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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Several months ago I posted a Missouri personal injury lawyer blog entry regarding the top causes of bicycle accidents with motor vehicles and trucks, (bike accident article link) and discussed a case I was handling that was caused by the "right hook". Recently I was retained to represent an injured St Louis bicyclist that was injured as a result of "The Right Cross". See image for bike accident description. In this current St Louis bike accident case, my client was riding in a designated bike lane on Russell in downtown St Louis city and the negligent driver was driving a Hummer H2 when she made a right turn directly into him as he was crossing the intersection. Traffic on Russel at that intersection does not have a stop sign, however, cross traffic does. Again, this is a common cause of bike accidents, simple failure of drivers to recognize or even be aware of cyclists around them.

As a practicing Missouri bike accident lawyer, I have handled a lot of bicycle personal injury cases in St Louis and throughout Missouri and Illinois, and in almost every case the police report is written with a clear bias toward the cyclist, however, in this case I must commend the St Louis city police officer for writing a proper and non biased report. As discussed in a previous bike accident injury lawyer post, I had to take a bike injury case to trial because the insurance company refused to pay based on the police report blaming the cyclist. After a St Louis bike accident personal injury trial, the jury decides that it was the driver's fault and came back with a Plaintiff's verdict in favor of the bike rider I represented and blamed the driver for the accident, despite the police officer's report, because they saw the bias and poor reporting that I and other Missouri personal injury lawyers often see.

Just recently, an Alton Illinois bike accident with a large truck resulted in the tragic death of a bicyclist. The details of the accident are being held as the family is still being notified. From what little is known, the Alton bike accident seems similar to an accident in Pennsylvania when a truck hopped a curb when making a right turn and killed a woman bike rider. The truck company settled that case for $5.1 Million. See Personal Injury Wrongful Death Bike Accident Lawyer Settlement.

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

Posted In: Bicycle Accidents , Truck Accidents

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As a Missouri and Illinois personal injury attorney with a substantial amount of my practice dealing with Missouri medical malpractice cases or Illinois medical negligence cases, I screen dozens of cases a month from people and families who have been devastated by a medical mistake, neglect, or sometimes just a perceived mistake. Most common are misdiagnosis of an elderly patient's medical condition which leads to the failure to treat critical health conditions and a resultant death. Common real life cases I have dealt with recently:

Misdiagnosis of bronchopneumonia:

An elderly patient was suffering from flu like symptoms, her doctor noted trouble breathing, cough, fatigue, and most importantly, difficulty breathing. Doctor did not perform any diagnostics told the patient to take Tylenol and push fluids and then sent her home.

Tragically the patient died within 24 hours of bronchopnueumonia. Doctor was negligent as she failed to even do a simple chest x-ray which would have revealed fluid in the lungs and required the patient to be admitted to the hospital.

Misdiagnosis of abdominal aortic aneurysm and other heart conditions:

Becoming more common, at least in my experience, is the misdiagnosis of serious heart conditions as heart burn or indigestion. In most cases a chest CT would rule out life threatening conditions or find them so appropriate treatment can be administered. I currently have several heart disease misdiagnosis cases under investigation.

Limitations of Awards:

Recently, a jury awarded the family of a deceased 45 year old steel worker $4.45 million dollars as they found the doctor was negligent for failure to diagnose a heart condition which would have been found on a chest CT and was consistent with the symptoms the patient was complaining of. (Medical malpractice verdict article)

Now these awards are based on medical expenses, lost support and lost wages, and pain and suffering of the victim and the family. Often these awards are touted by insurance companies as excessive, however, in this case the verdict was absolutely not excessive, but what you will never hear from the insurance and medical lobby, is that these awards are drastically limited by statutory damage caps. For example, the above case the $4.45 million was reduced to $1.25 million as medical malpractice damages are capped by law.

Many clients come to me with legitimate cases of medical malpractice, however, if the malpractice ended up in less than $100,000 - $300,000 or so of medical bills then the case is economically unfeasible to pursue as the cost of pursuit will far outweigh any recovery. Prime example, clear medical malpractice resulting in the death of an elderly person with no dependants, and the death was quick and did not result in a lot of additional medical bills. Liability may be clear, but the case is often not worth pursuing, unless the negligence is egregious, because of the the caps of $350,000 in Missouri. That's right, if your parent or grandparent die because of medical malpractice and they have no dependants (as elderly people often do not) and they do not rack up hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills related to the malpractice, then their life is worth $350,000 in Missouri, a disturbing thought.

