Missouri Injury Lawyer Blog

A recent column in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch caught my eye because it underscores the importance of having an experienced Missouri auto accident lawyer involved in your injury case. Columnist Bill McClellan wrote Feb. 21 about Jen Dotson of Oakville, who ran into serious financial trouble after her health insurer refused to cover the cost of an operation intended to alleviate debilitating pain. Dotson was injured in a 2004 car accident that was not her fault. She had sued the at-fault driver, but her settlement was reached before she realized she needed the operation.

The column says Dotson was driving straight through an intersection when someone pulled out and hit her. The other driver’s insurance company paid for repairs to her car, but she was also left with chronic, severe pain from a condition called thoracic outlet syndrome, which is caused by compression of the passageway between the collarbone and the first rib. The pain was so bad that she had to quit her job as a travel agent and go to work in the family business. Dotson sued and eventually settled for enough money to cover her portion of her medical bills.

Unfortunately, the pain continued after Dotson’s settlement. She had two more surgeries -- one to remove a rib, and another for a nerve. Her husband’s employer-based health insurance covered both, but her pain didn’t stop and she was forced to take heavy pain medications. Finally, her doctor referred her to a neurosurgeon who recommended a surgery to implant a spinal cord stimulator. The surgery was a success, but her health insurer refuses to cover the cost -- leaving Dotson and her husband owing $72,900. They cannot pay this debt and are now afraid they’ll lose their home.

The column is about the health insurer’s refusal to pay, despite the surgeon’s claim that he called to pre-authorize it. This is an important and politically relevant issue, but as a St. Louis car crash attorney, I’d like to talk about Dotson’s original settlement. Most people don’t realize that you only get one opportunity to sue over an accident. Once you accept a settlement, you generally must sign a waiver of all future claims. That means it’s essential to include all claims of financial damage in your lawsuit, including claims for future medical care. Dotson and her injury attorney undoubtedly claimed everything they thought she needed at the time, but as time went on, it was clear that her medical needs weren’t over. In cases like this, I advise my clients to delay a lawsuit, as hard as that can be, until a doctor believes their symptoms are fully manifested can make a treatment plan.

Continue reading "Oakville Woman’s Story Shows Importance of Fully Claiming Damages" »

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Posted In: Auto Accidents , Settlements

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Our St. Louis car crash attorneys wrote last October about a growing call in St. Charles County for improvements to Highway DD. The area has grown from a rural community to a fast-growing suburb, and improvements to Highway DD have not caught up. At least some residents believe that this has resulted in a sharp increase in fatal accidents, and many have called for the Missouri Department of Transportation to make improvements a priority. One of those residents was Daniel Windler, 61, who signed a petition asking MoDOT to speed up improvements. On Feb. 14, Windler was the victim of a fatal accident on the very same highway, while waiting for a tow truck to help him retrieve his disabled car.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Windler’s wife and law enforcement agree that the fatal accident itself was a weather-related accident. As Windler waited for a tow truck, an SUV driven by a teenager from St. Peters slipped down an icy hill and struck him. That driver will not be charged. However, 61-year-old Karen Windler said she believes Highway DD is unsafe, with a rate of accidents about twice the state average for highways of this type. The highway is narrower than the 12-foot federal width standard, yet has no shoulders. It also has steep embankments on either side, inviting the possibility that drivers could slip off the edge of the road and be unable to return to lanes. This, along with the icy weather, may be why Daniel Windler slid off the road Feb. 14.

As a Missouri auto accident lawyer, I don’t believe this problem is going away. Authorities believe part of the reason for the high accident rate on Highway DD is that it wasn’t designed for heavy suburban traffic. Rather, the community grew around the road, using it as a major commuter artery rather than a rural highway. In fact, St. Charles County continues to grow -- two new schools along the highway are slated to open in 2010. To protect those schoolchildren and everyone else who uses Highway DD, the state has an obligation to ensure that the road can safely accommodate them. MoDOT has already lowered the speed limit, but as this accident may show, that’s unlikely to be enough to bring down accident rates.

