
Demonstrative Evidence
Once the insurance company for the young driver saw our animation they realized that their driver’s versions of the incident was a lie and they understood how the witness who was favorable to our case had clear view of the whole accident and therefore was believable. The case settled soon after the young driver’s insurance company saw it with our clients getting full compensation for their neck and back injuries.
Old Man Driver vs. Young Woman Teacher/Pedestrian
Incident
A young woman teacher was in the cross walk when an old man made a left turn and crashed into her and sent her flying over the hood of his care and onto the ground. The old man driver was not paying attention. He said he never saw her before impact and that the first thing that indicated that something was wrong was when he heard a “thump”. He stopped and got out of his car to see what was wrong. The animation created by our in-house expert showed clearly that if the driver was paying attention, he would have seen the pedestrian in the cross walk in plenty of time to avoid hitting her.
Injury/Treatment
The defense side in this case was trying to argue that the fracture to our client’s ankle was minor so they offered us a very low settlement. The animation created by our in-house expert, demonstrated that the driver was not paying attention and that if he had been, he would never have hit our client. The animation showed our client flying up onto the hood of the car and then spilling over onto the street. The other side agreed that this was a truly frightening event and that it was understandable that our teacher would thereafter suffer from PTSD and that it was fortunate that she was not more seriously injured.
Demonstrative Evidence
Our animation proved that the driver was negligent for not paying attention, that this was a very dramatic incident and the injuries to our client could have been much worse. In addition to her fractured ankle her PTSD made her very nervous when crossing streets. She did this often as it was her habit to walk to the elementary school where she taught and because she ran 5 days a week, up to 30 miles a week, and crossed streets often. Every time she she did, her memory of this fighting incident came back to her and she became frightened. As a result of the power of our animation, the offer from the other side went up dramatically and we were able to settle the case for a very good amount.
Big Rear End Impact on Freeway
Incident
A young man driving home to visit his mother was stopped in traffic on the freeway at rush our when an inattentive driver rear ended his car. The negligent driver was looking at her phone and never had a chance to put on her brakes before her Dodge Town and Country minivan slammed into our client’s new Prius. Our client suffered serious neck and shoulder injuries. The insurance company for the negligent driver contended that the impact was not severe enough to cause the shoulder injury (torn rotator cuff) that our driver suffered. They argued that he had this shoulder problem before the accident.
Injury/Treatment
Our in-house expert’s animation showed that the negligent drive was traveling at approximately 26 miles per hour when she ran into our clients car. Not only was the entire trunk of the Prius smashed in, which resulted in this new car being totaled, but the front bumper and support bar from the minivan was embedded into the trunk of the Prius! We showed the animation to a medical doctor who specialized in treating shoulder injuries and he confirmed that as a result of being hit at such a high speed, the Prius was catapulted forward with more than enough energy to cause the Prius driver’s shoulder injury. The animation helped significantly to get the case settled for full value.