Missouri Injury Law Blog

In 2005 Missouri tort reform was passed and its main thrust was to eliminate personal injury medical malpractice cases in Missouri. One of the primary mechanisms to eliminate these cases was to institute non-economic damage caps of $350,000, which cannot be adjusted for inflation. The old caps were adjusted for inflation, as anyone with a basic understanding of economics knows the value of the dollar changes over the years. With low limits Plaintiff lawyers cannot pursue these cases as their upside is low because they take cases on contingency basis and front all costs, while the defense lawyers are well funded by Missouri medical malpractice insurers and can afford to fight every single case and spend thousands of hours.

There are many arguments in favor of the caps, mainly a hatred for trial lawyers based on years of tort reform propaganda. However, a simple fact, trial lawyers are the only group in the United States that represent and fight to protect the rights of the future injured. People that have never experienced medical malpractice are not concerned about those rights, as people do not foresee themselves as ever having that problem and buy into the tort reform propaganda of doctors fleeing, insurance rates increasing, and trial lawyers bringing merit-less cases. If a personal injury lawyer brings a merit-less case they will soon be out of business, as those cases are thrown out of court or lose in front of a jury, costing the personal injury lawyer tens of thousands in out of pocket expenses and 1000s of hours of lost time they will not be compensated for. Any good persoanl injury lawyer only pursues legitimate cases.

I cannot tell you the countless times people, that have generally though of themselves as for tort reform, that experience death or serious injury in their family as a result of medical negligence, very quickly change their tune, realize the inequities of the current system in Missouri, and get very angry. The life of a spouse, child, or parent is now capped at $350,000, that is what Missouri legislature says your family member's life is worth. On top of that, if the Missouri medical malpractice insurance company is looking at a worst case scenario of $350,000, they will fight legitimate cases tooth and nail, as the risk of financial loss has now just flown out the window. As all Missouri medical malpractice insurance policies are at least $500,000 but the vast majority are 1 Million or more per Missouri law.

Finally, 4 years after the institution of the caps, the Missouri Supreme Court will hear a case challenging the constitutionality of those caps. See: Post dispatch Article of 12/6/2009 by Tony Messenger - "Limits to jury damage awards to be debated by Missouri Supreme Court". In his article the arguments over the caps and sample cases are laid out in detail. I refer you to this article as I could write dozens of pages discussing this Missouri personal injury topic.

Laura A. Wright is a guest author, who contributed this post. Laura writes on the topic of online paralegal degree . She can be reached at her email id: laura.wright@radiffmail.com

When you or a loved one is injured in an accident or hurt in some way by the wrongful actions of others, you may have a personal injury case on your hands. This means that you can sue the person who was responsible for your accident or misfortune and ask a jury to award you a certain sum of money for all the losses you have suffered and the pain you were forced to undergo. But is this case worth your time and energy? Will the outcome be satisfactory? Or are you going to be in a worse position than when you started at the end of the case? Your personal injury case is worth fighting if:

• You have a strong case: (Legal Liability) When you know that you’re not in the wrong and when you can prove this fact, you could file a personal injury case. While it’s true that juries have awarded millions in damages to a woman who was stupid enough to pour hot coffee on herself, most panels award money only when they know the case is airtight and that you’re in the right.

• You have a good lawyer: When you have a skilled and able lawyer on your team to fight for you, you know that you have a good chance of winning the case. A qualified personal injury attorney who is well versed and has experience in personal injury cases could analyze your case, put together the facts and ensure that he/she does all they can to win.

• You have the time to dedicate to a lengthy trial: Some complex personal injury cases could go on for some time and you may have to put your life on hold till they’re over. This means revisiting the accident in your mind every day, a feat that is going to be difficult especially if you’re still suffering nightmares from the horror of the accident. You also have to give up your source of income and devote all your energies to the cause of your case, no matter how long it drags on.

• You don’t pin all your hopes on the outcome of the case: While you may win a huge amount of money, you could also end up with nothing. So don’t pin all your hopes on the jury awarding you a large sum in compensatory and/or punitive damages, because even if it does, an appeal could take it all away from you. You will have to spend some money from your bank balance, because even though your attorney is paid on a contingency basis (a percentage of your settlement), there may be other incidental expenses that you have to bear.

