NCJ Number
117357
Date Published
1989
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This article describes the nature, purpose, and presentation of demonstrative evidence in a major personal injury case.
Abstract
The plaintiff suffered major brain damage in a traffic accident that left him in a coma for an extended period of time, followed by slow and painful rehabilitation. The demonstrative evidence was designed to relieve the plaintiff of fault in the accident and to portray the extent of his injury. Videotape was used extensively, with careful editing used to relieve the jury of extended and tedious viewing. Videotape was used to portray the accident scene, 'a day in the life of' the plaintiff a short time before the trial date, the physician examination, and a simulation of the truck which hit the plaintiff driving through the accident intersection. Videotapes were also used to record periodically the plaintiff's recovery. Other demonstrative evidence consisted of a large diagram of the accident scene, blowups of the computer manual accompanying the software used by a defense expert to provide an overestimate of the plaintiff's speed at the time of the crash, and diagrams and printouts produced by plaintiff's attorneys in their computerized calculation of the plaintiff's speed at the time of the accident. Remaining demonstrative evidence involved photographs of the plaintiff's car after the accident, handwriting sample blowups, psychological testing blowups, enlarged police photographs, CAT scan films and slides, slides to assist in the medical explanation of the plaintiff's injury, and the plaintiff's appearance in the courtroom near the end of the presentation of the plaintiff's case. A sizable settlement was reached just short of the trial date.