Missouri Injury Lawyer Blog

A recent article in the Kansas City Star caught my eye because it raises important issues for Missouri car accident attorneys like me. According to the article, a youth minister, Damion Fassnacht, 25, was charged with involuntary manslaughter for an October 11, 2009, car crash that killed a 16-year-old girl and hurt four other people. My sympathy goes out to the victims of this accident. As an attorney, I am interested in the important issues the crash might raise concerning employer liability for the actions of employees like Fassnacht.

Fassnacht was allegedly driving more than 80 mph in a 45 mph zone while driving youth group members to church. As he drove down Northwest 68th Street, he struck a vehicle at North Ames Avenue in Kansas City, North. The driver of the other vehicle was hurt. One of Fassnacht's passengers, Kelsey Morris, 16, of Platte City, died, and three of his other passengers were hurt. While Fassnacht faces criminal charges for the accident, he and the church that employed him could also face a civil lawsuit brought by the victims who were hurt, and by the family of Kelsey Morris. Under a legal doctrine called respondeat superior ("Let the superior answer," in Latin), employers are generally held legally responsible for what their employees do while carrying out their work duties. If the employee was not acting on behalf of the employer, then the employee would be held personally responsible, and the employer would not be liable.

Driving kids to church is arguably within the scope of a youth minister's job. However, driving 80 mph with a car full of teenagers would have been risky on an interstate highway, given the possibility of distraction by lively conversation and music playing on the car stereo. Driving that fast within a city with that many young people in the car could easily be seen as reckless and negligent. If the victims of this crash chose to sue, they could name both the youth minister and the church as responsible parties in their lawsuit. As long as they could demonstrate that Fassnacht was acting within the scope of his employment, the victims would not have to show that the church should have known that the minister could cause harm, or that the church itself did anything wrong.

As a St. Louis car crash lawyer, I also want to address a potential misconception about churches in cases like this. Some people may have heard that churches cannot be sued like other employers. Churches do enjoy some protection in discrimination in hiring decisions and in some sexual abuse cases. But in a case like this one, the church would face the same legal circumstances that any other employer would face with an employee who acted negligently in the course of employment.

Continue reading "Youth Minister Charged in 80-mph Car Crash That Killed Teenage Congregant" »

A recent news story from Kansas City about a frightening accident at an elementary school caught my attention s a Missouri personal injury lawyer. A six-year-old boy was nearly smothered in an inflatable obstacle course at a school carnival. The Kansas City Star reports that he remained hospitalized the day after the incident occurred. This story is important because it incident reminds us that young children need careful supervision at all times: unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death among all children over age one in the United States. I hope that this child will recover quickly and fully, and that the school and the company that provided the inflatable play area think carefully about making sure children stay safe while they're at a school event.

Fun Services of Kansas City provided an inflatable obstacle course and other play equipment for the school carnival at Lakewood Elementary School on May 13. Police learned that two children approached a Fun Services employee around 8:30 p.m. to inform him that the boy was stuck between two parts of the obstacle course. Meanwhile, the mother of the boy had approached a Fun Services employee to say that two older children were playing inappropriately on the obstacle course, and that she had disciplined them herself. It was then that the employee told her that a child was not breathing, and she found out that it was her own son. A Fun Services employee pulled the boy out and Clay County sheriff's officials who were at the carnival performed CPR. The boy did begin to breathe on his own, but on the ambulance ride to Children's Mercy Hospital, his condition grew worse and he had to be ventilated when he arrived at the hospital. A letter sent to parents the next day from school principal Suzanne Baker said that his condition had improved, but he remained hospitalized.

This situation would be frightening for any parent, but other details described in the news report give me pause too, as a St. Louis personal injury attorney. I'm wondering whether anyone was specifically asked to supervise the children in the inflatable play areas. School carnivals can be very chaotic and noisy, making it all the more important that responsible adults plan out in advance who will make certain that the children stay safe. The district undoubtedly had its own safety policies before this incident, and now, it has instituted a new policy requiring that this type of play equipment be inspected and pre-approved by the central office. Fun Services said that their employees always followed safety regulations and maintained their equipment so that it was in safe condition. But the fact that it was up to the two children to report that the boy was stuck in the inflatable obstacle course raises questions about whether the employees and the school district really did follow all safety procedures that they reasonably should have.

Continue reading "Six-Year-Old Boy Nearly Smothers in Inflatable Play Area at School Carnival" »

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the sad story of two teenage sisters killed in a car crash caused by an Illinois State Trooper who was driving at 126 mph in response to an emergency call. Since then, the family of the sisters, Jessica and Kelli Uhl, ages 18 and 13 respectively when they died, has asked for $46 million in a civil lawsuit against the state of Illinois. The Uhl family expressed frustration at the state trooper's insistence that he was not responsible for the girls' deaths, even though he pled guilty to reckless homicide charges and received a relatively light sentence of probation. As a southern Illinois car wreck attorney, I wish the Uhl family well in making the state take responsibility for its employee's behavior.

According to the Bellville News-Democrat, the state of Illinois has not accepted liability for the accident that led to the Uhl sisters' deaths. However, the state has admitted that State Trooper Matt Mitchell was acting in his role as a state employee at the time of the crash, rendering the state liable for damages in the event of a judgment for the Uhl family. The state's lawyers argue that even though evidence shows that Mitchell was driving 126 mph, and was distracted moments before the crash by his patrol car's dashboard computer and a cell phone call to his girlfriend, the accident was actually caused by a white car that pulled out in front of Mitchell. That, the state's lawyers said, is why Mitchell's car went off the highway, crossed the median, and slammed into the Uhl sisters' Mazda.

As a St. Louis car crash lawyer, it's obvious to me that this argument is trying to sidestep an important point. By driving at 126 mph and not devoting full attention to the road at that excessive speed, Mitchell was already driving negligently. At that speed and with those distractions, it’s very likely that he would have been unable to respond to obstacles or sudden changes in conditions on the road. If there was a white car that moved into Mitchell's lane, that driver should have stayed out of the way of a police car responding to an emergency. But state troopers also have a responsibility to drive safely and be prepared for unexpected conditions, including members of the public who may get in their way. The driver of the white car is not responsible for Mitchell's bad choice to drive distractedly at an excessive speed.

There are other factors suggesting that the state should be held liable here as well. One is that other emergency personnel had already arrived at the scene of the call to which Mitchell was responding, making his rate of speed even more unnecessary and dangerous. Another is that according to a University of Utah study, using a cell phone slows a driver's response time as much as being legally drunk (with a blood-alcohol count of 0.08%) does. As a Missouri car accident attorney, I have a hard time imagining anyone making the case that a drunk driver going 126 mph wouldn't be responsible for injuries he or she caused, even if another car unexpectedly moved in front of him or her.

Continue reading "Family of Girls Killed in Car Crash With Illinois State Trooper Seeks $46 Million" »

As a Missouri car accident attorney, I was sorry to read about a serious drunk driving accident that took place in central Missouri. According to the Waynesville Daily Guide, two people from Dixon, Mo. were injured seriously enough to require an airlift to University Medical Center in Columbia after a drunk driver crashed into their car. The drunk driver himself sustained minor injuries and refused medical attention. None of the people involved was wearing a seat belt.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol report about the accident says that Alan L. Threet, 58, of Dixon, was drunk when he attempted to turn his 1995 Ford Ranger left across the path of a 1997 Ford Escort belonging to David Finnigan, 71, and Nicole Finnigan, 72. Threet was apparently trying to make a left turn from a highway onto State Route D. Threet suffered only minor injuries and declined treatment, but his truck was extensively damaged. The Finnigans did not escape so easily. David Finnigan was moderately hurt and Nicole Finnigan was seriously hurt, and both of them were airlifted to a hospital. Their car was totaled. Threet was charged with felony driving while intoxicated, felony vehicular assault, and careless and imprudent driving, and held at the Pulaski County Jail for 24 hours. His blood-alcohol content or other evidence of intoxication was not reported.

The criminal charges Threet faces are not the only potential outcome of this accident. As a St. Louis car crash lawyer, I hardly need to point out that drunk driving is not just illegal; it's reckless and it puts people's lives at risk. When someone gets behind the wheel of a car, they have a responsibility to drive safely. If a driver violates the law and common sense and then injures or kills someone, the law allows victims and their families to sue that driver. The law recognizes that the victim was not at fault for the injuries and should not have to bear the costs of the accident as well as the physical injuries it caused. Instead, victims have the right to sue, compelling the at-fault driver to pay for the harm that he or she caused. The news report does not give enough detail to verify this, but if Threet was drunk as a result of being served alcohol past the point when he was visibly intoxicated, the person, bar or restaurant that served him could also be held responsible, which happened in a recent case I wrote about here.

Continue reading "Two Senior Citizens Airlifted to Hospital After Drunk Driver Totals Their Car" »