Missouri Injury Lawyer Blog

A woman has died of injuries sustained in a house fire caused by faulty electrical wiring, the News-Sun of Camdenton, Mo. reported Feb. 10. Violet Marie Simpson, 86, suffered burns and smoke inhalation during the fire in the early morning hours of Dec. 28. She and another person in the house managed to escape and go to a neighbor’s house to call the fire department at about 3:45 a.m., but not before Simpson sustained serious burn injuries and smoke inhalation injuries. She was hospitalized for more than a month before she passed away.

Unfortunately, electrical wiring problems are a consistent and widespread cause of house fires like this one. According to the Red Cross, problems with electrical wiring of homes and appliances are the leading cause of house fires, ahead of cigarette accidents, cooking accidents and children playing with matches. In many cases, the faulty wiring is the fault of a company that did substandard electrical work or made and sold a defectively wired consumer product. When that’s the case, that company is legally responsible for any injuries or deaths that result.

That legal responsibility could be especially important in cases like this one, where the victims must be hospitalized for long periods. That’s a common problem with burn injuries that affect a large amount of the victim’s skin (around 30% for adults with second-degree burns). Without our skin, we lose our first barrier against infections and our bodies’ ability to regulate temperature, hydration and other functions that are basic to good health. Victims of severe burns frequently must visit special wards to get the care they need, and may need surgery or dermatology care for years afterward. In addition to being painful and traumatic, unfortunately, this is also very expensive.

If a manufacturer, home builder or other party is found legally liable for the victims’ injuries in a Missouri burn injuries lawsuit, those victims can collect compensation for their costs and injuries. That includes the cost of past and future medical care for their burns, as well as compensation for any permanent disability or loss of a loved one; pain and suffering; and other financial costs, like the loss of property in the home. The Lowe Law Firm handles this type of case for clients throughout Missouri and southern Illinois. Our experienced Missouri burn injury attorneys even offer free case evaluations, so there’s no risk in speaking to us about your case.

If you’ve lost someone or been severely burned in a fire caused by someone else’s carelessness and you’d like to learn more, you can contact the Lowe Law Firm online or call us toll-free at 1-877-678-3400 today.

Posted by Carey, Danis & Lowe | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Burn Injuries

Bookmark:

A St. Louis family lost two of its members a fatal car crash near Edwardsville, Ill. Feb. 5. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Tawanda Jackson and her two children, nine-year-old Arnold and 11-year-old Takia, were headed home from Tennessee to attend her grandmother’s funeral, along with Jackson’s friend, Jon Moss. Authorities told the Bloomington Pantagraph that the other driver, Newton Keene, was drunk and driving without a license when he drove the wrong way on Illinois 255, crashing into Jackson’s car and killing her, Arnold Jackson and Moss. Takia Jackson remained hospitalized Feb. 6.

In fact, the Bloomington paper reported that Keene had six previous intoxicated driving convictions in Illinois and Missouri, as well as two convictions for driving without a valid license. Local law enforcement agencies also told the paper that Keene had been pulled over three times for driving on the wrong side of the road while drunk. Despite all of this, he had never served more than 120 days in jail. In fact, he had petitioned the State of Missouri to restore his license, a matter that would have been heard Feb. 9.

Public education efforts have done a lot to reduce drunk driving over the past three decades. According to research by the federal Department of Transportation, 48% of drivers involved in fatal crashes had a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.08 or higher in 1982, the first year for which this record was kept. In 2007, that percentage was 32%. Education and outreach have eliminated many casual drunk drivers, making chronic or repeat offenders like Keene the majority of DUI offenders.

Drunk driving is illegal, of course, and it can and should be prosecuted as a crime. But when the criminal justice system fails to stop a drunk driver from hurting the innocent people around him or her, victims also have the option of filing a Missouri or Illinois car accident lawsuit. A lawsuit won’t send anyone to jail, but it helps victims recover the often substantial financial costs of a drunk driving accident, including hospital bills, repair costs and sometimes funeral costs. It can also help victims win compensation for their non-financial injuries, such as the loss of a loved one, a permanent disability or lifelong scarring from serious burns.

The Lowe Law Firm can help. Based in St. Louis, our experienced auto accident attorneys help clients in Missouri and southern Illinois who were seriously hurt in motor vehicle accidents caused by someone else’s carelessness. If you believe you or someone you love has a claim and you’d like to know more about your options, we offer free consultations. To set up a free evaluation of your case with our experienced Missouri car wreck lawyers, please contact us online as soon as possible or call 1-877-678-3400, toll-free.

