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Continued... Page 5 > Story Boards

However, by the time the plaintiff's lawyer received the case, the on-ramp had been altered and no photographs were available. Knowing that he had to visualize the situation, the lawyer relied upon storyboards. He retained an artist to prepare drawings based on the information contributed by the witnesses. Each drawing was then identified and authenticated at trial by witnesses who gave the artist the information. It was admitted at trial and approved on appeal by the Washington Court of Appeals, which held:

The State's objection seems largely motivated by the novelty of the evidence. Novelty in an exhibit, however, does not make it inadmissible.

Case Histories - Use of Storyboards to Solve

Proof Problems

Once admissible, the storyboard can be used for a variety of proof problems. In Zeretzke v. Intalco Aluminum , the 34-year old plaintiff was electrocuted when a boom on the back of his truck made contact with power lines at a construction site. There were several problems involved in the case, including contributory negligence. The decedent was an apprentice who had been placed by his employer in a position far beyond his experience level. Unfortunately, his employer could not be sued under relevant state law.

Although Intalco Aluminum, the property owner, could have turned off the power and avoided this accident, they blamed the "empty chair", decedent's employer, for the accident. Intalco further represented that it would have crippled on-going operations at the aluminum plant to turn off the power in this particular set of overhead lines.

Through storyboards, plaintiff established how critical it was for the defendant to turn off the power, as well as how easy it would have been for defendant to do so. In this effort, plaintiff's counsel relied on two sets of five storyboards. The first set of five drawings established what actually happened on the day of the accident. The second five showed what would have happened if defendant had met its duty of care and turned off the power. One very important storyboard panel in the second set shows a man in a white hard hat throwing a switch on a control panel. This represented how easy it would have been for defendant to turn off the power. The next four drawings in the set show that if defendant had deactivated the power line, contact with the boom on decedent's truck would have been uneventful and decedent would still be alive.

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