On a clear South Carolina afternoon, a Ford F-250 tore down a rural two-lane road, the driver’s foot firmly planted on the accelerator. As he rolled through a stop sign, he was not alone on the straightaway ahead. A stranded motorist, Daniel, was standing along the side of the road next to his new flatbed after it had run out of gas. A friend had come to the rescue with a disposable gas can and stood nearby while Daniel’s wife sat in the passenger seat. As Daniel struggled with the gas can, the growl of the oncoming F-250’s engine grew into a roar. Daniel’s friend shouted a warning as the pickup barreled closer, unmoving, unyielding, as if its driver didn’t — or couldn’t — see the pedestrian in his path. With little space between him and the flatbed, Daniel bolted into a desperate sprint; his only haven was the other side of the road. But there was no escape. The F-250 battering ram struck Daniel’s body and flung him 150 feet, killing him.
Daniel’s wife had sat helplessly in the flatbed and witnessed her husband’s horrific death. The couple had a two-year-old daughter, who would never know her daddy. Daniel's life had been defined by service and hard work — not only for his family, but for his community. Despite being only in his early thirties, he'd been a firefighter for over a decade and had risen to the rank of sergeant. He was so dedicated to providing for his family’s future that he'd also laid the groundwork to start a landscaping business. In fact, the flatbed truck he was driving at the time was a key part of his fledgling enterprise, having bought it just three days earlier.
Daniel's brother, an attorney, contacted a colleague whom he was certain would spare no effort along the march to justice. Christopher Pracht, the founding partner of Pracht Injury Lawyers, began that journey by getting to know Daniel's loved ones and understanding exactly for whom he was fighting. Years of litigating wrongful death cases like Daniel's had hardened Christopher into a champion for fractured families in their darkest hours. In Daniel's case, a problematic fact was already muddying matters: law enforcement had sided with the Defendant.
Christopher learned early in the discovery process that local police had determined Daniel was at fault for the accident. They asserted that because Daniel had been on the road at the time of his death, the Defendant had the right of way. However, citing state law and common sense, Christopher reasoned that drivers don't have permission to run over pedestrians who aren't standing in crosswalks. He also received insurance information from the Defense outlining a $1,000,000 policy limit. But the document listed the wrong year and had already expired. After several months of demanding the correct documents, Christopher learned that the Defense also had a $5,000,000 umbrella policy, bringing the total policy limit to $6,000,000.
Nevertheless, the Defense denied liability and initially refused to offer even a penny to Daniel's family. Furthermore, and contrary to what Daniel's wife and friend had each witnessed, the Defendant testified that he'd slowed down to around 30mph. He claimed that killing Daniel had been unavoidable. He also asserted that Daniel leapt out in front of his truck, leaving him no time or space to dodge a man with an apparent death wish. This mountain of resistance pushed Chris to build a more explosive case against the Defense.
Chris hired a small army of experts, including an economist to quantify the family’s fiscal loss, a videographer to document the emotional impact, and lawyers to hold strategy-defining focus groups, among others. Because the Defendant's truck hadn't registered killing a pedestrian as a collision, it didn't record accident data. Instead, Chris used Berla software to acquire GPS pings from the truck's infotainment system. An accident reconstructionist used that information to prove that the Defendant had lied: not only had he exceeded the speed limit, but he’d also been speeding up until the last second. Chris had his facts ironclad and trial-ready, but he knew that powerful visuals would ultimately win over a jury. His reconstructionist recommended that he contact DK Global for their expertise in creating animated exhibits that leave nothing to the imagination.
DK Global's animated reconstruction opened on a satellite view of the scene of the accident. The presentation cut to an animated view of the Defendant's vehicle not obeying signage at a four-way stop, including measurements of its speed throughout the intersection. The presentation returned to the satellite view and continued to showcase precise measurements of the vehicle's increasing speed until the time of impact. Text overlays indicated the exact distance from Daniel at which the Defendant finally began to slow down. An animated reconstruction of the actual accident then began, pausing to display the location of the Plaintiff's and witness's vehicles. The first complete view of the accident was from the Defendant's point of view with a real-time speedometer overlaid. Two replays showed the incident from the witness's and a third detached point of view, each demonstrating the Plaintiff's inability to escape the accident. The presentation concluded with a “what-if” animation demonstrating how the accident could have been easily prevented.
Months before trial, the Defense attempted to settle the case in mediation, but their offer was a paltry $1,500,000. Chris then shared DK Global's presentation with the Defense, revealing his readiness to show — not simply tell — Daniel's story to a would-be jury. Eight days before trial, their offer increased to $3,500,000. Over the next few days, the offer incrementally rose to $5,250,000 — just shy of the total policy limit. No amount of money would ever make Daniel's family whole again, but Chris was elated to have given them something close to the best possible assurance for their livelihood.
Christopher Pracht has been representing families in wrongful death cases for 14 years. Through his work as the founding partner of Pracht Injury Lawyers and with his previous firm, Christopher has recovered over $70,000,000 for his clients. In 2023 alone, he and his team recovered $17,000,000 for their clients. Christopher has the resources and experience to handle cases nationwide and has done so with a unique network of co-counsel. In 2022, he and co-counsel obtained the largest-ever wrongful death verdict ($20,730,000) in the history of Horry County, South Carolina. Christopher is a member of the American Association for Justice, National Trial Lawyers, and other esteemed professional organizations.
