Missouri Injury Law Blog

A former patient of Doctor Chao, the Chargers' team doctor, received a $2.2 million dollar settlement in a medical malpractice settlement after filing a medical negligence lawsuit against the doctor for negligently lacerating her femoral artery, vein and nerve during a routine hip surgery.

The personal injury victim and claimant, is now required to take several different types of medications daily to deal with ongoing and severe chronic pain, additionally, she walks with a limp. The patient and her husband received personal injury settlements for economic and non-economic damages. The patient's husband received a portion for loss of consortium, while the patient, herself, received awards for pain and suffering, future life care and loss of income.

Currently, our St Louis personal injury law firm, is pursuing a case with similar injuries against a negligent St Louis area doctor for an improperly performed nerve root block injection, commonly referred to as a pain injection. See Missouri Medical Negligence - Paralysis from Pain Injection

The negligent surgeon, mentioned at the beginning of this article, Chao has been sued a total of 20 times by former patients alleging personal injury, negligence, and fraud along with other medical malpractice claims. Chao was also under investigation for writing 108 prescriptions listing himself as the patient. He denied such claims and said they were nothing more than clerical errors. Chao attained the position of Charger's doctor when the former doctor, Gary Losse, was fired due to an alleged addiction to narcotics - narcotics that Chao had been issued a $1,000 citation for unlawfully prescribing to Losse.

In a previous blog we discussed Missouri medical negligence law regarding impeachment. To be able to admit as evidence the long list of legal problems Dr. Chao has and continues to face and impeach him as credible, Missouri personal injury attorneys are allowed on cross-examination to ask "questions about any specific incidents of misconduct....that might tend to cast doubt on his credibility, veracity, or truthfulness". Also, attorneys are allowed to ask a witness or the defendant (or other witness) if they have heard of any "convictions, arrests, rumors or accusations of specific misconduct... However, such specific instances may not be proven by extrinsic evidence". Chao's prior drinking and driving arrests and complaints filed by the medical board regarding his abuse of alcohol and unprofessional conduct should also be admissible for impeachment.

San Diego Chargers Doctor Settles for 2.2 Million

Continue reading "Negligent Surgeon Settles for $2.2 Million - Doctor had extensive Past Issues to Allow Attacks on his Credibility at Trial" »

A recent verdict in a DUI accident was handed down, the jury found the driver grossly negligent and awarded some punitive damages, but the amounts were curiously low, especially for a drunk driving accident case. Jury Finds Band Leader Grossly Negligent, but Slaps Him on Wrists The jury awarded less then $100,000 to the injured passenger who sustained about $40,000 in past medical bills. Additionally, only $20,000 in punitive damages from the DUI injury accident.

As a St Louis DWI car accident and injury lawyer, I find this amount to be insufficient in light of the facts; I believe the jurors in the above case went easy on the driver because he is a local celebrity and he was severely injured in the accident suffering a brain injury requiring multiple surgeries. Perhaps the jury believed his injuries were punishment enough.

We have handled Missouri and Illinois drinking and driving injury accidents with less in medical bills but received fro more in compensation or our clients:

DUI Injury Lawyer - Illinois drunk driving accident injury case settles for policy limits

Illinois DUI Accident and Brain Injury Lawsuit - Settles for $575,000

St Louis Missouri DWI Accident Lawyer gets Judgment for 2.3 MILLION

Illinois DUI Accident Injury Claim, Lawsuit settles few Weeks before Trial for Policy Limits

Continue reading "DWI Bus Accident Injury Lawsuit....verdict insufficient? " »

As a bicyclist myself and a St Louis Missouri bike accident injury lawyer, I have handled dozens of bike injury cases and spoke with many cyclists I ride with about being hit by cars and who were lucky enough not to be thrown off their bike or injured. See St Louis bike injury lawyer discusses common causes of bike accidents and injury

Most commonly, personal injury to bike riders being hit by cars is the result of driver inattention and negligence. A close second however, is bike riders being struck in the summer evenings by drunk drivers. See Missouri bike rider struck by drunk driver and suffers extensive personal injury

In the above mentioned St Louis drunk driving bike accident, the police did an excellent job investigating the accident and making sure they tested the driver for intoxication. Police investigation of a potential Missouri drunk driving accident is critical to a personal injury lawsuit because if the police do not investigate immediately it is almost impossible to later prove the driver was intoxicated; unless they admit it (good luck!) or there is credible observation and evidence from a witness proving intoxication. See Missouri Personal Injury Trial Evidence - Proving Driver was drunk with Lay Witness Testimony

Fortunately, a distant third, are bike accidents and injuries intentionally caused by the driver, these types of situations have recently gotten some national attention as some prosecutors and law enforcement are starting to investigate these cases more thoroughly and look into to prosecution. See the following:

Bike Accident and Injury Intentionally Caused by Doctor?

Bike Accident and Injury Caused by Road Rage

Also see Missouri Injury Law Blog - Missouri Bicycle Accident and Injury Cases

On behalf of a decedent's family we have filed a Missouri medical malpractice and wrongful death lawsuit against a St Louis bariatric surgeon, his resident that performed the surgery, and the St Louis hospital.

Since the 2005 Missouri tort reform bill passed the defense always pleads multiple affirmative defenses relying on several provisions of the tort reform bill. The bill has never been squarely challenged on constitutional grounds as the issue has not become ripe for the Missouri Supreme Court to hear as no case has been appealed to the Supreme Court and needed to be resolved on the constitutional grounds. The closest it has come was in March of 2010, the Klotz case (See Missouri Injury Lawyer Blog Article: Supreme Court Hears Constitutionality of Missouri Damage Caps) was heard by the Supreme Court, however the case was resolved on issues of retroactive application of tort reform, therefore the constitutional issues were not addressed in the opinion. See Missouri Medical Malpractice Awards Constitutional?