ARTICLE / STUDY (.pdf format) - Medical Malpractice Caps Have not Resulted in Reduction of Medical Malpractice Premiums Despite Major Reduced Payouts by Medical Malpractice Insurers.

The above study shows the flaws of the medical malpractice lawsuit myth that lawsuits are raising insurance premiums driving doctors out of the business and raising your health care costs.

Conclusion of the study: "There is no doubt that the implementation of non-economic damage caps has resulted in lower claim payouts for insurers. For caps to be considered successful, however, the lower payouts would need to translate into lower med mal premiums for medical professionals. Unfortunately, that has not been the case due to the continuing presence of other, far more significant factors driving premium rates higher."

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

Posted In: Medical Malpractice

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Sansone Law has been retained to represent the family of a 17 year old girl that was tragically killed when a teenage driver ran off the road killing the front seat passenger and critically injuring the back seat passenger. KSDK News Story. The negligent and reckless driver decided to go well over 70 MPH on Pioneer Road in Hillsboro Missouri (just outside St Louis County). The speed limit on that road is 40 MPH, for obvious reasons, it is a narrow and curvy road. The picture above is the stretch of road showing the turn the driver tried to come around at 70 MPH in and older model Ford Contour, he took the turn wide and another car was coming from the other direction, he over corrected and ended up crashing the car into trees off the road and down a hill. The surviving passenger has stated she felt as if they were airborne.

This tragic Jefferson county car accident resulted in the death of the front side passenger and severe injury to the backseat passenger, who recalls the she and the deceased passenger were begging the driver to slow down. Upon a cursory review through Missouri Casenet this driver has been charged with several other traffic citations prior to this Missouri car crash.

The Jefferson County prosecutor's office has charged the driver with the Missouri state charge of involuntary manslaughter, a class D Felony. Much to the disappointment of the family, he was quickly released on a $3,500 bond; quite low considering he caused the St Louis Missouri area wrongful death of one young girl and the severe and permanently debilitating personal injuries to the back seat passenger.

There are many details and aspects of this Missouri wrongful death case that I would like to discuss as a Missouri personal injury lawyer, however, I will have to post these aspects of the Jefferson county wrongful death case at a later date as the investigation and claims are ongoing. I would ask that we all keep the young girl's family in our prayers and pray for the health and wellness of her young one year old son that has survived her.

I traveled down pioneer road several times today, and it is a narrow road, I was driving my Porsche 911 C4S (a car made to take tight turns at high speed), and at 70 MPH that curve was challenging, clearly in an older model Ford Contour 70 MPH on that road is simply crazy recklessness beyond a simple accident; moreover, the roads were wet that night. On behalf of the mother and surviving infant son, I will pursue Missouri personal injury claims of wrongful death against the driver based on negligence and gross recklessness justifying the imposition of Missouri punitive damages.

St Louis Post Dispatch Article by Robert Kelly - Jeffco Teen Driver Charged in Passenger's Death

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

Posted In: Our Injury Cases , Automobile Accidents , Wrongful Death

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An important aspect of my St Louis personal injury practice is the representation of injured cyclists in Missouri and Illinois who have been injured as a result of a bicycle crash caused by a negligent driver of a car or truck. As a St Louis Missouri personal injury attorney and an avid cyclist myself I see these cases through the eyes of a St Louis personal injury lawyer and the I see bike accident personal injury cases through the eyes of a cyclist.

Recently, the Missouri Bicycle Federation released its first annual report card regarding biking in Missouri. The report card gave Missouri a D. One of the primary reasons is that in Missouri bikers and pedestrians make up 5% of traffic yet are the victims of 15% of the Missouri roadway injuries and crashes and 7.5% of the roadway deaths in Missouri.

Another reason for the low grade, Missouri has done nothing to change the law for bicyclists in 2007. In a previous Missouri Bike Accident post I discussed some of the minor changes that have been made in years past to benefit bikers. However there are still major changes that must be done to Missouri bicycle and pedestrian law.

