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"Nothing
grabs a juror by the throat better than a good computer
animation," declares Thomas E, Liptak, a Buffalo,
New York-based litigation attorney.
And for a growing
number of high stakes cases these days, trial lawyers
like Liptak are turning to fancy, computer-generated
animation to help them score points in the courtroom.
"If you bring in something that's done well,
and the production end of it is run smoothly, you've
got everybody's undivided attention, no question about
it," Liptak says.
 The
primary advantage of a computer animation is it's
ability to captivate and
hold a lay jury while making complex, technical issues
understandable, proponents say. In most cases, the
animations are used to support the opinion and testimony
of expert witnesses. Some attorneys who have used
the technology are lavish in their praise. "Without
the computer graphics, I don't know if I could have
done it," says Edward J. Walsh Jr., a Wheaton,
Illinois-based personal injury lawyer who went to
trial with the technology this past spring (1991).
In the case, Walsh
sued a home health care firm, a hospital, and a doctor
on behalf of a 10-year-old girl who suffered a debilitating
stroke at the age of 15 months after being placed
on a home ventilator system. The little girl suffered
from a congenital malfunction of the brain stem, which
prevented her from breathing adequately at night.
After seven years
of preparation, Walsh went to trail in March, 1991
in Cook County Circuit Court in Illinois, armed with,
among other things, a 2D computer animation that shows
in color how the respiratory and circulatory
system works.
The animation,
produced by Legal Graphic Communicators, Grand Rapids,
Michigan, a demonstrative evidence firm, was only
five minutes in length. But it was onscreen in the
courtroom for a day and a half, as it was replayed,
slowed down, paused, and replayed again while Walsh's
medical expert testified.
Walsh
was pleased with the results. "As far as allowing
the jury to understand the physiology of how the damage
took place to the brain, it was probably one of the
most important pieces of demonstrative evidence we
had." says Walsh. In May, 1991, Walsh's side
won a $10 million jury verdict in the case.
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A 2D computer
animation showing the respiratory and circulatory
system was one of the tools used by Ed Walsh and Jim
Knippen, representing a young girl who suffered a
debilitating stroke after being placed on a home ventilator
system.
Ed Walsh and Jim Knippen
faced the challenge of showing the jury that the child's
disabilities resulted from inadequate ventilation
caused by negligence in her care, not by the underlying
disease.
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