Missouri Injury Law Blog

As a Missouri and Illinois personal injury lawyer based in St. Louis and having handled several Missouri bike accident cases currently and in the past, I see the intolerance many motorists have towards cyclists; additionally, I have been that cyclist that is cut off or almost hit on a few occasions as well. Recently a story out of LA has shown how far this intolerance can go; a doctor passed a few bike riders, yelled at them, then after he passed them cut in front of them and slammed on his brakes. Once cyclist's head went through the rear windshield and he has had about 90 stitches in his face, the other bicyclist is suffering from a serious shoulder injury. Unfortunately, it took an egregious case like this for the prosecutor to take any action, as the driver had done this before (no injuries in prior incident) but nothing was done about it. See - Road Rage Bike Accident Injury Article.

Missouri has been rated very low regarding bicyclist safety, see Missouri Bicycle Injuries and Safety - Roadway Injuries and Deaths in Missouri however, I do not believe that bicycle safety in St Louis will improve much until the State legislates harsher and more specific laws regarding bicyclists and the State and local prosecutors actually prosecute these cases. Below are links to several article on this subject:

Missouri and Illinois Bike Statutes - Progress is being made to help protect Missouri & Illinois Bike Riders from Injury by Motor Vehicles & Negligent Drivers

Bicycle Accidents - How to Avoid Them - Common Causes of Bike Accidents Resulting in Injury or Death

St Louis Missouri Bicycle Accident - Recent Case Demonstrates Lack of Attention Given to Cyclists by Motorists

Missouri Wrongful Death - young Bicyclist Killed by Truck

Posted by Benjamin J. Sansone | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Bicycle Accidents

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In Missouri, premises liability refers to the legal liability imposed on property owners for allowing an unreasonably dangerous condition to exist on the property which results in personal injury. Under Missouri injury law, business property owners owe a higher legal standard of care than private property owners. In Missouri commercial or business property owners have a duty to make the property safe and to reasonable inspect the property to make sure there are no hidden defects that could be dangerous. In Missouri, private property owners are only liable for dangerous conditions they know about or should have known about.

A victim of such a defective condition and resultant injury hired me as her Missouri personal injury lawyer and we recently settled her slip and fall case resulting from a Missouri personal injury incident occurring on 6/30/2004. My client was a business invitee at a gas station in Sullivan Missouri, she was caused to slip and fall due to an unreasonably dangerous condition, under Missouri injury law, on the gas station's property, specifically standing water in the bathroom. The bathroom was within the exclusive control of the gas station owner and it was held open to the public for business invitee access. Therefore, the gas station owed my client the highest degree of care under Missouri law to keep the bathroom in a safe condition and to regularly inspect it to guarantee invitees’ safety.

When my client entered the bathroom she immediately slipped and fell, noticing that not only were her pants wet from the fall but there was standing water that she slipped in, the bathroom was very dirty, and there was indication of a lot of foot traffic through the bathroom. This indicates that the bathroom had not been maintained for several hours. This fact was admitted later in discovery after we filed a Missouri personal injury lawsuit in Franklin County, Missouri.

The gas station owner failed to reasonably inspect the bathroom as they admitted they did not regularly clean the bathroom and there was evidence that the water was from a known leak under the sink. The insurance company would only offer $12,000 to settle the case until after we filed a Missouri personal injury lawsuit and pushed the case towards a trial, the insurance company settled for $41,000.

My client incurred a serious personal injury to her ankle requiring a little less than $10,000 in medical treatment. Initially the insurance company would not offer any more than $8,000 stating my client should have watched where she was walking and that the fall was her own fault. Upon filing the Missouri personal injury claim the offer increased to $12,000. Still way too little, the bathroom was a dark, dirty bathroom, with a known water leak in it, clearly, the business owner was liable. There was no rug, warning sign, or repair done to protect the public from the slippery condition created by the known water leak.

Posted by Benjamin J. Sansone | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Our Injury Cases , Verdicts & Settlements , Premises Liability

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My client was riding her road bike on Old Gravois Rd. in south St Louis county on a Sunday afternoon, when she was thrown from her bike and seriously injured. The injured St Louis cyclist ended up with a broken clavicle and a host of other abrasions, scars, road burns, lacerations, and contusions.

What caused this biker to be thrown from her bike? A three inch diameter black hose laid across the street on a downhill slope in the middle of a Sunday afternoon. This created a dangerous condition for Missouri bikers as there were no warnings or other notices to the public using that road that a 3" obstruction was on the road just down the hill. Additionally, the black color and fact it was on a steep downhill slope created limited visibility of the hose and a bicyclist would not see the hose until it is too late to stop. This road is routinely used by cyclists and that coupled with the dangerous conditions above make the accident and injury to cyclists legally foreseeable.

On behalf of my client, I am pursuing a Missouri personal injury bike accident claim against the builder that was using the hose and hydrant outside of its permitted use and in such as way as to create an unreasonably dangerous condition on a St Louis Missouri public roadway.

This hose was hooked up to a fire hydrant across the street from a construction site the at fault party was using. They had a permit for use of the hydrant, but it was limited for a specific purpose and not allowed use on the weekend. The builder was using this hydrant outside of the permitted use certificate. The improper use and improper warning was the cause of this Missouri bike accident injury.

Posted by Benjamin J. Sansone | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Our Injury Cases , Bicycle Accidents

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