LOS ANGELES — A pedestrian crossing a Los Angeles street was struck by a large pickup truck driven by an employee of a construction company, leaving him with devastating injuries and setting the stage for a legal battle that ultimately ended in a $13.375 million settlement.
The plaintiff, Mr. Newcomb, was walking across a marked crosswalk when the collision occurred. Questions initially were centered around whether he had the proper signal and whether the pickup should have been making its turn. Liability was eventually conceded, with the defense alleging some comparative fault.
But according to attorney Jon Davidi of Panish | Shea | Ravipudi LLP, the crucial fight became the extent of Newcomb’s damages.
He had suffered a fractured pelvis, ankle fracture, and serious urethral injury.
The challenge was no longer simply explaining what happened. It was making the defense understand the ramifications of those injuries.
From Medical Records to a Visceral Story
As mediation approached, Davidi’s team retained Allrise Animation to reconstruct the collision and visualize the injuries.
“We wanted the other side to feel what happened,” Davidi said. “We wanted them to watch the animation and feel like they were in Mr. Newcomb’s shoes when the truck ran over his body.”
Allrise visited the collision site and performed a 3D laser scan, creating a digital reconstruction of the environment. With stabilized surveillance footage provided by CVisual, Allrise was able to synchronize the 3D scene with the footage to recreate the movements of the pedestrian and pickup truck.
The team then created a mechanism-of-injury animation showing precisely how the injuries occurred, and the trauma inflicted on Newcomb’s body.
One moment proved particularly difficult to gloss over: the pickup truck’s tire running over Mr. Newcomb’s pelvis.
The animation was designed not merely to recreate events, but to tell a compelling visual story.
Davidi, who already knew the medical evidence, said seeing that injury visualized changed his own perception of the case.
“What’s really important in animation is not just showing what happened, but being persuasive and telling the story,” Davidi said. “And that’s what Allrise is able to accomplish with their animations.”
The Injuries Behind the Case
The collision left Newcomb with significant orthopedic and urological injuries, including a fractured pelvis, ankle fracture, and urethral trauma.
But the damages extended beyond the moment of impact.
Using Newcomb’s medical records and imaging, Allrise created detailed medical visuals showing the injuries in anatomically accurate 3D. The team also developed surgery animations to demonstrate the invasive treatment required after the collision and give viewers a clearer understanding of what Newcomb had physically endured.
For Davidi, that distinction mattered.
“You read an operative report—that’s one thing,” he said. “You show them what the surgery is like—that’s another.”
Rather than asking the defense to interpret medical terminology or visualize procedures from written records alone, the animations connected the collision, resulting injuries and subsequent treatment into one continuous story.
As Davidi explained, “When you have these serious and significant injuries, it’s important to communicate them and not just tell the defense or the insurance carriers what happened but show them.”
Sending a Message to the Defense
The visuals also served another purpose: demonstrating exactly what the defense could face if the case went before a jury.
“It also shows them that we’re serious about this case,” Davidi said. “It’s a case that we’re willing to invest in, and this is what we’re going to show the jury.”
Davidi described the animation as “critical in the mediation and in getting the case settled.”
The case ultimately resolved for $13.375 million.
For Davidi, the investment paid off in both presentation and impact.
“If you’re an attorney considering hiring Allrise, I can’t recommend them enough.”