• Take a settlement when it’s good enough: If the opposition offers you a reasonable settlement, take it and end the legal battle at the earliest. If you’re greedy for more, you may end up with nothing except wasted time and efforts. Talk to your lawyer and other well-wishers before deciding to accept or reject a settlement.

To know if you have solid grounds for a personal injury case, seek out a lawyer and discuss your case at the earliest. The longer you wait, the colder the trail of evidence and harder to prove that you are responsible for your injury and condition.

St Louis Personal Injury Lawyer Benjamin Sansone's comments on the above article:

While I agree with most of the above article, my Missouri personal injury clients and Illinois personal injury clients do not have to expend costs or expenses in their case. Also, while some complex cases, i.e. Missouri wrongful death claims or Illinois medical malpractice claims involve a lot of the client's time, most Missouri and Illinois auto accident, slip and fall, premise liability, or other personal injury type cases actually require very little of the personal injury client's time.

One aspect of the article above that I strongly agree with, do not pin your financial hopes and future on money you expect to recover from your case. While 99.9% of my Missouri and Illinois personal injury clients see a good to excellent recovery, do not make financial plans that rely on a future recovery. This inevitably will put yourself in a financial bind and then your financial needs will dictate what you want out of the case and when, which often times compromises the case. The value of a personal injury case depends on many different categories of recoverable damages, one factor that does not determine the value of your case is your financial wants and needs in life.

As discussed in an earlier Missouri injury Law blog article, we represent victims of 3rd party criminal action when the criminal was allowed to attack the victim as a result of faulty security or safety measures of the property owner. One such St Louis injury case arises from the rape of a young woman because of faulty security doors at her apartment. See - St Louis Personal Injury Rape Lawsuit arising from Faulty Security by Apartment Complex Owner.

These cases are egregious especially when the injury could have been avoided by simply repairing faulty security doors or doing simple other preventative measures. Recently, a jury returned a verdict of $54 million ($5 million compensatory damages and $49 million punitive) resulting from the rape a a patient at a health services company. This amount may seem excessive, however, the victim will never collect anything near that amount. But what that verdict did do was send a message to large corporations that they need to be concerned about the safety and security of the "little people".

Other sample cases similar to our St Louis rape and personal injury lawsuit are discussed in the Missouri personal injury blog article linked to above.

Recently, the Missouri Supreme Court, in the case of Joseph Banks v. Clint Zweifel, Treasurer of the State of Missouri, SC90131, determined that the Missouri Workers Compensation second injury fund can pursue subrogation actions in the circuit courts of Missouri.

Prior to this ruling the issue was whether or not the second injury fund subrogation case needs to be heard in the Work Comp courts or the State Circuit Courts. The Missouri Supreme Court's ruling was based on the premise that “the [second injury] fund’s common-law subrogation interest does not arise under the worker’s compensation act.” The Missouri work comp courts only have the authority to determine issues under the Missouri workers’ compensation act, so the authority for subrogation cases lies with the circuit court.

Subrogation occurs when a personal injury case is pending against a 3rd party that caused the workplace injury, the second injury fund uses subrogation to recover some of what they paid out to the victim under the work comp settlement which is separate than any Missouri personal injury settlement or judgment.

Record Missouri Verdict - Drunk Driving Accident in Franklin County

Recently a Franklin County jury returned a massive Missouri wrongful death verdict stemming from a death resulting from a drunk driving collision. Sansone Law has handled multiple drunk driving personal injury cases and often the likelihood of these massive verdicts facilitates very favorable settlements in favor of our clients.

Our prior Missouri and Illinois drunk driving personal injury settlements and ongoing cases:

Illinois drunk driving lawsuit - settled for policy limits

$575,000.00 Settlement - Traumatic Head Injury resulting from Illinois drunk driving collision

Good Samaritan injured by Missouri drunk driver, ongoing St Louis personal injury lawsuit

Four Illinois teens severely injured in Illinois drunk driving collision - personal injury lawsuit filed.

