Garo Mardirossian's "Model" Opening That Set Up a $35M Verdict in a Motorcycle Crash Case

While computer animations and other electronic demonstratives become increasingly popular, sometimes the most effective demonstrative is more traditional. In a trial over a motorcycle crash that cost a former UCLA football player his leg, Garo Mardirossian paired a compelling opening with a tabletop model of an accident scene to pave the way for a $35 million verdict.

Amir “Nick” Ekbatani, a former UCLA offensive lineman, was struck by a taxi van making a left-hand turn as Ekbatani rode his motorcycle north along Pacific Coast highway in Redondo Beach. Doctors amputated part of Ekbatani’s left leg and he had undergone 13 surgeries by the time of trial.

Although the taxi van driver, Masfin Kinfu, failed to yield when making the turn, Ekbatani’s lawyer, Mardirossian, contended CalTrans was at fault because a gradual incline and lack of left turn signal contributed to the crash.  

 As part of his opening statement, Mardirossian took jurors to a separate room where the intersection was set up on a large tabletop model, showing both Ekbatani’s motorcycle and the taxi. Maridosissan then walked jurors through the roadway’s setup and condition, noting where prior accidents at the intersection had occurred without resulting action from CalTrans.

Mardirossian points out that the sharper, 61-degree intersection leads drivers like Kinfu to make a sharper turn without pulling all the way to the middle of the intersection.

“He doesn’t see Mr. Ekbatani until it’s too late. Mr. Ekbatani doesn’t see Mr. Kinfu until it’s too late,” Mardirossian says.  

Why? Mardirossian answers the question by kneeling at eye-level with the model, implicitly encouraging jurors to do the same. “If somebody’s in this cab, and they were to look across, the (road) bump is in the way,” Mardirossian says, as he highlights the crest in the intersection. “They can’t see the motorcyclist. You don’t see the headlight, you don’t see the helmet, you don’t see anything because of this bump in the road.”

Maridrossian tells jurors the blind spots in the intersection did not give Ekbatani or Kinfu enough time to avoid the crash once they were finally able to see one another. “By the time they could see each other, it was too late. They were in a trap,” Mardirossian tells the jurors. “Mr. Ekbatani and Mr. Kinfu had fallen into a trap, and they didn’t know it until it was too late.”

The tabletop model set up forced jurors out of their chairs, likely better focusing their attention in a way that sitting and passively watching a computer animation would not. The physical model also allowed Mardirossian to more easily direct jurors’ attention to the allegedly faulty setup of the intersection while demonstrating the drivers’ inability to see one another over the intersection’s crest.

The opening and the tabletop demonstrative helped pave the way for a $35 million jury verdict, with CalTrans declared 70% at fault.