A man sustained a traumatic brain injury at a sporting event when a soccer ball struck him on the head and violently knocked him down to the ground. The 50-year-old was walking between two athletic fields after a game when the ball went over a 4-foot fence and hit him at 60 MPH. Based on the speed of the ball, the Plaintiff was hit with approximately 600-1,000 pounds of force. He was instantly knocked to the ground as his head bounced off the concrete walkway, causing a severe traumatic brain injury. Attorney Jeffrey Zinder of Zinder, Koch & McBratney commissioned DK Global to create an animation that demonstrated the brain movement, within the Plaintiff’s skull, due to the impact.

Despite the extreme speed and force with which the soccer ball collided with the Plaintiff’s head, his injuries were directly correlated to the impact of his head with the ground. Consequently, the blood vessels in both of his eyes ruptured, and he suffered two coup contrecoups. This led to short-term memory loss, significant photosensitivity, and psychological damage. Similar to most brain injuries, the challenge was that the Plaintiff’s injuries were not physically visible.

The animation created by DK Global’s team reenacted the mechanism of injury, showing a soccer ball forcibly striking a man possessing a similar likeness to the Plaintiff. The viewer can then see how the Plaintiff sustained a second coup contrecoup as his head impacted the ground. An x-ray view of the man’s brain shows its movement, the scalp contusion, the laceration, and a hyphema. The video ends with a deficits presentation, reinforcing the dramatic changes in the man’s brain function.

Attorney Zinder took this case all the way through trial, settling for a very favorable confidential amount four days after deliberation, just before the jury members took their seats. As the senior partner for the firm, Jeffrey possesses more than 30 years of legal experience and has tried many complex cases.