Michael A. Owsley Partner

Sometimes, the best way to prove a case is to show what happened. Mike Owsley uses re-enactments in his work defending businesses and school boards from lawsuits to help judges and juries understand the circumstances of a claim, most often in defense work. In one case, the family of a deceased boater sued a boat manufacturer. The boater struck an underwater object, flipping the boat over and killing him. Representing the boat manufacturer, Mike reviewed the circumstances of the accident, and believed the boater was much more to blame – given the fact that he was boating at 3 a.m. in an unlit area. So Mike hired a boater to re-enact the route of the boat and hired a video crew to film it. He showed it to the judge presiding over the case, who saw exactly what he did – pitch black. The court ruled in favor of the boating manufacturer. In another case, a superintendent fired a teacher after her students reported to the school principal that she was drunk. The school principal summoned state police, who tested the teacher’s blood alcohol level. It was more than twice the legal limit for intoxication. The teacher protested her firing, saying she had taken a homeopathic remedy that had caused her blood alcohol level to spike. Mike asked his legal assistant, who was about the same weight and height as the fired teacher, if she would take the homeopathic drug and then a blood alcohol test in court. She agreed – and her blood alcohol level was 0.0. The tribunal upheld the teacher’s firing.