Drunk Driving accident case referred to Sansone Law for personal injury lawsuit and trial

Auto dealer vehicle involved in drunk driving accident - Personal injury claims of negligence, recklessness, and negligent entrustment

This guest post was contributed by Donna Mitchell (she is not affiliated with Sansone Law), who regularly writes on the topic of paralegal schools online . She welcomes your comments and questions at her email address: donna.mitchell@rediffmail.com

5 Reasons to Hire a Personal Injury Attorney:

It’s tough when you’ve met with an accident, one that has not just left you with physical injuries but also caused deep emotional and psychological scars as well. How do you make the people responsible for your situation pay accordingly? Even if you’re not the kind who exacts revenge, you need some form of compensation for your medical expenses and for any loss of pay that you may have suffered because of time taken off from work. So it’s wise to file a personal injury case, after consulting a trusted attorney of course.

Now you may feel that hiring a personal injury attorney is a waste of time, either because you want to try your own case or because you feel that just any attorney would do as opposed to one who is specialized in dealing with such cases. You may want to save yourself the associated costs, but even so, there are reasons to hire a personal injury attorney because:

• It’s a detail-oriented job: When you’re involved in an accident, the sooner you consult a lawyer, the higher your chances of securing a favorable verdict. This is because your attorney will advise you on the wisdom of collecting facts and details to strengthen your case; photos, affidavits from witnesses and other relevant evidence and information that is organized and sorted relevantly help you build your case and ensure that you are able to secure adequate compensation.

• They are veterans in the business: If you had to choose between a greenhorn and a veteran to do a job that’s important, who would you pick? Personal injury lawyers know how to go about your case and are able to handle it with professionalism and ease because they have handled many similar lawsuits. They have the experience and you don’t – it’s as simple as that.

• They don’t get paid unless you win the case: Most personal injury lawyers work on a contingency basis, that is, they take a percentage of the monetary damages awarded to you by a jury. So unless you win the case, there is no need to spend any money except for a few incidental expenses.

• They are neutral advisers: Which means that they are able to look at both sides of the case and work on presenting yours without the emotional bias and prejudice that you are laboring under. You and your loved ones are bound to be emotional and this may end up ruining your chance of victory because you may get careless and slip up on a technicality. But a personal injury lawyer will handle the case with your best interests at heart, without letting emotion get in the way of doing his/her job.

• They know the system: Personal injury lawyers have been in the system long enough to know how judges, juries and the legal system work. They know if you have a case or if you’re just wasting time. They are able to advise you on what you should and should not do. And they prevent you from jeopardizing your case by talking about it or losing important evidence.

So if you think you have a personal injury case, go ahead and hire a personal injury lawyer who you’re comfortable working with. It will be worth your while if you’re able to find the right person for the job.

Back in early 2008 we were retained as the injury lawyers by the victim of a Belleville Illinois drunk driving crash at a major intersection. Initially, the victim retained a different personal injury law firm who secured a settlement offer of just under $50,000, however, the victim did not want to accept and the previous attorneys did not believe the case was worth more than that offer. We immediately filed a lawsuit on her behalf and eventually settled the case for the policy limits of $100,000.00.

The personal injury lawyers at Sansone Law at not looking for a quick settlement but will put all the necessary hard work into your case to make sure the absolute best result is obtained, as in the case above.

Our Missouri and Illinois personal injury law firm has handled and is currently handling many drunk driving accident cases in Missouri and Illinois. Personal injury lawyer Ben Sansone spent many years of his practice defending DWI cases and has extensive knowledge of all the tests, procedures, and facts necessary to prove the other driver was intoxicated in the civil case and thus open the defendant up to aggravated liability.