Posted by Carey, Danis & Lowe | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Auto Accidents

Bookmark:

As I have blogged here before, safety experts believe the MLK Bridge connecting St. Louis to East St. Louis needs substantial safety improvements. According to a Feb. 8 article in the Belleville News-Democrat, a bridge safety expert from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts has added his voice to that chorus. Professor Malcolm Ray studied deaths on the MLK Bridge and the nearby Poplar Street Bridge and concluded that drivers on the MLK Bridge were 25 times more likely to die in a serious car accident.

The article says one reason is the bridge’s width. The four lanes on the MLK bridge are each 10 feet wide, which is narrower than lanes on neighboring bridges and two feet below federal safety standards. This gives motorists no place to pull over if they have trouble while crossing the river. It also poses dangers when sharing the road with large tractor-trailers and semi trucks, some of whose width might exceed the width of the lane.

Another reason for the consistent safety problems, said the professor, is that the bridge was never intended for tractor-trailers and other large vehicles in the first place, especially at high speeds. The Illinois and Missouri transportation departments are studying measures that might help, including banning large trucks, reducing the number of lanes and installing a center barrier to prevent crossover accidents.

As a St. Louis car accident lawyer, I look forward to the results of that study. If this bridge truly is 25 times more deadly than the Poplar Street Bridge just down the river, it’s time for action. A narrow, crowded bridge doesn’t give motorists much room to take evasive action in the event of an emergency, or any room at all to pull over when they must. Worse, it increases the probability that one accident will turn into a chain reaction, since other drivers will have little room to avoid a crash that takes place right in front of them.

We drive so much that it’s easy to forget how serious car accidents can be. In my practice as a Missouri car crash attorney, I see the worst kind of results every day: unnecessary, wrongful deaths and permanent disabilities from brain damage, spinal injuries and severe burns. Frequently, these injuries also come with medical costs in the six or seven figures. When someone else’s careless driving is responsible, I can help my clients alleviate some of the effects of these injuries by winning compensation for their costs and injuries in a Missouri auto accident lawsuit

The Lowe Law Firm offers free consultations to victims of traffic accidents on the MLK Bridge or anywhere else in Missouri and southern Illinois. If you believe you were seriously hurt because of someone else’s carelessness and you’d like to learn more about your options, you can contact us online for a free consultation or call toll-free at 1-877-678-3400.

Posted by Carey, Danis & Lowe | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Traffic Safety

Bookmark:

Missourians can drive with a little more confidence this year, according to a report by the Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety. The Southeast Missourian reported Feb. 4 that the report says Missouri saw just 941 highway traffic fatalities in 2008, down by about 25% from 1,257 in 2005. A lieutenant with the Missouri State Highway Patrol told the paper that guard cables -- thick wire bundles installed along the sides and median of the highway -- played a big part in the drop by preventing vehicles from crossing the highway into oncoming traffic. In areas where the cables were installed, 55 people died in the year before installation; that number was just two in the year after installation.

Guard cables are not universally loved, the article noted. One driver interviewed for the article wondered why the cables were so close to the road, where they could cause a driver to bounce right back into traffic. A garage and wrecking service employee wondered if there was enough space to pull into the shoulder of the road safely in an emergency. In fact, the article said, guard cables were originally installed in the center of the median, but had to be moved after flooding weakened their posts. And a project engineer for the Missouri Department of Transportation said that yes, cars should bounce back into traffic after hitting the cables -- but the people inside were less likely to be killed in a sideswipe or rear-end accident.

That idea is backed up by federal highway safety statistics. Crossovers are almost always head-on accidents, and head-on accidents are likely to be deadly. According to 2007 statistics from the federal Department of Transportation, head-on accidents represented 10.2% of all fatal accidents and more than a fourth of all fatal multi-vehicle accidents. By contrast, sideswipes were just 2.3% of all fatal accidents. Collisions with an object like a pole or a tree, which are almost always head-on for the driver, accounted for 33.2% more. Automakers design their vehicles with “crumple zones” and other technology to minimize damage, but no amount of engineering can help when two heavy objects collide at high speeds.

Crossover accidents are a serious concern in parts of Missouri where highways aren’t divided by a guardrail, barrier or physical space. Some may be caused by factors beyond the drivers’ control -- but others are the result of inattention or even intoxicated driving. If you or someone you love has been hurt in a Missouri crossover accident or other auto accident caused by someone else’s negligence, you have rights. That includes the right to hold a careless driver legally responsible for all of the damage he or she causes with a Missouri car crash lawsuit.

Based in St. Louis, the Lowe Law Firm represents people throughout Missouri and southern Illinois who have lost a loved one or been seriously injured through no fault of their own. We offer free consultations, so there’s no risk in speaking to us about your rights and your case. To talk to our experienced Missouri auto accident attorneys about your own case, you can contact us online today or call toll-free at 1-877-678-3400.

