In the early 2000s, an 80-year-old family-owned farm in Florida removed an old greenhouse, leaving a row of hazardous metal bases in its wake. Protruding only 3 1/2 inches from the ground, they hid insidiously in plain sight. Indeed, a typical brick would have been more noticeable. Usually, the farm owners covered these metal pipes to prevent sightseers from tripping over them. However, the day they neglected to do so led to a baby’s permanent, debilitating brain injury. A mother and father had taken their 3-month-old baby to go blueberry picking at a farm as their first-ever outing together. The parents strolled along the rows of sapphire-blue berries, admiring the scenery, carrying the infant in a Baby Björn strapped to her mother’s chest. However, their stroll turned to catastrophe when the mother tripped over an exposed metal post and toppled onto her infant.
The fall injured the mother’s knee. However, the baby’s skull slammed into the ground, causing a fracture to her right parietal bone and bilateral subdural hematomas. Due to how young she was, her parents were forced to wait and see what the extent of her neurological damage would be. Unfortunately, two years later, her neuropsychology evaluation revealed a complicated array of developmental delays, cognitive challenges, and behavioral problems. In the years following the fall, her traumatic brain injury plagued her growth, learning, and social functioning.
The day after the incident, the mother reached out to to Joseph Kopacz, a trial lawyer at Morgan & Morgan in their Tampa, FL office. Specializing in wrongful death, premise liability, and personal injuries, Joe recognized early on that only time would reveal the true scope of the infant’s brain injuries. He strategically delayed the case for as long as possible to give the medical experts time to evaluate her growth and developmental milestones.
In the meantime, Joe began his investigation, taking photos of the scene and deposing the farm owners. He learned the owners routinely covered the pipes in the walkway but had failed to do so that day. He also unearthed that the farm had the opportunity to remove the hazards for the past 20 years but never did so.
Initially, the farm not only refused to take responsibility, they blamed the Plaintiff's mother for bringing her 3-month-old along to pick blueberries. The Defense also felt confident that a Floridian agricultural statute protected the farm from liability due to signage that warned of potential hazards about the farm. For four years, they refused to present any settlement offers. To get his client’s injuries compensated, Joe’s first challenge was to dismantle the Defense’s liability argument.
Joe leaned on a troupe of experts to validate his arguments. First, he brought on a liability expert to attest that the broken pipe violated the standard of having a safe and clear walkway. Additionally, in the years following, a pediatric neurologist and neurosurgeon detailed the extent of the infant’s life-changing TBI and her future medical needs. Moreover, the Plaintiff’s physicians mapped out a life care plan for all her future treatments. Finally, due to there being no videos of the incident, Joe hired DK Global to create a 3D reenactment of the trip-and-fall. The animation needed to show that the metal blocks obstructed the walkway and didn't constitute "farming activity". He also wanted the jury to be able to visualize where the infant's brain injuries occurred in the context of the CT scan.
The DK Global presentation started by zooming down through a map of the United States to the blueberry farm in Florida. A picture of the farm and exactly where the fall occurred was shown. During the reenactment portion, a 3D animation depicted the blueberry patch and the metal posts (highlighted in blue) along the walkway. The dimensions of one of the metal posts were detailed, along with a photo of the actual post. Next, the presentation followed the parents walking along with their infant daughter. The mother was shown tripping and falling, and a zoomed-in replay demonstrated precisely how the baby's head struck the ground, as well as the impact to the mother’s knee. A 3D reconstruction of the infant's skull revealed the location of the skull fracture. The second half of the presentation showed where the CT scan was taken in relation to the child’s head and highlighted the points of injury. Following this, a bulleted list of the key findings from the neuropsychological evaluation faded into view.
After years of delaying, the Defense filed a motion for summary judgment. However, the judge rejected the motion, setting the gears in motion for trial. Shortly after, Joe came to the mediation table with the insurance representatives. He gave the Defense a copy of the DK Global presentation along with the medical and liability experts’ reports. Upon seeing the presentation, the Defense realized it would be devastating if it were shown before a jury, especially given the severity of the infant's injuries. They also knew that Joe had been preparing the case for trial for years. Thirty days after the mediation, the Defense relented and settled the case for $2,250,000. When Joe told the young family, they were overjoyed to finally put the four years of litigation behind them. The infant had also made a miraculous recovery and was thriving.
Joseph Kopacz, a trial lawyer at Morgan & Morgan, Tampa, has practiced law for 18 years and also received certification in construction law. Before joining Morgan & Morgan, he worked at two prestigious civil trial firms and defended numerous large insurance companies. He has worked on a variety of civil cases, including auto accidents, tractor-trailer accidents, motorcycle accidents, negligent security, slip-and-fall accidents, wrongful death, construction site accidents, and construction defect litigation. He has tried many cases in front of juries across the State of Florida and has several published appellate decisions. He has argued in front of the First District Court of Appeal, Second District Court of Appeal, Fourth District Court of Appeal, and the Fifth District Court of Appeal. He has also been honored with the prestigious “AV Preeminent Rating” by Martindale-Hubbell.
