Menu
Construction
$100,000,000 Construction
Case - Won
A construction case won with glorious animation!
“The animations can
be summed up in one
word - Glorious!”
Gregory Cokinos – Cokinos Law
The pipeline contractor claimed that they did not have the Right of Way (ROW) to lay pipe, make welds, and stockpile dirt.
The animation to the left was modeled to scale, clearly showing the typical sections of travel lane widths, designated stockpile areas, and proper sequencing of construction.
As you can see, the stockpile should have had drain brakes for proper drainage during rain events. This animation showed that there was even enough ROW to perform expedited mechanical welds for much of the pipe length.
Wrong Way (Method Utilized)
Right Way (Method Recommended)
Wrong Way (Method Utilized)
Instead of stockpiling excavated material in the designated storage area, the contractor created large stockpiles on one side without drain breaks that saturated during rain events, eroded and slid down the mountainous terrain, causing millions of dollars of damages and critical path delays in the construction schedule.
Right Way (Method Recommended)
There are many techniques that could be utilized to prevent embankment failure. In the animation above, you can see the Gabion and sheetpile methods that were used to prevent catastrophic embankment failure.
Wrong Way (Method Utilized)
Waterbars should be constructed to properly drain away from the ROW. However, what happens when they are improperly constructed?
Right Way (Method Recommended)
Here is an example of proper Waterbar construction for a mountain slope, providing proper drainage.
Wrong Way (Method Utilized)
Right Way (Method Recommended)
Construction
Anybody that works in construction knows that injuries are bound to happen. Whether it’s a slip and fall or being crushed inside an excavator, safety protocols will not always be enough. However, when it comes time to decide causation and magnitude of pain and suffering, the situation can become cloudy.
If you’ve ever attempted to explain to a jury how a certain kind of fall led to significant damages, you know that it’s no easy task. To make things worse, even if exactly the right words are spoken, there’s no guarantee that every jury member will be paying enough attention to fully comprehend what is being said.
The Effect of Visual Aids
A whole host of problems can arise from a situation where the jury has asymmetrical information. It’s possible that the potential damages that they’re willing to award your client will be less than what they would be if all the members understood the full extent of your client’s suffering. Because of the digital nature of the way that we communicate information in modern society, simply telling somebody about something doesn’t have the effect that it used to. More than ever, visual aids are critical for an efficient information transfer process.
Kindergarteners have activities like “show and tell” because humans are innately visual creatures. Regardless of a person’s educational background, they will be able to understand something that’s shown to them.
Douglas Vogel’s conclusion after conducting a study on persuasion and the role of visual presentation support was that:
“Perceptions of the presenter as well as audience attention, comprehension, yielding, and retention are enhanced when presentation support is used compared to when it is not. Presentations using visual aids were found to be 43% more persuasive than unaided presentations.”
Fox Animation Engineering - Industry Leader for Legal Graphics
This is where animation can be helpful. Our founder, Cody Roberts, has more than a decade of experience working in the construction industry as an engineer, and has created animations for countless construction related injuries. In addition, here at Fox-AE, we’ve mastered the visual art of communicating. Our digital storytellers have worked for years to perfect their craft, and have become some of the best legal animators in the industry.
Edward Carrick, an expert witness says: “The jury was like a deer in headlights as I described extremely complex Diagnostic Trouble Codes of a Power Steering System on the stand. After we laid the foundation, I re-explained my opinions while the animation was playing simultaneously. The once half awake and confused jury was now engaged, even nodding their heads in agreement. Solid expert opinion together with Fox-AE’s Animation and Video Deposition was unstoppable during this improper installation/product failure case. Out of hundreds of cases, this was the single most difficult case I’ve ever rendered an opinion, and I was glad to have Fox-AE on my team. Our client won the trial.”
Our work speaks for itself. Fox-AE is able to render state-of-the-art animations for cases of all kinds and sizes. Our top-notch team of medical illustrators, practitioners, and engineers all have diverse backgrounds that can create animations that produce results.