Posted by Carey, Danis & Lowe | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Traffic Safety

Bookmark:

The mother of a young man hurt in a single-vehicle accident wants to know what caused ice to appear in the road, MyFox St. Louis reported Jan. 12. A truck driven by Keyon Matthews, a 25-year-old father of three, slid on the road in North St. Louis and fishtailed before hitting a tree, according to his brother, who was following in another car. Neighbors said they reported a leak in a manhole cover, which froze into ice, Jan. 10, but the City of St. Louis Water Division told the television station that there was no record of the leak. Crews from the Water Division later confirmed the leak and took steps to repair it.

Ice in the road is nothing new here in Missouri -- but drivers who don't realize it's there don't know when they should be especially careful. If the allegations in this article are true, the city may have been negligent (a legal term for "extremely careless") in its handling of the neighbors' complaints. Like businesses and individuals, government agencies have a legal duty to remove hazards on their property as soon as they reasonably can, especially when the hazard may be hidden, like this one. However, the key there is "reasonable." Is it reasonable to expect immediate action on a leak that creates a large patch of ice in the road?

Unfortunately, there are no hard and fast rules about what is considered reasonable. A jury or a judge might ultimately decide in any St. Louis car crash lawsuit the family might choose to file. City governments may be held legally responsible for their negligence, just like private citizens. However, thanks to a doctrine called sovereign immunity, city, state and even federal government agencies can set special rules about how they may be sued. These include special deadlines -- some as short as 30 days -- by which you must give them notice that you intend to sue. Missing those deadlines takes away your right to claim any relief at all, which is why it is so important to get help from an experienced Missouri personal injury attorney.

At The Lowe Law Firm, we have successfully represented many people who were seriously injured on the road by someone else's carelessness. That includes the carelessness of other drivers and of manufacturers of defective tires, seatbelts and other auto parts, as well as bad decisions by government authorities. Our record of success includes multiple verdicts and settlements of more than $1 million in motor vehicle accidents, and multiple millions for victims of defective products. If you were hurt in a car wreck in Missouri or southern Illinois, and you believe it was caused by someone else's careless or illegal behavior, The Lowe Law Firm can help. Contact us as soon as possible for a free evaluation of your case.

Posted by Carey, Danis & Lowe | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Auto Accidents

Bookmark:

A southern Illinois mother is calling for improved safety measures on the Martin Luther King Bridge, the Belleville News-Democrat reported Jan. 11. The call came after the woman lost her 26-year-old son to a serious East St. Louis truck accident on the bridge. The young father of two had pulled over on the bridge, which doesn't have a shoulder or a sidewalk, to deal with car trouble. A delivery truck coming in the same direction sideswiped him, throwing him into his car's back seat and causing catastrophic brain injuries that eventually led to his death. The article notes that at least five people died in November and December of 2008 on the King and McKinley Bridges, which connect St. Louis to East St. Louis.

Experts quoted in the article agree with the mother that the King Bridge could use more safety measures. In fact, St. Louis Fire Department chief Dennis Jenkerson told the paper that he avoids the bridge after having responded to many serious accidents there. Proposed solutions include installing a barrier to prevent traffic from crossing into oncoming lanes, changing the flow of lanes according to the direction of peak traffic and combining the bridge's four narrow lanes into two wider ones. In response to these concerns, a Southern Illinois lawmaker plans to introduce legislation asking the Illinois Department of Transportation to look into improving the bridge's safety.

Breaking down in the wrong place can be deadly. Statistics on accidents involving stopped motorists are difficult to come by, but Families for Roadside Safety reports that being struck by a passing vehicle is the leading cause of death for law enforcement, firefighters, emergency responders and tow truck drivers combined. Illinois and Missouri both have "move over" laws, which require motorists to change lanes or slow down when emergency vehicles are stopped at the roadside. Ordinary drivers don't spend as much time on roadsides, but when they are, they deserve the same protections. All it takes is one drunk, inattentive or impatient driver to create another tragedy.

With its narrow lanes and no safe place to stop, the King Bridge is ready for a redesign that accommodates 21st-century traffic patterns. In the meantime, everyone who uses the bridges can do their share by being extra careful around stopped vehicles. When truck drivers fail to take reasonable care, they may be held legally and financially responsible for the results with a Missouri or southern Illinois trucking accident lawsuit. If you or someone you love has been hit by a truck, on a bridge or anywhere else, The Lowe Law Firm can help you understand your case and your legal options. To set up a free consultation with our experienced attorneys, please contact us online today.

Posted by Carey, Danis & Lowe | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Traffic Safety

Bookmark: