Missouri Injury Law Blog

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

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

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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

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Posted In: Motorcycle Accidents , Wrongful Death

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While working for Phoenix Fabricators my client's late husband, Jason, was repairing weld lines on a water tower in Arkansas. He lost his footing and his lanyard and safety clip failed, allowing him to fall to a tragic and untimely death. The surviving spouse and children settled the Illinois workers compensation claim, and have a cause of action against the lanyard manufacturer through a wrongful death products liability lawsuit. The employer was found by OSHA to have violated several regulations including failure to have safety nets among several other serious violations. Unfortunately, in most cases and in this current case, worker's compensation is the sole remedy available to an employee against their employer for injuries sustained on the job. This does not prevent us from filing a lawsuit against any responsible or negligent 3rd party.

Generally, the location of the injury or death dictates the applicable law, so in this case, Arkansas work comp law presumptively applied. However, under Arkansas law this wrongful death case would be capped at about $200,000, an amount that is disgustingly inadequate for the death of a young man. However, Under Illinois worker's compensation law the wrongful death the cap is much higher, therefore, the work comp claim was filed in Illinois seeking work comp benefits pursuant to Illinois law. We argued that Illinois work comp law applied because the decedent was an Illinois resident and was hired over the phone while he was at his home in Illinois.

This allowed us to convince the worker's compensation insurer to agree that Illinois law may very well apply and lead to a favorable worker's compensation settlement of $500,000.00 present cash value. The decent was entitled to payments over a number of years which would have amounted to more than $1,000,000.00.

The 3rd Party Case: We are currently pursuing the manufacturer of the defective lanyard for a negligence and products liability/wrongful death case for the death of our client's husband. This will allow us to recover damages in excess of worker's compensation's limited remedies that are capped by regulation in favor of employers. This case against the lanyard manufacturer is a multi million dollar case to compensate my client and her family for the death of her husband and her children's father.

ILLINOIS WORKER'S COMPENSATION & WRONGFUL DEATH CASE - Initial Blog Entry

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Posted In: Verdicts & Settlements , Products Liability / Dangerous Products , Workers' Compensation , Wrongful Death

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In 2007, there was a confidential settlement of a medical negligence case. Suit for the alleged negligent failure to timely diagnose and surgically treat complications following a gastric bypass (or stomach staple) procedure, settled for the sum of $3.5 million against the bariatric program of a hospital.

Additionally, we settled with the surgeon for his medical malpractice insurance policy limits of $1,000,000.00 Per confidentiality agreements names of parties and specifics of the case cannot be revealed.

CT Scan showing Leak from Staple Line
Arrows show leak abcess
A common complication that must be treated

Co-counsel on the above case was Robert Pedroli of Pedroli and Gauthier

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Posted In: Our Injury Cases , Verdicts & Settlements , Injury Law , Medical Malpractice , Gastric Bypass Malpractice , Wrongful Death

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The wrongful death case brought by the Handcock family stemming from the car accident wherein Josh Hancock was killed has been dismissed without prejudice against all Defendants.

PLEASE REFER BACK TO PREVIOUS POST - Missouri Wrongful Death Claimed by the Estate of Deceased Cardinal's Pitcher Josh Hancock - Frivilouis Lawsuit?

FOX 2 ST LOUIS NEWS BROADCAST OF DISMISSAL

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Posted In: Injury Law , Wrongful Death

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Wrongful death personal injury practice covers cases where families have suffered the tragic lose of a loved one. In one case our client died as the result of a surgeon's failure to treat post op complications about 2 weeks after a gastric bypass surgery. The doctor was enabled by the sponsoring hospital that aggresively advertised the procedure across the midwest and loaded him up with 100s of surgeries per year. The case is still pending against several other defendants, including the hospital, and we expect the case to settle for over 5 million dollars.

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

Posted In: Our Injury Cases , Injury Law , Medical Malpractice , Gastric Bypass Malpractice , Wrongful Death

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Recent wrongful death case that may be filed as either a Missouri or Illinois lawsuit is the result of a December 2006 fatal accident of our client's late husband when fell to his death when working on a water tower. The possible defective clip to his safety harness failed to close and secure him as debris from welding builds up in the closing mechanism. Allegedly, the employer, Phoenix Fabricators, failed to replace the safety equipment, additionally, the safety clip itself may have been poorly designed or malfunctioned.

Its a disturbing case to me especially considering his death could have been prevented by taking the required safety measures. OSHA has issued several citations to Phoenix Fabricators based on their continued failure to follow safety measures.

These tank workers have high risk jobs and they deserve the proper safety equipment. Below is a link to an article talking about the dangers of the job and the experiences of several workers for Phoenix Fabricators.

General Article about Water Tank Workers

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Posted In: Our Injury Cases , Injury Law , Premises Liability , Workers' Compensation , Wrongful Death

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