Continue reading "St. Charles Residents Renew Call for Highway Improvements After Fatal Accident" »

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

Posted In: Auto Accidents , Traffic Safety

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Recalls and image problems continue for Toyota, which has issued two more recalls since I wrote last week about the first unintended-acceleration defect lawsuits. This week, the automaker announced that it would recall third-generation Prius and 2010 Lexus HS 250h hybrids because of a problem with their braking software. That’s 155,000 vehicles in the United States and 437,000 worldwide. In papers filed with federal regulators, Toyota said the vehicles’ electronic anti-lock braking system doesn’t work as well when driven over rough or slippery roads. This can increase the time necessary to stop the vehicle, the Detroit News reported Feb. 9. It will also open the company up to further liability from angry customers and Missouri auto accident lawyers like me.

Significantly, the article said Toyota knew about the braking problem at least a month ago, but didn’t tell customers or regulators about it. The company has already readied a software patch for the Prius and is working on another for the HS 250h; both will be installed as part of the recall. However, the brake recall is just one of Toyota’s new problems. The automaker has also recalled 7,300 2010 Camrys because of a possible problem with a power steering hose. The hose is placed in a way that may wear a hole in brake tubes, decreasing the brakes’ effectiveness. This recall is not a result of complaints, but stems from an observation by an employee in Kentucky. However, the federal government may investigate power steering problems in 2009 and 2010 Corollas, after receiving more than 80 complaints from drivers.

As a St. Louis car wreck attorney, I am particularly disturbed to read that Toyota knew about the brake problem and even worked on fixing it before revealing it. The desire to have a solution on hand is understandable, but failing to disclose the problem takes away drivers’ options for dealing with it. Some drivers undoubtedly won’t mind, but others may have preferred to park the car for the time it took Toyota to prepare the software patch. That could be particularly true because the braking problem is worse in winter. As with the floor mat and brake pedal recalls, Toyota’s behavior leaves observers like me wondering whether it was as forthcoming as possible and acted as early as possible to save lives.

Continue reading "Toyota Issues New Recalls for Hybrid Brakes and Camry Power Steering Problem" »

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Posted In: Auto Accidents , Product Liability

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Last week, I wrote here about Toyota’s recall of millions of vehicles that may accelerate suddenly and without the driver’s intervention. This is a major story for drivers and auto dealers, but also for Missouri car wreck attorneys like me, because we may end up handling lawsuits related to the recall and its defect. Now, it looks like that prediction is already coming true. According to a Feb. 2 article from Reuters, Toyota faces at least 10 lawsuits filed since November of 2009, all of which allege that the automaker sold a defective product, failed to warn drivers about the problem or both. They all seek class-action status, which means they’d combine claims from all Toyota owners affected by the defect. Depending on the circumstances, this could include tens of millions of drivers in the United States alone.

Toyota has taken a beating in the press for handing the unintended acceleration problem poorly. It has issued two recalls, blaming the problem first on floor mats and then on accelerator pedals, sending mixed messages. Furthermore, evidence has emerged that the automaker had received at least 2,000 complaints over the past decade, and knew about the pedal problem nearly three years ago. Legal experts in the Reuters article said this could form the basis of a claim that Toyota failed to warn drivers about the problem in a timely manner, in addition to a possible claim about a design defect. If Toyota is found liable in this type of claim, they said, it could owe its customers billions of dollars because of the seriousness of the claims and the sheer number of affected vehicles.

Reuters reported that four of the claims alone were filed on Jan. 29, and given that at least 19 people have died because of unintended acceleration, more are almost certainly coming. As a St. Louis auto accident lawyer, I think it’s only a matter of time before we hear about claims filed locally. There’s evidence that, at the very least, Toyota was slow to respond to the problem. At worst, the automaker could face charges that it actively tried to cover up the problem by blaming it on easily fixed mechanical parts rather than its expensive and complicated computerized accelerator system. You may remember the movie Fight Club, in which a major automaker decided whether to recall products based on whether it would cost more to fix the problem or settle lawsuits from families of people who died. This was based on a real memo put out by Ford in 1968. If we find that Toyota used similar math to calculate the value of human lives, it could take such a beating in court that it may never recover financially.

Continue reading "Toyota Faces First Lawsuits Connected to Unintended Acceleration Recall" »

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

Posted In: Auto Accidents , Product Liability

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