A vehicle cruised down a main highway on a cool day in Georgia around Christmas 2021. The weather was clear, and driving was a breeze — just another routine trip. But as the car reached a bend in the road, everything changed. Despite nobody to pass or obstacles in the way, the driver crossed over the center median in a double-lined section of the road. At this moment, traveling in the opposite direction was a well-known and beloved father and fixture of the community. After installing a grill at his ex-wife’s residence, he was heading home in his white minivan. The dad knew the highway like the back of his hand, having driven it almost every day of his adult life. Yet, no matter how familiar with the road or how skilled a driver he was, his car was in the line of fire. In a flash, the careless driver violently hit the father’s vehicle, sending it spiraling off the road. As the minivan came to a rest on the side of the highway, he had only moments left to live.
The impact left the father with a severe injury to his left chest wall and a hemopneumothorax. The rising pressure from the collapsed lung caused intense respiratory distress, resulting in cardiac arrest. Sadly, his death was not instantaneous, and he endured significant pain in his final moments.
The man’s family and community were left reeling. Before leaving for his ex’s house, the father hugged his daughter and told her how much he loved her. She waved goodbye as he drove away, unaware it was her final farewell. The father’s active participation in the community — at church, with the Boy Scouts, and as a generous neighbor — suddenly stopped. Holidays would never be the same without him, and the loss was felt deeply by everyone who knew this exceptionally kind man.
With lives unraveled due to his absence, the victim’s daughter contacted Matt Kahn and Jeb Butler, partners and trial attorneys at Butler | Kahn. Specializing in wrongful deaths due to negligence, this was right in Matt and Jeb’s wheelhouse. They took on the case without hesitation and immediately went to work. They began to prepare for trial by building evidence on the series of events leading up to the crash and identifying the witnesses at the scene. They worked many late nights and early mornings — whatever it took to get accountability for the family. A pivotal moment in the investigation came when Matt and Jeb discovered a cooperative eyewitness who had seen everything. With this new testimony, along with the magnitude of the loss, the case began to take shape.
Through testimonials from those who knew the man, they quickly realized how deeply he was loved. Neighbors and friends shared stories of his quiet generosity, like mowing lawns without anyone knowing. It became clear that demonstrating to the jury how much this man meant to others would be crucial. His loss had a profound impact on so many lives.
The negligent driver took responsibility and admitted fault, but the initial offer from the Defense fell far short of acknowledging the value of the Plaintiff’s life. The Defense argued that the victim could have avoided the collision with a course correction. Matt and Jeb firmly countered that there was no scenario where the man could have prevented the crash. Nevertheless, the Defense continued to shift blame, claiming he could have done more. To reduce economic damages, the Defense proposed a mere $25,000 for the value of the man’s life, which they offered at mediation. Matt and Jeb knew his life was worth far more and immediately rejected the offer.
As an admitted liability case, Matt and Jeb focused on damages. They accumulated stories from his family, friends, and community about how important the victim had been to them — everyone whose life he had touched. They aimed to present these heartfelt first-person accounts of the kind, giving man in court in front of the jury during the trial. To amplify the impact of the personal testimonies, they brought in an economist to assess and present the victim’s potential earnings had he not tragically died. Then, they turned their attention to the incident itself. One of their most powerful strategies was how they depicted the scene of the incident, supporting the events leading up to the crash with eyewitness testimony. They also explained the moments following the impact, emphasizing that the victim didn’t immediately succumb to his injuries. They worked to clearly convey the internal damage caused by the collision and describe the crash itself. However, recognizing the importance of illustrating the scene in detail, the attorneys turned to DK Global. Matt and Jeb wanted to show, rather than only tell, the jury what had happened, allowing them to experience the event as if they had lived it.
Matt and Jeb first had DK Global reconstruct the accident scene using eyewitness testimony. The animation showed the two drivers and their vehicles approaching each other from various angles, including perspectives from both the victim and the Defendant. The reconstruction showed the moment the cars approached one another, the traffic violation of swerving into the other lane, and the violent impact as the vehicles collided and came to a stop. Then, in collaboration with the forensic pathologist used for the case, DK Global created a scientifically accurate animation of the blunt force trauma to the left side of the victim’s chest, going inside the victim’s body after impact, and showing the pressure from internal bleeding, which ultimately led to cardiac arrest and his tragic death.
The animation was played at the beginning of the Gwinnett County, Georgia trial. Matt and Jeb shared all of the evidence, along with 25 character witnesses and the eyewitness from the scene. The jury clearly saw the incident, impact, and damages of the crash and knew the effect it would have on the grieving family. When the jury finished deliberating, what started as a $25,000 settlement offer shot up to an eight-figure $28,000,000 verdict. To that, the court added $1,200,000 in prejudgment interest and $6,300,000 in attorney fees — ultimately, a massive $35,500,000 judgment. There were tears, hugs, smiles. Matt described it as one of the most heartwarming moments of his career. Though this father and friend to many were gone, there was now some accountability and a path for the family to move forward through life without him.
Matt Kahn is a partner at Butler | Kahn in Atlanta, Georgia. He attended Emory University School of Law, where he served as managing editor of one of the law journals. Matt represents people and families who have been critically injured or killed due to negligence or wrongful conduct. Matt takes on only a small number of cases, so he can truly focus on developing each one.
Jeb Butler is the founding partner and a trial attorney at Butler | Kahn. He graduated in the top 10 percent of his University of Georgia School of Law class. He has worked on cases that have made systemic changes, including achieving a $150,000,000 verdict in a product liability case, along with a lawsuit that resulted in policy changes after a police chase, which improved the protection of innocent lives.