See below links of previous posts regarding the above case:

Illinois Drunk Driving Personal Injury Lawsuit

Illinois Drunk Driving Lawsuit - Complaint with Punitive Damages

The above link discusses an Illinois Complaint that includes punitive damages. In both Missouri and Illinois the rules of civil procedure require you initially file the lawsuit without punitive damages claim, gather the necessary evidence to support a punitive damages claim then file a motion for leave to amend the complaint and add punitive damages. This is technically the rule, however, it has been my experience that if you initially file the punitive damages claim by the time the defense files a motion to dismiss based on the plaintiff not obtaining leave as described above, the evidence has already been gathered and the court will grant the leave for punitive damages at the same hearing the defense is trying to get it stricken.

this is the approach I take when the evidence is overwhelming that the driver was intoxicated and we usually have evidence of a plea of guilty or a conviction prior to filing the case.

On July 11, 2009 an Olin worker was tragically killed as the result of an Illinois industrial accident. He was operating a table lathe when apparently it inadvertently started causing a metal rod to swing around violently and fatally strike him across the chest. On behalf of the industrial worker's family, St Louis based Illinois personal injury lawyers, Sansone Law, are pursing an Illinois wrongful death claim, an Illinois products liability claim, and a negligent design claim against the table lathe manufacturer. Additionally, an Illinois worker's compensation claim has also been filed on behalf of the family.

Illinois Work Related Death - OSHA Investigating

Tragic death of Illinois worker at Olin Brass

Alton worker death after piece of metal on table lathe came loose, striking him in the chest and causing fatal injuries

Tragic work related Illinois wrongful death of Alton man

OSHA investigating work related death of Alton Illinois worker at Olin Brass

Verdict Reporter

4.5 Million dollar settlement - defective table lathe - products liability lawsuit and wrongful death

In August 2007 my client was the injury victim of a high speed car accident caused by an Illinois drunk driver operating a large pick up truck owned by a car dealership. See: Illinois Truck Accident - Drunk Driver Covered by Auto Dealership Policy

In Missouri and Illinois evidence of intoxication by an at fault driver will, in most cases, allow the imposition of punitive damages. Under Missouri and Illinois law, punitive damages cannot be added to a lawsuit until after filing a motion with the court, showing sufficient evidence to justify punitive damages, then the court will grant leave to file punitive damages. As a practical matter, if the evidence is overwhelming that the driver was drunk, then I often will add punitive damages initially as the defense will not fight the punitive damages claim as they know the judge will ultimately allow it. For example, See Illinois Drunk Driving Lawsuit - Negligence and Punitive Damages. Should a motion be necessary for leave to file punitive damages allegations supporting drunk driving should suffice to have leave granted to file punitive damages. See: Motion for Leave to File Punitive Damages - Illinois Drunk Driving Personal Injury Lawsuit.

Punitive damages are important as they can be used to pressure the insurance company to settle quickly to avoid an excess judgement. An excess judgement is when the judgement exceeds insurance policy limits and thus holding the at fault driver personally responsible financially over and above his insurance coverage. In such situations, I send a letter to the insurance company demanding payment of policy limits within a certain time period, usually 30 days. At the expiration of the time period the offer is forever withdrawn. This tactic opens the insurance company up to potential liability for an excess judgment under a bad faith refusal to settle claim.

The key to the above drunk driving head injury personal injury lawsuit settlement was the combination of the potential excess judgment liability and even more importantly properly evaluating, treating, and proving our client's traumatic brain injury through his treating neurologist as well as different experts to evaluate his current impairment as well as future impairment that he will suffer as a result of the head injury.

As a result of our efforts, the Illinois drunk driving injury lawsuit settled for a total of $575,000.00 $350,000.00 from the car dealership's insurance policy covering negligent entrustment and the negligence of the drunk driver; $100,000.00 being the policy limit for the drunk driver's separate personal policy, and $125,000 from the insurance policy that covered the driver of the vehicle my client was traveling in.

If you or someone you know has suffered a traumatic brain injury, post concussion syndrome, or other head trauma as the result of the negligence or fault of another, please contact us for a free evaluation of your case.

