Missouri Injury Lawyer Blog

As a St. Louis ATV accident lawyer, I was sorry to see that a seven-year-old boy died this past weekend in a serious ATV accident. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Aug. 24 that Austin Henry of Troy, Ill. was riding his ATV with neighborhood kids and under his father’s supervision Aug. 22. According to the newspaper, he apparently lost control, hit a curb and was thrown from the vehicle. Despite the fact that he was wearing a full-face helmet, the little boy sustained serious head and chest trauma and died about 40 minutes later at a southern Illinois hospital.

Austin’s father, Paul Henry, told the Post-Dispatch that Austin was a good kid who didn’t break rules often. That was why the elder Henry was concerned when he saw Austin zoom past the driveway -- the border of the area where he was allowed to use the ATV -- and head into the street. Paul Henry chased the ATV but couldn’t catch up in time to stop Austin from turning a corner and hitting the curb. Investigators believe the throttle of the ATV may have been stuck, the paper said, which would explain why he lost control of the vehicle.

Unfortunately, I know from my experience as a southern Illinois ATV accident attorney that ATV safety problems are far from uncommon. In fact, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the only federal agency regulating ATVs, levied a $950,000 fine against an ATV manufacturer in 2005 for selling ATVs with defective throttles and failing to report the problem. Other ATVs have come under fire for defective designs that make rollover accidents very likely, especially on the uneven ground where they tend to be used. As a result, the CPSC reported that ATV accidents increased by a staggering 180% between 1995 and 2004. A quarter of all those killed in ATV accidents, and a third of those suffering serious injuries, were minors under 16.

Continue reading "Seven-Year-Old Boy Dies in ATV Accident Possibly Caused by Defective Throttle" »

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

Posted In: ATV Accidents

Bookmark:

Used Chevy Impalas sold by rental company Enterprise Rent-A-Car were missing a standard safety feature, the Kansas City Star reported Aug. 15. Side air bags were standard on Impalas sold to consumers between 2006 and 2008, the article said -- but Enterprise asked the manufacturer to delete that option when it placed its order, as a cost-saving measure. When the cars were later retired from the fleet and sold as used cars, the Star reported, consumers may have mistakenly believed they came with the same standard equipment other Impalas had. Furthermore, the newspaper found that hundreds of online advertisements by Enterprise incorrectly touted the cars as having front and rear side air bags.

Safety experts consider side curtain air bags important because side-impact crashes are the second deadliest kind of crash. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, side-impact crashes caused 17.4% of all fatal crashes in 2007, second only to head-on crashes (32.2% of fatal crashes). And according to the Star article, studies have found that side air bags with head protection reduce drivers’ deaths by 45% in driver-side collisions. Side air bags are not federally required, as front air bags are, but observers expect side air bags to be near-universally standard soon, in order to comply with stricter federal side-impact safety rules taking effect Sept. 1.

According to the article, Enterprise ordered about 66,000 Impalas nationwide without the side air bags. This did not violate federal safety standards, the company said, and helped save $175 per car, for a total of $11.5 million. Nonetheless, a spokesman for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a research organization funded by auto insurance companies, called the decision “astounding.” He noted that used-car buyers researching safety ratings could be misled, because cars are rated according to their standard safety features, and suggested that Enterprise’s decision could provoke numerous car accident lawsuits in Missouri and around the U.S. He and another safety expert said deleting a standard safety feature is not a practice they’d ever heard of before.

In response to the article, Enterprise pulled the incorrect advertisements off its Web site and said it planned to correct the information. It also said it would write to the owners of the 745 Impalas it had already sold to explain the problem and offer to buy the cars back at $750 over their Kelly Blue Book value.

As a St. Louis car crash lawyer, I have read a lot of the research into the dangers of side-impact crashes. They are considered extremely dangerous, in part because they can cause jagged metal and broken glass to protrude into the passenger area of the car, endangering all the occupants nearby. They can also trigger a rollover accident, which throws occupants around the inside of the vehicle or out of it, exposing them to head injuries and spinal cord damage that can leave them permanently disabled. Parents and others concerned about safety may well want to look up which vehicles contain side air bags before renting or buying -- but when Enterprise and other sellers provide misleading information, consumers can’t make well-informed decisions. If they are later involved in a serious accident and discover that they’re missing the air bags they thought they had, the law says they may hold the sellers legally liable for their injuries.

