Dawn crested over Fontana, CA, as a harried semitruck driver rushed to finish his final delivery after working the entire night. The driver was not only running late but had also overshot the hours he could legally be on-duty for. Up ahead, a family minivan waited to make a left turn, but the big rig driver failed to pump the brakes in time. The semi rammed into the back of the minivan and shunted it down the boulevard — along with the mother and her nine-year-old son inside — while a chorus of tires squealed. The impact rippled through the minivan, smashing the mother’s head against the steering wheel and wrenching her back, neck, and shoulder.

The head blow extinguished enough of the mother’s neurons that she was left amnestic and unable to recall the days leading up to the collision. Dark bruising webbed across her abdomen from the pinch of the seatbelt, and the impact herniated her right shoulder. An annular tear of her lower spine caused the disc’s gelatinous liquid to leak out into her spinal canal and irritate her spinal nerves. Shooting pain and numbness radiated all the way down to the bottom of her foot, and she required a cane for years after. Multiple invasive surgeries implanted screws into her shoulder and spine. Surgeons also installed a spinal cord stimulator and ran wires up her spine. Doctors prescribed her sixteen medications, and her diffuse brain injury worsened over the years, requiring 82 cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) treatments.

The insurance company offered only low six-figures to her attorneys. The Plaintiff then turned to Nick Rowley, a national trial lawyer and founder of Trial Lawyers for Justice, for help. Nick and his team got to know the Plaintiff and her family and spent time in each other’s homes. Nick could see how the crash devastated her life and vowed to see the case all the way through if the insurance company didn’t pay. He reviewed the police report, photographs, initial primary care records, and urgent care records. Her medical bills had already surpassed a million dollars. Due to the Plaintiff’s poor medical treatment, Nick worked to get her seen by leading physicians at UCLA and Cedars-Sinai. However, the Defense attacked the legal team for helping her access higher levels of medical care.

Nick attempted to settle the case for $6,900,000, but the Defense refused to budge past $5,500,000 and instead switched strategies. The Defense denied liability and frivolously blamed the Plaintiff for the collision. They tried to argue that she didn’t signal, that she slammed on brakes, and that her surgeries were unnecessary. The case proceeded to trial, and the Defense brought in witness after witness to call the Plaintiff an exaggerator, a liar, a cheat, and a fraud. Her own treating physician assistant claimed she was being “dramatic” for lying down with sunglasses on while in the waiting room. What the PA didn’t know was that the Plaintiff’s “sunglasses” were prescription prism glasses that adjusted to light to prevent the double-vision and horrible migraines that had racked her since the collision.

However, the sneakiest trick the Defense dropped during trial was an investigator’s surveillance video of the Plaintiff walking without a cane. Nick knew surveillance videos like this had the potential to ruin injury cases even when the tapes showed nothing of consequence. An idea struck Nick, and he called DK Global to see if they could put together a demonstrative of the surveillance video set to the soundtrack of The Six Million Dollar Man. The point would be to show everything the Plaintiff went through over eight years to get to the point where she could walk without a cane. He also needed the animation before closing arguments, which meant DK Global only had the weekend to pull it off.

The demonstrative DK Global put together opened with a clip of the surveillance video and riffed the secret-agent aesthetics of The Six Million Dollar Man, including the show’s soundtrack. The animation zoomed in and out of a full 3D-reconstruction of the Plaintiff. An artificial disc was shown being inserted into her cervical spine. Next, the animation revealed the screw that was drilled down into her dislocated shoulder. Dropping down to the bottom of her spine, the animation showed her spinal cord being pushed out of the way to accommodate the insertions of a spinal cord stimulator, its battery, an artificial disc, metal bars and screws, and the wires that ran up her entire spine. In the next shot, the Plaintiff's body and head were covered in a plethora of syringes, representing the totality of injections she endured. The surveillance video showed the victim walking, but the animation unveiled her pant leg to show the leg brace she was wearing underneath. The shot then zoomed to her brain and displayed multiple captures from her brain imaging, pinpointing the areas of injury. Next, all 82 of her CBT treatments were listed, followed by a list and pictures of all her prescription medications. To drive the point home, Nick requested a flourish: an animation of the Plaintiff walking through a literal downpour of all the medications she required, along with her brain scans and disability placard.

In another animation, DK Global recreated the collision, which repudiated the Defense’s claims that the Plaintiff was the one liable. The animation showed the Plaintiff's minivan turning left on a busy street with her blinker on, as well as the ample time the semitruck had to avert the crash. The big rig was shown colliding into the family vehicle. A replay showed the impact rippling through the minivan. Several more replays zoomed further and further into the Plaintiff’s injuries. They showed the mother hitting her head on the steering wheel, and the injuries to her spine and brain. The camera zeroed into cellular level to where the impact severed the axons from neurons, resulting in the cell bodies necrotizing and dissolving away.

During the surveillance video demonstrative, the body language of the Defense’s leading lawyer changed from ease to worry. Meanwhile, the jurors were enthralled, smiling and nodding as the Plaintiff’s rainstorm of prescription drugs cascaded down the screen. Through prior expert testimony the day before, Nick had introduced the jury to The Six Million Dollar Man, and the timing struck a chord. While the jury deliberated, the Defense offered $9,000,000, which Nick dismissed as being just the prejudgment interest. The jurors returned with their verdict, and the court ordered the Defense to pay $37,000,000 — more than five times more than what Nick had originally asked them to settle for. In talking with the jurors after, he learned the animation brought home everything the victim had gone through and the ridiculousness of the surveillance video. Finally, after years of pain, surgeries, therapies, and litigation, the Plaintiff emerged triumphant from the courtroom as the 37 Million Dollar Woman.

Nicholas Rowley founded Trial Lawyers for Justice, a national law firm dedicated to representing injury victims against insurance companies, the government, and big corporations. He authored and co-authored several books and created Trial By Human, a non-profit trial skills program. His efforts have been recognized nationally with multiple Trial Lawyer of the Year and Outstanding Trial Lawyer awards in multiple states. He was one of the youngest attorneys to ever be awarded Trial Lawyer of the Year by CAALA. His extensive courtroom experience has included over 162 jury trials, where he has won over $3 billion in jury verdicts and settlements. As an active philanthropist, he has been involved with environmental and educational non-profits within the United States and abroad.