Never before has the legal industry faced such high
stakes litigation as the cases that face it today. Among the largest
of these cases are company-versus-company lawsuits, which are often
“bet the company” in nature.
Animators has considerable experience working on noteworthy complex
commercial litigation cases involving contract and other disputes between
large corporations. Animators’ work in this area typically involves
cases ranging in size from the tens of millions to hundreds of billions
of dollars.
Among the unique problems facing the trial team in these types of cases
is the difficulty posed by effectively presenting massive amounts of
statistical data in a clear and concise form. Invariably, in cases like
these, there are typically millions of documents relevant to the case,
spanning decades. Moreover, although the issues are not always as technically
complex as they might be in, for example, patent litigation, they are
often so factually dense that without the aid of persuasive visual exhibits
and a coordinated presentation strategy, many of these cases can be
virtually impenetrable for the average juror.
To overcome these challenges, Animators has developed a variety of techniques.
For example, in order to accommodate the trial team’s need to “call
up” any one of millions of documents “on the fly”, Animators
routinely outfits courtrooms with the latest in trial technology, which
allows for a seamless presentation of documentary evidence.
In one significant contract case for Foley & Lardner, with over
five hundred million dollars at stake, Animators was called upon to
create exhibits that contradicted the Plaintiffs’ assertions that
they were not kept appraised of a particular joint venture, despite
having been on forty committees with the defendants. In order to assist
the trial team, Animators created an exhibit and encouraged the use
of a psychological technique to persuade both visual and auditory learners.
This example demonstrates how Animators created a
demonstrative
designed to be used in conjunction with the oral statement “plaintiffs
had their eye on the project.” The exhibit shows how the oral message
was reinforced, by subtly incorporating it into the design itself.
In another case, Animators was asked to create a chart diagramming AT&T’s
complicated subsidiary corporate structure. Borrowing from the same
psychological principles as the “Eye Chart” shown above, 
this
organizational chart utilized the same visual/oral teaching technique
to convey the message that AT&T was playing a “shell game.”
Product Liability
Animators’ attorney litigation consultants recognize that corporate
litigation stakes are at their highest when a product comes under attack.
These cases, perhaps more so than any others, typically involve educating
a lay audience as to the “right” facts. Very often this education
requires the jury or judge to digest and process vast amounts of highly
complex technical and scientific materials, often to simply refute a
very narrow allegation that is seemingly simple to understand.
Since 1995, Animators has gathered extensive experience in defending
products in the tobacco, alcohol, pharmaceutical, and construction industries,
as well as many others. Animators has worked on behalf of such firms
as Shook Hardy et al., Jones Day et al., Philip Morris, Kirkland &
Ellis, Mayer Brown et al., and Foley & Lardner in the defense of
accused products.
Animators has received international exposure for its groundbreaking
work on behalf of the tobacco industry. During this litigation, Animators
was involved in all levels of the litigation, including high-level international
strategic brainstorming.
Like many product liability cases, the tobacco litigation involved highly
complex information that needed to be presented at a very understandable
level. Among the types of dynamic exhibits developed for this landmark
litigation, Animators created a variety of demonstratives including:
traditional trial exhibits intended to show the effects of genetics
on the development of cancer; an interactive multimedia presentation
to simplify and teach the development of cancer at the microbiological
level; and engaging animations to explain teach otherwise boring statistical
epidemiological information.
In one noteworthy example, Animators’ highly trained illustration
team created a memorable graphic that conveyed the challenging message
that the nucleus is the control center of the cell.It was critical 
to
the attorneys’ overall trial strategy that the fact-finder fully
comprehended this basic, yet potentially difficult concept. This example
demonstrates how Animators succeeded in converting this challenging
micro- biological concept into a simple and understandable presentation.
In another case, Animators’ design team created an animation showing
how the failure to properly protect against
termites caused the mass failure of modular housing throughout Florida,
resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.
Antitrust
Animators has worked with some of the largest international firms on
behalf of clients accused of a variety of antitrust violations, as well
as clients who have been the victims of unfair business practices. Animators
has significant expertise in the field of antitrust, as evidenced by
the fact that its attorney litigation team includes trained economists.
Animators has developed mechanisms for both prosecuting and defending
claims of price fixing, and various anti-competitive practices. Animators’
recent work in this area has included the multi billion dollar in Re:
Vitamins 
Antitrust
Litigation Matter for a consortium of the nation’s largest law
firms, defending 3M Corporation from price-fixing allegations, as well
as successfully defending a major brewer against claims by its distribution
network.
As a result of its vast experience working with these cases, Animators
has discovered that the prototypical antitrust case typically involves
a very long fact pattern set over a lengthy period of time, which often
hinges almost exclusively on documentary evidence. Therefore, in order
to properly manage this information, Animators utilizes a combination
of persuasive timelines, financial charts, and document call-outs to
help reduce this otherwise impenetrable subject matter to a story that
is understandable and compelling.
In one recent case, Animators has been instrumental in assisting a major
water filtration product manufacturer in illustrating how a competitor
not only misappropriated an invention from the government, but also
wrongfully obtained patents on that invention, in order to exclude the
manufacturer from the marketplace. In that
case, Animators created timelines and other dynamic exhibits to not
only highlight the precise dates of the competitor’s wrongful acts,
but also to contrast the competitor’s conduct against what the
competitor should have done. As a result of the highly persuasive exhibits
created by Animators, the client received a favorable ruling whereby
the judge significantly expanded the relevant timeframe applicable to
the case.
Class Actions
Class action lawsuits are often some of the most difficult to prosecute
because of the challenges associated with such a large number of litigants.
Animators’ work in the field has produced new and innovative techniques
for overcoming these challenges.
In one noteworthy example, Animators worked with the trial team at Williams
& Connolly on a landmark class action lawsuit brought on behalf
of U.S. Department of Justice attorneys in order to successfully recover
overtime pay. To alleviate the difficulties posed by such a large class
of litigants, Animators created a web site that kept class members informed
about the status of the lawsuit, and allowed potential class members
to opt-in online. The website also featured a damages calculator which
allowed class members to estimate their possible damages. This innovative
web site provided the trial team with an invaluable tool to communicate
with their class as well as the ability to spend their valuable time
focusing on the legal issues of the case.