Continue reading "Newspaper Investigation Finds Rental Car Company Advertised Cars Had Side Airbags When They Did Not" »

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

Posted In: Auto Accidents , Product Liability , Traffic Safety

Bookmark:

An Iowa girl is recovering from injuries sustained in a serious St. Louis car crash, the Fort Madison Daily Democrat reported Aug. 4. Shyanna Hoenig was on her way to the St. Louis Zoo with her family when a driver pulled out unexpectedly and hit the side of her mother’s van. Shyanna sustained damage to her aorta as well as intestinal damage so serious that three sections had to be removed. She was taken to Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center in St. Louis, which released her last week -- in time to start the first grade at the end of August.

Shyanna’s mother, Sarah Hoenig, said she was on Highway 61 when she passed a car stopped on the median. When she saw that driver pull out suddenly into the road, she swerved to avoid a collision. Unfortunately, the car hit the side of their van, sending it into a rock bluff. Shyanna was the most seriously hurt of the seven people in the van -- in part because she was wearing a lap-only seat belt, which her mother said was improper for children of that age. Because the belt was around her abdomen rather than her lap, the impact damaged Shyanna’s aorta -- the vital arterty that comes from the heart -- and parts of her intestine that Sarah Hoenig said looked like hamburger.

Iowa law does not require children over six to use booster seats, although safety experts recommend it. Here in Missouri, children ages 4 through 7, or weighing between 40 and 80 pounds, must use an appropriate safety seat or booster seat. As the article notes, this elevates the child to allow the seat belt to cross his or her lap, preventing serious injuries like Shyanna’s or possibly even death.

I am glad that this little girl and her family have what appears to be a good outcome to her medical care. But as a St. Louis auto accident attorney, I know that they probably also face substantial financial losses as a result of the accident. Shyanna spent more than two weeks in hospitals -- and even if the family has insurance, that’s likely to be very expensive. Because St. Louis is a fair drive from their home, her parents may also have had to take all of that time off work to be with her and be part of her care. And of course, they probably faced costs for repair or replacement of the van and care for the other family members. All of this can be financially devastating for an ordinary family, which is why so many accident victims come to our Missouri car crash lawyers for help.

Continue reading "First-Grader Released From Hospital After Catastrophic St. Louis Car Accident" »

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

Posted In: Auto Accidents , Traffic Safety

Bookmark:

A Joplin man sued The Bunker Extreme D-Day Adventure Park over severe injuries he sustained at a truck and bike rally when an off-road truck drove through a safety barrier and into the audience, the Joplin Globe reported July 31. Joel Fulton was one of five people who were hurt July 25, after the driver of the truck lost control while driving through a mud pit, plowing through a safety barrier and into spectators. The crash also killed Asami Fujita of Guam and injured Tony Rockrohr of Granby; Kevin Wallace of Carl Junction; and Joanne Sweet of Neosho. The newspaper did not specify any of their injuries.

The park is an outdoors-focused park in Wyandotte, OK, offering paintball and off-roading on motorcycles, trucks and ATVs. According to the lawsuit, Fulton planned to participate in the off-road rally. He and others were lined up on top of the safety barrier for a photo at the request of the park’s owner, Dewayne Convirs, when driver Johnny Davis lost control of the truck and crashed into the barrier. In the resulting accident, the lawsuit says, he suffered massive body trauma leading to permanent injuries. He and his wife, Angela Fulton, are suing the park, Convirs and Davis for negligence, including negligence by the park for failing to take sufficient safety precautions and negligent operating of the truck by Davis.

A lot of people believe that parks and other public places wouldn’t be open to the public if they weren’t safe. As a Missouri personal injury attorney, I’m afraid I know otherwise. It’s true that property owners have a legal obligation to prevent foreseeable injuries to people who are on their property legally, including customers and invited guests. If there is a safety hazard, property owners must clear it within a reasonable amount of time or post a warning sign. However, in many cases, property owners fail to meet that legal obligation, due to carelessness or cost-cutting. When this leads to a serious accident, as in this case, victims have the right to hold property owners legally responsible for their injuries with a Missouri personal injury lawsuit.

Continue reading " Missouri Man Sues Park Over Injuries From Truck Crash Into Spectators" »

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

Posted In: Premises Liability

Bookmark: