Rocket Properties v. City of Tulsa
- Year:2022
- Client:Rocket Properties, LLC
- Project:Flood Plain Animation
There was an issue where the storm drains from the city of Tulsa would runoff excess water onto Rocket's property creating a large mass of standing water, making the property unsellable. I was tasked to help visualize where the water was coming from, showing that the city of Tulsa poorly planned their drainage system and how they could potentially overflow their water elsewhere.
For this animation to be more presice, I made sure to have an accurate lay of the land by referencing property photographs from the court case. I matched the court document photographs with imagery from Google Earth and overlayed easy-to-understand graphics of the drain pipes from the city, where the water converged onto Rocket's property, and where the water could potentially drain instead. I made sure the design of the graphic elements were not too flashy, resulting in a simple clean look in order for the jury to more easily understand what they are seeing.
When this animation was shown during trial, the jury had a much easier time understanding the facts of the case with this animation as a visual aid. Their only defense was that the animation "looked like a cartoon." This was their attempt to throw out the main element that would win this case, which it did. Because of this aid, it was clear who was at fault, making the trial last for only two days. The jury favored the Rocket Properties, granting them $1,895,000 for damages to their property.