Plaintiff Tameko Sawyer was in a motor vehicle accident with defendant Randy Lucas in which she claimed to have suffered an injury to her neck, lower back and shoulder. Lucas had been driving a tractor-trailer owned by defendant Hicks Paving and Hicks Septic & Portable Toilet on Route 78, when he moved his truck into plaintiff’s lane, striking her car and causing it to slam into the guardrail. At issue, in the case of Sawyer v. Lucas, 2024 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 53 (App. Div. Jan. 11, 2024), was whether the plaintiff’s day-in-the-life video and her recently supplied supplemental medical records should have been barred by the trial court or whether this evidence should have been admitted into evidence and shown to the jury.

A day-in-the-life video is a powerful tool of evidence utilized by plaintiffs to show graphically over the course of the day an injured party’s disability and pain and suffering caused by an accident. This graphic evidence can be more compelling than mere oral testimony describing a person’s medical condition and limitations. It has great potential to influence a jury’s evaluation of damages.