Activities of Daily Living Documentaries

The purpose of doing an activity of daily living documentary is to portray the consequential damages that a plaintiff has sustained because of an incident causing an injury. The jury must see and understand how the plaintiff’s life has been altered. One of the central issues in a personal injury case is the damage the plaintiff has sustained. This is difficult to measure. The purpose of the documentary is to help the viewer measure the loss. Judges have ruled time and time again having a video recording is the best way for a jury to evaluate this issue. It is not possible, nor practical, for a jury to spend time in the plaintiff’s environment, observing how routine obstacle become insurmountable barriers to a handicapped individual. A video documentary depicting the plaintiff in his/her environment fills that void.

Attorneys who wish to use this form of evidence to present damages should be mindful that calling the video a “day-in-the-life” of a plaintiff may subject the evidence to attack. It is better not to give this type of video a specific title at all when they are trying to get it admitted as evidence.  Attorneys should simply call this type of video, a video recording of the plaintiff and add the date it was recorded.