See previous blog posts:

Right Hook - Primary Cause of Missouri Bike Accidents and Injuries

Common cause of bike accidents - St Louis bike accident lawyer

St Louis personal injury bike accident lawyer gets injury jury verdict against motorist that failed to yield

Bike Law Resource

MO Bike Federation - Missouri Bike Accidents and Safety Report

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

Posted In: Bicycle Accidents

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In a previous Missouri personal injury lawyer blog post I discussed the facts and circumstances of my Illinois workers compensation client who witnessed the traumatic death of a co-worker as the result of a fall from a water tower. As a result of witnessing this tragic death incident, which has turned into a million dollar Illinois wrongful death case and Illinois products liability action, my client suffered post traumatic stress.

This Illinois workers compensation case recently settled for $32,500.00 to compensate my Illinois personal injury and workers compensation client for the traumatic stress endured as a direct result of the work related injury.

Many Illinois personal injury lawyers may have never pursued the claim because there was no direct physical injury. In fact, my client's first Illinois personal injury lawyer did not pursue the claim and recommended a settlement to him of less than $10,000. I took over the case and through psychological testing and other important case work we were able to evidence the psychological injury and settlement the case for more than 3 times more what his first Illinois work comp lawyer recommended.

An Illinois or a Missouri work comp case or claim require one very simple element to have a claim in the first place, a work related injury. That injury can be physical or mental. Often times a mental injury is drastically more debilitating than a physical injury.

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

Posted In: Our Injury Cases , Verdicts & Settlements , Workers' Compensation

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Its springtime and in Missouri and Illinois motorcycles are everywhere, many states across the country use May as motorcycle safety awareness month in an effort to reduce the number of Missouri motorcycle accidents and motorcycle accidents in Illinois and across the country.

Scary fact is that there is about an 80% chance of serious personal injury whenever a motorcyclist is involved in a car crash. When the motorcycle crash involves another vehicle the likelihood of severe injury or death is 29 times higher for the motorcyclists than the driver of a car or truck. Being a personal injury lawyer handling motorcycle injury cases in St Louis Missouri and across Missouri and Illinois, I can attest that in my experience this is true. A very small percentage of Missouri motorcycle injury cases I have reviewed as a personal injury lawyer are the result of motorcycle operator error. In fact, only one motorcycle injury case I have seen was likely motorcycle operator error.

As a Missouri motorcycle injury lawyer and an Illinois motorcycle injury lawyer I can tell you that most accidents and injuries occur at intersections. Most common type of motorcycle injury case that I handle involves a motorcyclist driving through an intersection and a vehicle approaching the opposite direction makes a left turn on green and fails to yield to the cyclist.

I recommend to all bikers to flash their headlights as they approach an intersection, this will increase the chances that a negligent driver will see you.

9 times out of 10 a collision between a car or truck and a motorcycle is the result of the car or truck drivers carelessness. If you are a motorcyclist that end up in an accident with a car (I have personally been in 2 motorcycle accidents) contact me to discuss your case, I have a unique understanding as a Missouri and Illinois personal injury lawyer, and motorcyclist, and an injury lawyer motorcyclist that has been injured as a result of careless drivers.

Continue reading "May is Motorcycle Safety Month - Promote Awareness of Motorcycle Safety and Top Reasons for Motorcycle Accidents " »

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

Posted In: Motorcycle Accidents

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As a St Louis Missouri personal injury lawyer I have dealt with a lot of Missouri motorcycle accident cases and Illinois Motorcycle accident cases. Every case is the result of a car or truck driver's inattention. The absolute most common cause of motorcycle accidents in Missouri and Illinois, at least as far as what I have seen, is the failure of a motorist to yield to a motorcyclist coming through an intersection and the car or truck driver makes a left turn on a green right in front of the motorcyclist, thus causing a collision. Also, the simple failure to yield to a motorcyclist in other situations.

Several examples of this type of injury have occurred recently in Missouri as the bike riding weather and season have begun. Recent news stories below:

A Springfield motorcyclist was injured in Greene County as the result of a collision between a car and his motorcycle. The Missouri motorcycle accident occurred on highway 66 when a driver of a Chevrolet made a left turn in front of a Springfield biker driving a 2005 Harley Davidson.

