Nick Rowley Dons a Chicken Suit in Closings of TBI Trial, En Route to Securing $10M Settlement

A strong rhetorical aid can be a key piece of a closing argument, tying together a case’s theme and remaining in the jury’s minds as they deliberate a verdict. At trial over the brain injury a high school student suffered during a pep rally, Nick Rowley dons a chicken costume in a jaw-dropping demonstrative that helped secure an eight-figure settlement.

Mitch Carter sued California’s Kern County School District, claiming a 2010 assault by Bakersfield High School students left him with a traumatic brain injury. Carter contended he was beaten while wearing a chicken suit meant to mock the mascot of a rival high school, and he accused school officials of encouraging the stunt and failing to break up the attack quickly enough.

“The truth is, it’s kind of a school tradition here to beat the hell out of the opposing team’s mascot,” Rowley told jurors in closings, as he argued school administrators should have known Carter would be placed in danger.

Then Rowley pulled out the costume. “You know, Mitch isn’t the only one in history to have worn this,” he said as he stepped into the chicken suit.

The defense immediately objected, arguing the costume wasn’t in evidence. However, Judge David Lampe overruled the challenge. “This isn’t a piece of evidence,” acknowledged. “I’ll permit it as long as it is done respectfully, and is used as a rhetorical device for argument.”

As Rowley worked to pull on the costume, he highlighted key questions for the jury to consider: namely, what motivated Carter to don the mascot outfit in the first place. “Why would he do such a humiliating thing? Is it because this is fun? Is it because he wanted attention?” Rowley asked. “Or is it because he wanted to help his school, because he cared.”

With everything but the head now in place, Rowley reiterated the mascot outfit was meant to be a target for mockery, noting injuries a teacher had received years before in a similar situation.

The outfit, Rowley said, was designed to “rile everybody up at the rally, just like the teacher, Mr. Scott had done, five years before when he had five ribs broken, ended up with a neck surgery, and got his body all torn up. Because Mr. Scott was doing it for the school, too, that he loved.”

Rowley then slipped the chicken head on and spread his arms wide to show the jurors the target Carter became for the students that attacked him. As he reenacted the scene—Carter struck from behind, the mascot’s head coming off from the force of the attack, Carter fleeing—he emphasized Carter’s situation. “It’s humiliating to be in something like this,” Rowley said. “It’s humiliating.”

But, Rowley continued, returning to Carter’s motivation. “He cared enough about his school that he was willing to do it…. He wanted the rally to be a success.”

The image of Rowley standing in a ridiculous looking chicken mascot costume, much like Carter must have stood at the pep rally moments before he was attacked, likely stayed with the jury, forcing them to question why such a stunt would be allowed. Jurors returned with a finding that the school was liable, and, before they could determine damages, the district agreed to settle the case for $10 million.