In May 2008 my client was struck by a Hummer H2 while legally traveling on his bicycle in a designated bike lane in the Soulard area of St Louis MO. He proceeded through an intersection that had no stop sign for his direction of travel, however, the cross traffic had a stop sign and the other driver went through the stop sign and violated my client cyclist's right of way and causing a collision which resulted in serious personal injury. (See police report diagram of St Louis Bike Accident)

This type of vehicle and bicycle collision is referred to as the right cross. As a Missouri and Illinois personal injury lawyer, I represent multiple bike accident and injury clients, two I am currently handling were a result of the above mentioned "right cross". Both were legally and properly either traveling in a bike lane, legally on the shoulder of the road as allowed by Missouri bike law, or properly crossing a pedestrian crosswalk on their bike.

In this case, we recovered $100,000.00 policy limit for our bike accident personal injury client. This amount represents the full policy limit the owner of the vehicle had through GEICO Insurance. However, in this case, the driver did not own the vehicle, therefore, we are also pursuing the driver's insurance policy limit of $50,000.00 as excess insurance coverage.

A few legal hoops need to be hopped through prior to settling the primary personal injury liability insurance coverage, as in this case, the primary insurer (GEICO) has a duty to get all potential liable parties released. Therefore, we entered into a Missouri personal injury release agreement completely releasing the owner of the vehcile from liability and releasing the driver for nay amount of a judgement over and above the additional $50,000.00 policy limit through her personal auto insurance policy.

This Missouri personal injury settlement arrangment keeps the door cracked for recovery in excess of the bodily injury liability insurance policy limits, this is done if the excess carrier refuses to settle within policy limits, if a judgment is then obtained against the driver in excess of the policy limits, then the driver assigns to my client any right for bad faith refusal to settle against the injury insurer, which can potentially make the personal injury insurer liable beyond its bodily injury policy limits. That is the heart of the agreement entered into to settle the primary personal injury auto insurance coverage and still have the potential to still pursue the Missouri bike accident personal injury case against the at fault party. We have done this in several other cases with much success, it is called a covenant not to enforce judgment - See Illinois Drunk Driving Accident - Covenant not to Enforce. This is an example of the injury release we used in this case but it is from another case we handled that involved an Illinois drunk driving personal injury lawsuit that stemmed from a high speed rear end collision that caused a severe head and brain injury to my client as well as multiple other injuries. That case settled for just under $750,000.00 with another $250,000.00 of insurance we are still pursuing.

Authored by Sansone Law staff member, Erin Mace.

Wrongful Death lawsuit filed by parents of high school student killed in drunk driving incident.

I was pursuing some news sites relating to personal injury and came across this tragedy. Two young men, 16 and 20 years of age, were walking home from a birthday party and were fatally struck by a drunk driver.

The “adults” overseeing the birthday party chose to allow the teens to drink alcohol. The boys made the choice to break the law and drink. The drunk driver had just stolen a car from a deli around the block. The owner of the stolen car had left the car running to hurry in the deli, get his sandwich and leave. It was a night of bad decisions that culminated in two deaths. The drunk driver, who incidentally has a rap sheet a mile long, was laughing when he was picked up a block from the incident.

The parents of the 16 year old have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against not only the drunk driver who hit the teen and the parents who hosted the birthday party but also the man whose car was stolen.
One of the many lessons I am learning while working at this St Louis personal injury law firm is that just because you are emotionally hurt or angry – even justifiably so – that does not mean the source of that anguish was an illegal action. I am in complete agreement with holding the parents who held the party responsible, assuming the kids intoxication contributed to the incident, they are legally responsible. I am definitely in complete agreement with holding the drunk driver responsible. I think we can all agree on this one. However, I believe it is a stretch to try and hold the owner of the stolen car responsible. I’m not sure how the owner of the vehicle could have had any foreseeable knowledge of the evening’s outcome from leaving his car running outside a deli. This guy was actually the only one who did not commit a crime that night – but he is getting sued. I find it ironic that the parents of the victims place no responsibility on their own son who blatantly broke the law and instead chose to place even a small amount of blame on a guy that just wanted a sandwich. Talk about laughable lawsuits. Out of the four articles I read on this tragedy, not once did the parents even hint that their son’s decision had an impact on that evening. They are angry and sad and want to make everyone pay - and they got some bad legal advice. As far as the drunk driver goes – he was just selfish. He selfishly put the lives of more than just two teenagers at risk by choosing to operate a vehicle drunk. Perhaps if he would not have been let off of the countless other crimes he committed, he would not have even been there to kill those two kids.