Article: Springfield Missouri Motorcycle Accident and Injury Case

The driver of an SUV struck a motorcycle and killed the rider. Both the rider and his passenger were killed when the motorcyclist was turning a Honda Goldwing motorcycle left from Hwy 32 onto Davis Crossing Road when the SUV heading the same direction of the motorcyclist passed several vehicles collided with the left side of the motorcycle killing both the motorcycle driver and his passenger. The elderly drivers of the SUV were treated for only minor injuries, however, the motorcyclist and his passenger were declared dead at the scene of the St Francois County Missouri motorcycle accident.

As any Missouri motorcycle accident injury lawyer would know, this is a clear case of liability and a tragic Missouri motorcycle accident wrongful death case.

Article: St Francois County Motorcycle Death Case

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

Posted In: Motorcycle Accidents , Wrongful Death

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$18 million was recently paid by a trucking company operating across Missouri to the family of 4 women that were killed in a tragic truck accident on a Kansas City Missouri highway. A jury had returned a verdict of negligence for 3 of the 4 women, the verdict was $15 million; while the jury was deliberating on the punitive damages issue the truck company decided to settle for $18 million to cover the potential punitive damages award.

There was ample evidence that the trucking company did not properly screen the truck drivers and that the at fault truck driver had several problems that were either negligently missed or intentionally overlooked. Problems that would have kept the truck driver off the road.

From the perspective of a St Louis Missouri injury lawyer and a lawyer that handles St Louis Missouri truck accident personal injury cases, it was smart to resolve this case for $18 million, despite the potential for a massive punitive damages verdict. Families need closure, and despite the sensational punitive damages awards that Missouri lawmaker will often use as examples for tort reform, rarely are the punitive damage awards seen by the families as the appeal process drags on and prevents the closure of a tragic chapter in their lives. Additionally, Missouri law required that 50% of the punitive damage award goes to the state.

More importantly, settlement means no appeals, no more expenses, no risk of reversal. Anytime their is a multi million dollar judgment an appeal will follow, extending the case for years. Settlement means closure and money now.

Settlements are more important than Judgments in many wrongful death cases. In June 2007 we settled a case for $4.5 million regarding a St Louis Missouri gastric bypass medical malpractice wrongful death case. A similar case went to trial against the same doctor and the verdict was $7.5 million; however, the family never saw that $7.5 million; they settled for less than $2 million. The personal injury lawyer that got that St Louis death case verdict did excellent work, however, at the end of the day, his clients never saw the money from the large St Louis wrongful death verdict.

Truck Accident Wrongful Death Case

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

Posted In: Truck Accidents

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Currently we are handling a St. Louis Missouri personal injury truck accident case that involved a commercial truck driver whose truck was being repaired so his employer a Missouri trucking company rented a similar commercial truck from Penske truck rental. The large sleeper cabin in the back of the semi-truck did not have adequate safety equipment or padding for the sleeping or resting passenger who is often the secondary or relief commercial truck driver. The tractor trailer was involved in large truck accident outside of St Louis Missouri while my client was asleep in the back. He suffered serious personal injury while traveling through Illinois, mainly several cervical fractures from the Illinois truck crash, because the sleeper cabin had no padding and no way to secure a sleeping truck driver. Thus, he contacted us, top St Louis injury lawyers.

As a St Louis personal injury lawyer handling large truck accidents, I see this as a truck accident case against the liable driver, but also a Missouri products liability and a Missouri negligent maintenance case for the truck rental company's failure to have and maintain proper truck safety and security for the truck driver resting in the cabin.

I have handled cases in the past regarding rental cars being improperly maintained as they are often abused and the rental company wants to put as little maintenance money in them as possible to boost profit margins. This is a recipe for disaster, as someone is inevitably going to suffer serious personal injury as a result of the negligent truck maintenance.

Recently U-Haul incurred a judgment of $84 million as the result of serious personal injury to a man who was run over by a truck that he rented from U-Haul. The man parked the truck on a slight incline and when the parking brake failed the truck ran him over causing severe personal injuries, including a broken pelvis preventing him from walking ever again. The rental truck personal injury lawyers discovered the truck brakes to be defective and total lack of maintenance after several hundred thousand miles of rental truck driving.

The problem is the total lack of maintenance. For example, I was able to get a great settlement