Alarcon v. W.B. Mason Co.

One of our recent cases, Alarcon v. W.B. Mason Co., demonstrates both the precision required in creating these animations, as well as the utility of these animations after they are created. In this case, we represented 21-year-old Xiomara Alarcon who, on September 8, 2022, was a junior at Bates College. Xiomara was walking across campus on Alumni Walk, a pedestrian walkway that runs from College Street on the eastern side of the campus to the dining hall on the west. She was badly injured when she was struck by a WB Mason delivery truck that was backing up along Alumni Walk.

In our lawsuit against WB Mason and the truck driver, the defendants argued that Xiomara was inattentive and walked into the pathway of the moving truck. They claimed to have several eyewitnesses who supported that account of the events. By contrast, our client had consistently stated that she had never departed from her route of travel directly down Alumni Walk. We had a credible eyewitness who supported our client’s version of events.

Forensic animation was used to illustrate the gruesome nature of the impact and injuries to our client.

We developed a trial animation that illustrated our client’s version of events, showed the point of view (POV) of the credible eyewitness and debunked the defense theory that our client left the pathway and then walked into the path of the truck.  We also used the animation to show the area where the crash occurred, emphasizing the fact that it was in the middle of a busy college campus where a driver should expect to find students walking. We showed safer alternative approaches that WB Mason could have used to make the delivery, which would have avoided backing a large delivery truck onto the campus. Finally, we used the animation to illustrate the gruesome nature of the impact and injuries to our client.