Morals of the story: If you choose to break the law, prepare to suffer the consequences and not blame other people. Simon and Garfunkel were dead wrong. No one is a rock or an island to themselves. Everyone’s choices and actions affect those around you - even those of us that have no desire to be affected by your choices or actions. Finally, if your loved one is injured or killed hold the true liable party responsible. Contact a good attorney that specialized in wrongful death and can distinguish who is legally at fault.

St Louis personal injury lawyer Ben Sansone's comments on Erin's article:

I understand that it may be confusing why a personal injury lawyer filing a wrongful death case would add a party like the owner of the stolen car above. However, in tragic incidents like this there is sometimes little or no insurance coverage. I am willing to bet the drunk driver has few assets, hopefully he at least had auto insurance. I believe the personal injury lawyer in this drunk driving wrongful death case is properly representing his client by initially investigating and naming all parties that may be responsible. I am sure that the family and the attorney have no interest in punishing the car owner and would almost certainly never attempt to collect over and above his insurance policy limits. If the facts all come down that the owner was simply was getting a sandwich, any competent insurance defense lawyer will ultimately get the case dismissed or prevail at trial.

Most people outside the personal injury legal profession and liability insurance often do not understand the nature of the parties' relationships when a claim is made against someone for negligence. For example, lets take a Missouri car accident that results in an injury and a driver was negligent. When a personal injury claim is made (the "claimant" or "Plaintiff"), the insurance company for the at fault driver (the "insured" or "Defendant") handles it, if the personal injury claim cannot be settled and the at fault driver is sued the insurance company appoints a lawyer. More times than not, the law firm or lawyer appointed by the insurance company handles many cases for that particular insurance company; however, their ethical and legal duty is to represent the at fault driver or the "insured", that is their client, not the insurance company. This is a line that is all too often blurred in favor of the best interests of the insurance company rather than the insured. Moreover, the insurance company has a duty to defend in good faith and indemnify the insured for any settlement or judgment.

So what does it mean to defend in "good faith", quite simply, it means that the insurance company has a duty to consider the insured's interests and if those interests conflict with the insurance company's interests, good faith obligates the insurance company to sacrifice its interests in favor of the insured's. This was discussed by the Missouri Supreme Court in Zumwalt v. Utilities Insurance Company, 228 SW2d 750 (MO 1950) and affirmed by a recent case which upheld a bad faith judgment against Allstate Insurance Company for a little over 16 million dollars after they refused to settle a Missouri drunk driving case with severe injuries for policy limits of $50,000. See Johnson v. Allstate Insurance Company, 262 SW3d 658 (Mo App Ct WD 2008).

The Johnson case is a perfect example of bad faith by an insurance company involving a Missouri personal injury claim resulting from a Missouri drunk driving collision and subsequent lawsuit. The insured, Davis, had twice the legal limit and struck a car head on when he crossed the center line, both passengers in the other vehicle spent many weeks in the hospital and almost died. Several weeks after the accident the claimants/Plaintiffs were willing to settle the case for $50,000, Davis' (the insured's) policy limits, thus relieving him of any other potential judgment or legal action, done case should have been closed. However, Allstate failed to respond for several months to the demand for a case that was an obvious policy limits case. The demand expired after 60 days because Allstate would not pay its policy limits, why? they were looking out for Allstate rather than their insured. Even if the injuries were not that severe, a drunk driver is open to serious liability after a motor vehicle accident causing injury. The potential for high liability due to the reckless conduct of the drunk driver should have been enough for Allstate to tender policy limits to protect their insured.

So who brings the bad faith claim? In most cases the claimant or Plaintiff takes an assignment of the cause of action from the insured or defendant in exchange for a promise not to try and collect from the insured or defendant personally and just go after the insurance company because they refused to settle the case when they had an opportunity. Under Missouri and Illinois bad faith, the insurance company is liable for any judgment in excess of the policy limits if they refused to settle the case when they had the opportunity and enough information to justify resolving the case for such an amount.

