Trials
At Hinton, Alfert & Sumner, we firmly believe that in order to achieve success for our clients, we must utilize the best available resources in preparing the case for litigation. In addition to the dedicated service of our attorneys, paralegals, and legal secretaries, our clients benefit from the most knowledgeable experts in the field, including doctors, engineers, and scientists.
As Attorneys, we are devoted to the persuasive power of the word, but we also understand that a well-made exhibit, be it a movie, part of a vehicle, drawing or diagram, can further buttress our position and create a lasting image in the mind of the juror. It is no wonder, then, that we have come to rely on carefully crafted exhibits designed specifically for the case at hand.
Here are just a few examples of exhibits we have created for our cases:
Moore/Land Rover: This case involved a family whose 1995 Land Rover Discovery SUV rolled over on Highway 50, after a minor sideswipe incident with another vehicle. One of the children, a son age 9, was seated in one of the rearmost side-facing seats wearing a lap belt, the only restraint available for that seating position. During the collision, the rear side-facing seat, in which the child was seatbelted, was partially ejected through the side window. The child died due to massive head injuries caused by his partial ejection. The main focus of the case was the defectively designed side-facing seat. Our firm retained several well known and nationally respected experts in the fields of accident reconstruction, biomechanics, and seat design to assist with the case. Dr. Joseph Burton's office in Alpharetta, Georgia, created diagrams of injuries suffered by each member of the Moore family. Injury diagram Plaintiffs' expert in seat design, Alan Cantor at ARCCA Inc. in Pennsylvania, purchased an exemplar vehicle for testing purposes and had his engineers construct a replica of the rear quarter section of the vehicle, including an exemplar sideways-facing rear seat, to enable the jury to better visualize the design of the seat and what happened to the young boy during the rollover. Land Rover rear view Land Rover side exterior Land Rover side-facing seat Land Rover side interior Shortly after jury selection was completed, a confidential settlement was reached.
Trepanier/LACMTA: On May 31, 2003, Tania Tepanier was riding her bicycle into the crosswalk on a green pedestrian light when she was struck and killed by a bus. The bus driver claimed that she brought the bus to a stop before proceeding into the intersection and turned right. She claimed that she was unable to see Ms. Trepanier on her bike before impact. We were able to establish that the bicyclist was visible to the driver if the driver had been alert and looking. We also established that the bus driver made the right turn without stopping. David Grimes of Grimes Surveying, Inc., created a blue line drawing of the accident scene coinciding with reference points from the police reports, the on-bus camera, and his own findings. Accident diagram ( 1.35 MB black & white PDF file , 164 KB color jpg ) Computer simulations were developed by Precision Simulations, Inc., to represent the accident from various perspectives and to demonstrate that the driver was at fault. We settled the wrongful death case against the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority for $1.5 million in non-economic damages only.
Sharra/Westlake Farms, et al.: We currently represent the widow and young children of a Kings County Deputy Sheriff who died in the line of duty as a result of a single car accident in December 1999. At the time of the incident, the Deputy was responding to an emergency call on a private dirt road that runs alongside an agricultural canal. The roadway appeared to be straight, flat, and continuous, but this was an optical illusion created by the fact that another dirt road bordered by utility poles on the other side of the canal appeared to be a continuation of the road on which the Deputy was traveling. When the Deputy unexpectedly came up on the sharp 90 degree turn in the roadway, he was unable to respond in time, and he struck an abutment head-on. Deputy Sharra died as a result. Our firm has hired experts in the fields of accident reconstruction, roadway design, human factors relating to perception and reaction capabilities, and computer simulations. With the assistance of these experts, a computer simulation representing what the Deputy could see as he approached the scene of the incident has been developed by Precision Simulations, Inc., for use at trial. The case is pending and is set for trial in October 2005.
Suurmeyer/Sears: Plaintiff Lila Suurmeyer was seriously injured when the brake on her Sears Craftsman Garden Tractor failed under emergency conditions. The physical evidence showed that the brake failure occurred due to a detached brake band in the tractor following a transmission replacement. Maria Reeves at Artists-At-Law Courtroom Graphic in Berkeley created a series of drawings of the tractor and brake mechanism, based on the actual parts and photographs. Tractor illustration Brake mechanism illustration The case went to trial in Federal Court in San Francisco, California. Jury returned a verdict of $400,000 in economic losses, $800,000 general damages.
Moses/Ford: On April 14, 1995, a family of six was traveling to Southern California when their rented Ford Aerostar van rolled over five and one half times on I-5. The father and two children died at the scene; the mother and the surviving children sustained serious injuries. The surviving members of the family brought this action against Ford Motor Company. The Aerostar's rollover propensity or stability was the central issue of the case. Mechanical Systems Analysis, Inc., in Littleton, Colorado, created illustrations comparing dolly rollover to real world rollover. Rollover diagram In addition, Karco Engineering performed a series of accident avoidance maneuver tests with the Ford Aerostar to demonstrate the vehicle's rollover propensity. Accident avoidance maneuver test
