LOS ANGELES, April 27 – LAWFUEL – The Law News Network – THEHUCKGROUP, a specialized graphic-design firm providing litigation-support services to prestigious law
firms for civil and criminal matters, today announced that it collaborated
with counsel to martial arts figure Billy Blanks in successfully prosecuting a
legal-malpractice action against the Tae Bo creator’s former lawyers that
resulted in a $35 million jury verdict to plaintiff.
Working with plaintiff’s attorney James R. Rosen, THEHUCKGROUP applied its
trademarked process of visually persuasive storytelling to prevail in Blanks
complaint against Seyfarth Shaw LLP and firm partner William H. Lancaster for
professional negligence, fraudulent concealment and breach of fiduciary duty.
Visually persuasive storytelling is an integration of words, phrases, facts
and images constructed in a visual format to guide an audience to decide in
the client’s favor. Since its founding, THEHUCKGROUP has an impressive 87-90
percent win ratio of tried cases.
Following a two month trial, a jury awarded Blanks, his wife Gayle Blanks,
and their company BG Star Productions, $15 million in punitive damages,
$10 million for fraudulent concealment, $9.3 million for professional
negligence and $500,000 for breach of fiduciary duty.
Rosen, the attorney who represented the Blanks, stated: “This case was
factually and legally complex. However, with THEHUCKGROUP’s assistance, we
were able to effectively convey crucial information to the jury in a simple
and powerful manner. THEHUCKGROUP’s creativity and professionalism is
commendable.”
The Blanks alleged that the Seyfarth firm and Lancaster mishandled their
claims against Jeffrey Greenfield, an accountant who offered the Blanks his
business expertise, for violating the California Talent Agencies Act. The
Blanks claimed that Seyfarth and Lancaster allowed the statue of limitations
on their approximately $11 million Talent Agencies Act claim against
Greenfield to lapse and that Seyfarth and Lancaster intentionally concealed
material information and attempted to cover up the negligence.
“We worked in a collaborative effort to accomplish a creative and powerful
closing argument,” said Juliet Huck, CEO and creative director of
THEHUCKGROUP. “We developed a simple, powerfully conveyed idea that was to
the point and had impact, without being overly ‘high tech’ or distracting.”
THEHUCKGROUP approach entailed taking complex information and breaking it
into simple data. The firm’s creative directors developed concept
illustrations (storyboard) of the case; three final graphics applied during
the trial; and two interactive boards used during closing arguments. The firm
also contributed to mock-trial activities that preceded.
One board illustrated the monies lost as a result of the defendants’
actions in allowing the statue of limitations to lapse. This magnetic board
permitted Rosen to write and cross out entries to demonstrate the amount of
money lost as a result of Seyfarth and Lancaster.
The center of the second board contained the word “FRAUD” and during the
course of closing argument, Rosen attached magnets illustrating events and
documentary evidence of Seyfarth and Greenfield’s fraudulent and malicious
conduct. The use of the magnets provided an effective, yet simple, way to
visually convey to the jury the Blanks fraud case.
THEHUCKGROUP possesses a solid background and experience that cuts across
a broad spectrum of criminal and civil trial matters. The firm’s civil-trial
background covers all aspects of litigation, including contract disputes,
trademark/patent cases, entertainment, medical malpractice and insurance
coverage. In addition, THEHUCKGROUP’s criminal matters include serving Eagle
County, Colo., in The People v. Kobe Bryant and working as part of the defense
team in The People v. Scott Peterson.
Established in 1999, THEHUCKGROUP is a specialized graphic design firm,
which conceived and continues to advance a creative process that it refers to
as visually persuasive storytelling. This unique approach, which was
trademarked by the design firm, is the central principle of its work and can
be employed in virtually any application which involves decision-making.
THEHUCKGROUP is located at 510 W. Sixth Street, Suite 1100, Los Angeles, CA
90014 and be reached at 213/955-8080 or via the Web at http://www.thehuckgroup.com.
Web Site: http://www.thehuckgroup.com
