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Visualizing the Environment in a Negligent Day Spa Incident
What should have been a routine visit to a Korean day spa ended in tragedy when a man died while in one of the facility’s hot tubs.
This case was centered on whether adequate supervision and safety measures were in place to recognize and respond to his medical emergency. A critical part of that question came down to visibility: where employees were positioned, what they could see from their stations, and whether the incident could have been identified sooner.
Case Overview
 | Case Type: Negligence Case |
 | Visual Type: 3D Animation Recreation, Right Way - Wrong Way Visuals |
 | Results: Clearly demonstrated how alternative safety measures could have changed the response. |
Challenge
One of the primary challenges was accurately recreating the spa as it existed on the day of the incident. Because the case focused heavily on employee visibility and safety of guests while in the spa. We needed to make sure the spa was recreated to the exact dimensions.
Our team conducted an on-site inspection and 3D scan of the facility to capture precise measurements and spatial relationships throughout the incident area. Multiple review meetings followed to determine which environmental elements, fixtures, and other details were present at the time of the incident.
The environment also presented a unique technical challenge: realistically recreating the water within the hot tubs and surrounding pools. Reflections, movement, transparency, and depth all needed to feel natural without compromising the accuracy of the underlying recreation.
Visual Strategy
Our visual strategy centered on creating an evidence-based recreation of the environment that could clearly demonstrate employee lack of visibility into the spa.
Incident-area perimeters were precisely defined using the 3D scan data, while police body-camera footage and inspection photographs provided additional references for environmental details and lighting conditions.
With the environment accurately established, we could position viewpoints at relevant employee stations and demonstrate what could be seen from those locations. This allowed the legal team to move beyond simply describing the layout of the spa and instead visually place the viewer within the environment.
The animation also incorporated “right way/wrong way” sequences to contrast the circumstances surrounding the incident with alternative safety and supervision measures, creating a clear visual comparison between what occurred and the proposed safer scenario.
Our Work
3D Recreation Animation with Right Way/Wrong Way Comparison
Our team completed an on-site inspection and 3D scan, developed a detailed 3D recreation of the spa environment, recreated realistic water and lighting conditions, established relevant employee viewpoints, and incorporated right way/wrong way sequences into the final animation.
The result was a cohesive visual that combined environmental accuracy, line-of-sight analysis, and alternative safety scenarios within a single presentation.
Results
The completed recreation gave the legal team a visual framework for presenting one of the case’s central questions: what could employees see from their stations, and how could appropriate supervision and safety measures have affected the response?
Rather than relying solely on photographs, measurements, or verbal descriptions of the facility, the animation allowed the viewer to experience the spatial relationships within the spa from relevant perspectives. By grounding the recreation in scan data, inspection materials, and available footage, the final visual helped make a complex visibility issue easier to understand.
Testimonial
“In premises cases, understanding the environment can be just as important as understanding the incident itself. A well-developed recreation gives attorneys the ability to place the viewer inside that environment, explore different perspectives, and turn questions of visibility, distance, and supervision into something that can be understood almost immediately.”
— Iconographics
