It's critical for a trial's opening statement to clearly explain the circumstances of an accident at the heart of a lawsuit. However, unlike car collisions or slip-and-falls, involving activities jurors can easily picture, detailing an accident at an event unfamiliar to the average juror is much more difficult. That was the situation Searcy Denney's Gregory Barnhart faced in Gratton v. DiPetrillo, a $2 million-plus wrongful death suit by Patricia Gratton against organizers of a powerboat race in which Gratton's husband, champion powerboat racer Joey Gratton, drowned.
