Matthew A. Passen – Passen & Powell
$24.6M Settlement: Medical Exhibit Details Traumatic Brain Injury Suffered by Boy After Car Crash
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Interactive
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Slice Chooser®
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Legal
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Personal Injury
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Traumatic Brain Injury
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Case Study
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When a young boy suffered a severe traumatic brain injury after a truck crashed into his family’s car, Matthew A. Passen, Esq needed to bring to life the full extent of his injuries. He came to High Impact for a series of expertly designed medical exhibits, which played a huge role in helping the case settle for $24.6 million.
Medical presentation with CT scan combined with Diagnostic Slice Chooser®.
Challenge
A family was driving together in their sedan on a highway on a Sunday afternoon. When traffic slowed, the driver stopped their car. A truck driver approached the car driving a loaded tractor-trailer for his employer (the Defense), traveling the same direction.
Evidence suggested that the truck driver was distracted by use of his cell phone, and failed to slow his tractor-trailer for the stopped traffic. He crashed into the rear of the Plaintiff’s vehicle at high speed.
The biggest challenge in this case was proving that the damages exceeded the available insurance policy limits, and convincing the corporate Defendants to pay in excess of the limits. The exhibits created by High Impact went a long way towards achieving that goal. Unfortunately, the Defendants filed for bankruptcy while this case was pending, at which point results were limited to collecting the layers of available insurance coverage.
Medical presentation with labeled injuries.
Approach
The parent company in this case disputed liability. The Defendant truck driver and his employer really had no liability defense although liability was not admitted. The biggest issue was proving the catastrophic nature of the damages, which is where including expertly designed visuals added significant value. The High Impact team collected the data and built a clear and cohesive exhibit that:
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Showed the full extent of the traumatic brain damage suffered by the boy, and subsequent colorized brain scans.
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Illustrated accurate internal and external injuries with meticulous medical detail.
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Applied the MRI and CT scans into our Diagnostic Slice Chooser® solution to support the evidence provided by experts.
Medical presentation with labels and altered skin opacity.
Result
Prior to mediation, at which time the exhibits created by High Impact were revealed, there was no offer. Eventually, the Defendants offered their insurance policy limits, which were ultimately accepted. The case reached a successful settlement of just under $24.6 million.
Medical presentation, showing extensive TBI with Diagnostic Slice Chooser® and labeling.
“The slice chooser and animation visuals created by High Impact drove home the devastating nature of our client's traumatic brain injury and certainly helped convince the insurance companies that the potential damages at trial well-exceeded the multiple layers of coverage. Indeed, after using these exhibits at the deposition of our client's treating neurosurgeon, the doctor commented on how impressed he was with the quality of the exhibits and how well they communicated the degree of harm to our client. I look forward to working with High Impact again soon.”
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