Mike Panish was recently contacted by a multimedia presentation company to assist them in accurately recreating an automatic door injury incident. This company had the computer based animation technology, but lacked the expertise in the area pertaining to the actual door mechanisms and mechanical functions of an automatic door system. The purpose of the presentation was to show how and why the plaintiff had been injured by an automatic sliding door at a major chain hardware store.
The multimedia company was hired by a trial management firm who was put in place by the plaintiff's attorney. The plaintiff's attorney had no video recording of the incident and had not done any appropriate investigation into the working conditions of the store doors. The goal was to create some animation to show the plaintiff attorney's interpretation of the incident. This production would be played during a mediation hearing, and ultimately a jury trial.
Mike asked the video production company to explain the details that they wished to include, and what they were trying to depict. After Mike listened to the description of the incident, he determined that the video production company was missing some essential information. The production company was hired by a trial management firm. When Mike asked for additional information, they were reluctant to contact their client to obtain the information. They did not want to lose this project that they had already started, and they had already billed $7,500 to date. They asked Mike to concoct some scenario that would explain the injury, but they didn't seem to care about the accuracy or specific details that would account for the claim. This was very troublesome, and could definitely lead to a big loss of credibility for the plaintiff's case. Mike opted to not be involved with the generation of this video. In this case, their product would lack any substantial proof of the claim, be inaccurate, and could cost the Plaintiff the case.
It is extremely important to accurately depict the conditions of an injury accident environment. Representation, by courtroom exemplar or presentation should tell the real story rather than what the attorney wants the story to be. Mike Panish has reproduced (courtroom exemplars) architectural millwork or furniture to use as an accurate representation of the defective installed products in the subject case. He has also recreated full size and miniature door openings and doorway systems to present to jurys. In cases where inaccurate claims have been made by opposing counsel and other experts, Mike Panish has disproven their stories and claims because of his thorough understanding an knowledge in his areas of expertise.