This is a necessary and reasonable tool for Plaintiffs and insureds to have, without it large insurance companies would use their financial clout and resources to spend all victims of personal injury, with viable claims, out of legitimate claims to protect their bottom line and to the determent of victims and their insureds.

Currently we are handling several Missouri and Illinois serious injury claims arising from drunk driving accident wherein the insurance companies are using delay tactics and acting in bad faith while the victims, my clients, are the targets of medical bill collectors, some are close to poverty because their injuries left them with the inability to work, and their lives are forever changed for the worse. These case were previously mentioned int his blog and will be updated:

Good Samaritan struck by drunk driver, severely injured, partial disability

Illinois Drunk Driving Accident - Drunk Truck Driver Severely Injures 4 Teenagers - traumatic brain injuries.

Illinois Drunk Driving Accident Lawsuit - High Speed Rear End Collision at Intersection - Driver Pleads Guilty to DUI

In this above immediately above, we demanded policy limits, Allstate rejected, several months later during the defendant/insured's deposition he testified that he was completely unaware my client had demanded policy limits or that she was willing to settle with in his policy limits. A key indicator of Bad Faith by the insurance company for failure to inform their insured of a settlement offer within auto insurance policy limits. Clear evidence of Allstate looking out for themselves, not their insured. "Good hands", sure they are.

Also, excellent article summarizing Illinois Bad Faith Insurance Law

Illinois Bad Faith Law - Insurance Company refusal to settle - another excellent article regarding bad faith insurance law in Illinois

As many people have heard, Zicam, a popular homeopathic product that claims its use shortens the length of a cold, was the subject of a 12 million dollar class action settlement in 2006, however, the product remained on the market. Now the FDA has issued an advisement cautioning consumers against using Zicam.

Currently, the personal injury lawyers at Sansone Law are representing several individuals for loss of smell and against Zicam. If you believe you have suffered Anosmia (loss of smell) from the use of Zicam you may have a case.

The loss of smell is a very serious and debilitating problem that also practically eliminates someones sense of taste along with their sense of smell due to the interplay between taste and smell. For more detail on Anosmia - loss of smell and it affects see the Anosmia Foundation.

Contact Us Now - Injury Lawyers that handle Zicam Loss of Smell Cases

Zicam and other Homeopathic remedies largly unregulated - Dever Post Article

For about a week myself and other personal injury lawyers were waiting to see the President's speech to the AMA in Chicago, IL today. For about a week there have been concerns that Obama would advocate limitations on medical malpractice cases in order to get the AMA to support his health care initiatives.

Today, I was relieved when I heard him say the following:

"[...] I’m not advocating caps on malpractice awards which I believe can be unfair to people who’ve been wrongfully harmed, I do think we need to explore a range of ideas about how to put patient safety first, let doctors focus on practicing medicine, and encourage broader use of evidence-based guidelines. That’s how we can scale back the excessive defensive medicine reinforcing our current system of more treatment rather than better care.”

Personal injury trial lawyers are usually painted as the special interest group that does not want any limitation on injury lawsuits. This is true as personal injury lawyers are the only group that advocate for those who may be harmed in the future. Individuals and families that have never been affected by medical mistakes usually see this issue as lawyer greed, however, those same people realize the importance of the issue of patient rights and justice as soon as their lives are touched by it.

Recently, a Missouri personal injury defendant sought an order by the trial court compelling the Plaintiff to sign an authorization allowing the defendant's counsel to meet with Plaintiff's treating doctor without the plaintiff or any of their representatives present, as the doctor refused to do so without an authorization. The case went to the Western District Court of Appeals on a writ of prohibition, the Court ruled yesterday that a personal injury plaintiff cannot be compelled to sign an authorization consenting to an ex parte communication with their treating physician.

The court found "nothing in the discovery rules which gives the circuit court the authority to compel a
party to sign a medical authorization form when informal discovery is involved. Of course, a
party may consent to signing a medical authorization form during informal discovery, but the
circuit court cannot force a party to do so."

The full opinion is available here: Ex rel. Collins v Roldan