The farm truck was massive, almost the size of an eighteen-wheeler. Driving through the barn of a West Texas dairy operation, the vehicle blew past a farmhand, going far too fast among the cow pens. And then, for reasons unknown, the driver put the big rig into reverse, backing up at speed, hitting the farm worker and throwing him into a metal fence. The impact was devastating, causing serious damage to his head, upper spine, and lower back.
The huge tractor was operated by an employee who had been reprimanded on multiple occasions for his recklessness. The truck had no backup beeper and no rearview mirrors as it sped through the industrial barn filled with farm workers and loud noise – other vehicles, cows mooing, dairy machines working.
It was a clear case of negligence.
But the farm didn’t participate in Texas’s worker’s compensation program — and it didn’t want to hear about any accidents among its staff. The company insisted the sixty-year-old farmhand was exaggerating about the severity of his injuries, even after he went through multiple surgeries to relieve the pain in his spine.
Trauma to the back, spine, and head can end a career and lead to a life of pain and suffering. But because they’re hidden inside the body, they can also be hard to prove.
The injured worker turned to Amarillo-based personal injury lawyer Dean Boyd for help. An attorney with more than three decades of experience in vehicle-accident claims, Boyd immediately saw that the key to the case would be to convince a jury of the serious nature of the man’s injuries. He arranged to have doctors from each of his client’s surgeries as witnesses.
And he had another idea.
Boyd had come across DK Global at a trial attorney’s conference three years prior and had worked with the company on several occasions with much success. He knew DK Global’s animations could show just how extensive the damage was to his client’s back. He also knew that, due to their visual nature, these videos could present complex medical procedures in a way that made them easy for a jury to understand.
They could all but make his argument for him.
Not only did Boyd plan to use the animations in his opening statement at trial, he decided he would present them to the Defense ahead of time. He knew their sophistication and power would show opposing council what they were up against and could convince the industrial dairy’s executives to come to their senses and settle.
It's easy to understand why. The demonstratives were extremely effective at communicating the extent of the farmhand’s injuries. DK Global’s ten-minute animation first depicted the cervical spine procedure, showing the incision made in the patient’s neck and the removal of several crushed discs and their associated ligaments. After spacers were placed between vertebrae, surgeons fused a long metal plate to the bones with screws. DK Global then animated the patient’s lower back surgery, making it clear how doctors cut out several spinal processes, creating a hole just above the hips. They then performed an annulotomy, taking out the gellike material at the base of the spine that was compressed and damaged in the accident. The videos leave viewers with the unmistakable impression that Mr. Davis went through serious, invasive, reconstructive surgeries to repair major spinal trauma.
The DK Global animations had the exact effect Boyd hoped, making the opposition rethink their stance. The videos were so accurate, the lower back surgeon called them the best he’d ever seen, making his job much easier. Boyd’s confidence going into mediation shook the Defense, forcing them to bring aboard another lawyer to review the case. After seeing Boyd’s presentation, the company decided it had no choice but to settle —for the seven-figure maximum insurance policy limit.
Dean Boyd has been a personal injury attorney for 33 years. A prominent member of the Texas legal community, he has a staff of 25 and offices in Amarillo and Lubbock, Texas, and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Boyd specializes in injury and death claims resulting from automobile, truck, and motorcycle accidents, bringing to his work unique insights into the insurance industry gleaned from a previous career as an insurance adjuster. He serves on the board of directors of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association and was selected for a Super Lawyers rating.
The farm truck was massive, almost the size of an eighteen-wheeler. Driving through the barn of a West Texas dairy operation, the vehicle blew past a farmhand, going far too fast among the cow pens. And then, for reasons unknown, the driver put the big rig into reverse, backing up at speed, hitting the farm worker and throwing him into a metal fence. The impact was devastating, causing serious damage to his head, upper spine, and lower back.
The huge tractor was operated by an employee who had been reprimanded on multiple occasions for his recklessness. The truck had no backup beeper and no rearview mirrors as it sped through the industrial barn filled with farm workers and loud noise – other vehicles, cows mooing, dairy machines working.
It was a clear case of negligence.
But the farm didn’t participate in Texas’s worker’s compensation program — and it didn’t want to hear about any accidents among its staff. The company insisted the sixty-year-old farmhand was exaggerating about the severity of his injuries, even after he went through multiple surgeries to relieve the pain in his spine.
Trauma to the back, spine, and head can end a career and lead to a life of pain and suffering. But because they’re hidden inside the body, they can also be hard to prove.
The injured worker turned to Amarillo-based personal injury lawyer Dean Boyd for help. An attorney with more than three decades of experience in vehicle-accident claims, Boyd immediately saw that the key to the case would be to convince a jury of the serious nature of the man’s injuries. He arranged to have doctors from each of his client’s surgeries as witnesses.
And he had another idea.
Boyd had come across DK Global at a trial attorney’s conference three years prior and had worked with the company on several occasions with much success. He knew DK Global’s animations could show just how extensive the damage was to his client’s back. He also knew that, due to their visual nature, these videos could present complex medical procedures in a way that made them easy for a jury to understand.
They could all but make his argument for him.
Not only did Boyd plan to use the animations in his opening statement at trial, he decided he would present them to the Defense ahead of time. He knew their sophistication and power would show opposing council what they were up against and could convince the industrial dairy’s executives to come to their senses and settle.
It's easy to understand why. The demonstratives were extremely effective at communicating the extent of the farmhand’s injuries. DK Global’s ten-minute animation first depicted the cervical spine procedure, showing the incision made in the patient’s neck and the removal of several crushed discs and their associated ligaments. After spacers were placed between vertebrae, surgeons fused a long metal plate to the bones with screws. DK Global then animated the patient’s lower back surgery, making it clear how doctors cut out several spinal processes, creating a hole just above the hips. They then performed an annulotomy, taking out the gellike material at the base of the spine that was compressed and damaged in the accident. The videos leave viewers with the unmistakable impression that Mr. Davis went through serious, invasive, reconstructive surgeries to repair major spinal trauma.
The DK Global animations had the exact effect Boyd hoped, making the opposition rethink their stance. The videos were so accurate, the lower back surgeon called them the best he’d ever seen, making his job much easier. Boyd’s confidence going into mediation shook the Defense, forcing them to bring aboard another lawyer to review the case. After seeing Boyd’s presentation, the company decided it had no choice but to settle —for the seven-figure maximum insurance policy limit.
Dean Boyd has been a personal injury attorney for 33 years. A prominent member of the Texas legal community, he has a staff of 25 and offices in Amarillo and Lubbock, Texas, and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Boyd specializes in injury and death claims resulting from automobile, truck, and motorcycle accidents, bringing to his work unique insights into the insurance industry gleaned from a previous career as an insurance adjuster. He serves on the board of directors of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association and was selected for a Super Lawyers rating.
