by Richard Prior
Staff Writer
The man on the monitor is going through his morning routine. Drying off after a shower, brushing his teeth and hair, shaving, putting on his shirt, putting on his arms.
Another image is of a young woman whose mother uses a hoist to move her about.
Up on another screen, the camera follows the progress of another young woman. Once bright, athletic and energetic, she strains to make herself understood. She walks haltingly. She has to relearn basic arithmetic. There are large, unseen gaps in her mind that her memory can’t vault.
All three had their lives radically changed by mishaps. Or, as they insist, by negligence. There was an industrial accident. A tire blowout. Treatment at a hospital that went tragically wrong.
The man and two young women are also the subjects of videos produced by Michaela Miller and her team at Video Law Services.
“Nobody calls us with good news,” said Miller in her Emerson Street office. “I think everybody here becomes humbled by the things that used to be major issues in our lives. You look at these people and what they go through, and it puts a perspective on your life.”
Video Law Services produces Settlement and Day in the Life documentaries that are used to bolster plaintiffs’ cases at mediation and, if necessary, at trial.
“We are able to take a huge amount of information and reduce it to a presentation that looks very similar to ‘Dateline’ or ‘20/20,’ ” Miller said.
Using a Settlement Documentary, the plaintiff’s attorney can move it along somewhat like a slide show, “talking about all aspects of the case instead of us producing a whole presentation,” she said.
There is no narration in a Day in the Life documentary, which is typically used at trial.
“The camera acts as a fly on the wall,” said Miller. “We document the person’s activities, the daily living. The injured party or the caregiver, or a physical or occupational therapist would testify in conjunction with it.
“As a juror, you can see how they do things, since the jury’s not going to be allowed to go to a paraplegic’s or a quadriplegic’s home to see what they have to go through.”
For 10 years, Michaela Miller was an award-winning journalist as a reporter, anchor and producer. She worked at television stations in Houston, Boston and Providence, and was executive producer at Ch.17.
Her new career began by accident 19 years ago. Her past and future came together at the intersection of University and Beach boulevards when another driver collided with her car. She needed surgery on the top of her head, had three torn ligaments in her ankle and was confined to a wheelchair.
“When my attorney said I had to document it, I said what about videos?” she recalled. “He said absolutely.
“I said this sounds like a whole new arena.”
With $100,000 gathered from five banks, she produced a series of instructional tapes for attorneys to show them how to use video in litigation.
“It’s been a wonderful, wonderful career,” she said. “The business is growing, in leaps and bounds.”
With traveling, interviewing, filming, writing and editing, VLS produces two Settlement documentaries a week. Each one is about 10 to 15 minutes long. And they are effective.
“Michaela is very familiar with handling these catastrophic injury cases, and her team over there is phenomenal,” said Mark Calvin, with Brown, Terrell, Hogan, Ellis, McClamma & Yegelwel. “She is able to interview these different folks in a way that gives you an idea of how they’re battling in the face of a horrible existence.
“She’s been very valuable — not just for Brown, Terrell and at least four or five cases for me — but for a lot of other folks here in Jacksonville.”
In addition to Miller, there are four other “primaries” on the production team.
Bobby Thomas is a videographer and editor. He began his career in video production and moved into television news at Ch. 4.
John Simmons, a graduate of the Woodrow Wilson College of Law, is the writer and producer.
Bryan Mobley has been with VLS since 1995, working with expert witnesses such as engineers and doctors to support their testimony through computer animation.
Tom Spence, a videographer and editor, has been part of the team since January 2001. He received a Peabody Award when he was working at Ch. 4.
Every VLS video and computer animation exhibit has been found admissible for trial evidence. The company has won a host of national awards and received an Emmy in 1999 for its “Crime and Consequences” documentary.
But the awards are the gravy, not the meat.
“One of our best compliments,” said Miller, “comes when a defense firm calls and says, ‘We’ve been on the other side of you long enough. We finally have a plaintiff’s case, and we’d like to use you.’
“I really feel like we’re making a difference in people’s lives. That, to me, is the most important aspect of what we do. We get in and tap into these people’s real, raw emotions.
“It’s not unusual for me to sit there and cry with them.”