In order to try and get this issue to the Supreme Court sooner we have taken the initiative to file a Motion To Strike the Affirmative Defenses relying on tort reform provisions, specifically damage caps. See Plaintiff's Motion to Strike Affirmative Defenses based on Missouri's 2005 "Tort Reform" Laws Being Unconstitutional

As stated in our Missouri wrongful death lawsuit's Motion to Strike, the Supreme Court Judges have indicated that they would rule the 2005 law unconstitutional, at least in part, by stating:

" write separately to emphasize that the caps on non-economic damages imposed by section 538.210 also violate the constitutional guarantee of equal protection under article I, section 2 of the Missouri Constitution."

"[T]he legislation, section 538.210, retains the common law action but displaces the finding of the juries with a legislated limitation on damages. [...] This legislated interference impairs the right of trial by jury "as heretofore enjoyed." As such, the right to trial by jury does not "remain inviolate." It is, in fact, violated."

Medical Malpractice Law: Illinois Strikes Down Damage Caps as Unconstitutional

Continue reading "Personal Injury Lawyers File a Motion to Strike Affirmative Defenses in Missouri Medical Malpractice Lawsuit" »

A recent article, link below, reported a fairly common personal injury lawsuit, an injury caused from a broken or defective chair (Missouri Broken Chair Lawsuit - Sample Petition). In the article below, an injured woman is suing a local store after sustaining a fall when a chair collapsed and caused her serious personal injury. She is alleging negligence against the store and is seeking compensatory damages for her injuries.

As a St Louis Missouri Personal Injury Attorney we make sure we name all responsible and negligent parties and all potential causes of action. In my opinion, the injury lawyer in the article cited below should sue for more than just negligence of the store; but also for strict product liability and negligence against the chair manufacturer as well as a res ipsa claim against the store. (See: Missouri Personal Injury and "Res Ipsa" Claims)

This is similar to a Missouri personal injury – premises liability case our St Louis injury law firm is currently handling involving a broken chair and serious injury to our client's back, hip, and pelvis.

While on a business trip to Kansas City MO, the injured client was attending a seminar at an airport hotel. While sitting down at a table to begin the meeting, the metal chair he sat on immediately collapsed, causing him to fall and sustain severe injury to his hip, pelvis, and back. Moreover, the victim was of below average weight at 160 pounds. See CDC Average Weight Statistics

Our Missouri personal injury attorneys filed a lawsuit against the hotel for negligent maintenance, storage, and inspection. See Our Recent Missouri premise Liability Cases. Additionally, we are making strict product liability claims and negligence claims against the chair manufacturer.

Article: Broken chair lawsuit

A wrongful death lawyer has filed a wrongful death lawsuit and negligent road design lawsuit on behalf of the family of a deceased Pennsylvania teen. The wrongful death lawsuit stemming from a drunk driving accident, alleges negligent design and maintenance of the road and that it contributed, not the sole cause, of her death. This particular road had a 55 mph speed limit and a 4-inch drop-off between the road and the shoulder not to mention the drop-off is located on a curve in the road.

The wrongful death lawsuit specifically alleges that the department of transportation did not level the road properly when they upgraded that section after two other teens were killed in car accidents at this same location. The prior accidents are crucial to the negligence claim as the dept of transportation was clearly on notice of the defect and should have corrected it.

On top of the negligent road design, the driver was intoxicated and that clearly contributed to the wrongful death car accident as well. Also, the deceased teen was not wearing her seat-belt at the time; however, under the law of most sates, and certainly in Missouri, evidence of the victim not wearing their seat belt is generally not admissible into evidence at a wrongful death or car accident injury trial. The driver allegedly attempted the curve in the road at this high speed, dropped off the road onto the shoulder, over-corrected and collided into an elderly couple in an oncoming car before his truck was stopped by a guardrail.

The Dept. of Transportation has since dropped the speed limit to 50 mph on this road, paved the shoulders, and added guardrails, reflectors, and rumble strips. All of these precautions will help to prevent such sad and tragic accidents in the future.

Article: Wrongful Death Lawsuit against Pennsylvania Department of Transportation

Continue reading "Wrongful Death and Drunk Driving Car Accident Lawsuit combined with Negligent Road Design" »

When consulting with an employee injured at work and discussing a potential Missouri workers comp claim, many work related injury victims are concerned that filing a work comp claim could jeopardize their employment. If you are terminated or fired for filing a work comp claim that is called retaliatory termination or discharge and it is against the law. More importantly, work injury victims need to get a Missouri work comp lawyer involved soon so they know their rights and obligations to make sure they maximize their benefits and avoid bad situations with their employer over the claim. It is very rare that termination over a work comp claim actually occurs.

Another important issue to address early on is if another party, outside of the employer, is at fault for the injury claim, for example a negligent driver crashes into you while on a work related errand, in this case, and many others, Missouri law allows for a “third party lawsuit”. This permits the injured employee from not only receiving Missouri or Illinois work comp benefits, which oftentimes are not enough to fully compensate for severe personal injuries, but also having the benefits of common law of negligence and making a claim against the individual or entity responsible for your injures outside of the work comp court.

See 3rd Party and Work Comp Settlement by St Louis Injury Lawyer Ben Sansone for $500,000

Lastly, recent court ruling in Missouri have opened up a pathway through a negligent coworker to get to more insurance coverage of the employer. See Missouri Workers' Compensation Law - Coworker Liability

Continue reading "Missouri Work Comp Lawyer discussing Work Comp Claim and 3rd Party Liability Issues" »