Missouri Injury Lawyer Blog

As a Missouri car crash attorney, I have been carefully following the news about Toyota and other carmakers that have recalled their vehicles for serious safety defects. Given the lawsuits mounting against Toyota, I was dismayed to see recent articles reporting that rental car companies are not required to fix recalled safety defects in their cars before renting them out. Despite being ordered to pay $15 million in a recent lawsuit involving two deaths, Enterprise Rent-A-Car has said that it may not immediately fix cars whose recalls it does not regard as pressing.

This isn't the first time Enterprise has been in the news for cutting corners on customer safety. Last year, Enterprise was discovered to have ordered about 66,000 Chevy Impalas without their standard side airbags in order to save money. Then the company advertised the cars for sale as if they did have the airbags, misleading customers who expected that the cars had all their standard safety features. The more recent defective rental car issue gained attention from a tragic case involving the deaths of two sisters. Jacqueline Houck, 20, and her sister, Raechel, 24, rented a Chrysler PT Cruiser from a California Enterprise Rent-A-Car in 2004 so that they could visit family near Los Angeles. The PT Cruiser had been recalled a month before the crash because of a broken power steering hose that posed a fire hazard. While the Houck sisters were driving, a fire broke out under the hood. They lost control of the car, hit a semi-trailer and died.

Consumer advocates including the Houck sisters' mother, Carol Houck, have petitioned the Federal Trade Commission to forbid rental car companies from continuing to rent out defective cars. They have said it's deceptive to rent out a car that customers should be able to assume is safe, when the company knows that there are recalls associated with the car. If someone chooses not to take their personal car in to have a recalled defect repaired right away, they are aware of the car's defect and have chosen to drive it anyway. But a defective rental car is a different situation. The customer rents a car expecting that they're paying for the use of a safe, functional vehicle, but only the rental car company knows whether this is really true.

In my view as a St. Louis auto accident attorney, it is disturbing that Enterprise does not see every safety recall as “pressing.” If the defect was serious enough to merit a recall, it should be serious enough to fix before renting the car to a customer who has no reason to think there is anything wrong with it. It's easy to see why rental car companies don't want to immediately fix cars when they learn about recalls: money. If they have to pull some of their cars out of circulation when a recall is announced, those cars will not be bringing in rental fees while they're in the shop. From the company's perspective, it's easier and cheaper to pull the cars out of circulation when it's convenient for the company. But this way of looking at it puts consumer and driver safety at the bottom of the list, which is the opposite of where it belongs. It shouldn't be up to victims and their families alone to deal with the financial and health consequences of accidents that negligent car rental companies failed to prevent.

Continue reading "Rental Car Companies Put Unwitting Customers’ Lives at Risk With Defective Cars" »

In a previous blog, we discussed the dangers of children using all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) or off-road vehicles (ORVs). The statistics for emergency room visits, deaths and health care-related costs in the billions of dollars each year for such ATV-related accidents are staggering. One study showed a huge increase in spinal injuries in children as a result of increased ATV use. The study also showed that the average age of riders injured on ATVs was 13 years old.

In an effort to counter those alarming numbers, Massachusetts enacted a law Aug. 1 that limits children’s abilities to ride ATVs. Before this month, 12-year-olds could use an ATV if supervised by an adult, and 10-year-olds could ride if they were on the private property of the adult who was supervising them. Now, no child younger than 14 is permitted to ride an ATV in most circumstances. (The age rules don't apply to kids as young as 10 riding dirt bikes or snowmobiles on their parent's property. There are also exceptions allowing kids aged 10 to 13 to ride in races or instructional events that have town permits issued to a supervising riding group for a staged event.) Additionally, riders from the age of 14 to 16 now have to be supervised directly by an adult over the age of 18.

The new regulations' supporters believe the law will cut down on the number of children's injuries and deaths that have resulted from these powerful machines.

However, there are a number of vocal opponents to the regulations that feel they go much too far. They wonder if horseback riding or football will be the next things to be regulated to protect children. Many feel that a responsible parent should be able to decide what activities their children should be allowed to participate in, and when. They acknowledge that some provisions of the rules — such as increased fines for driving an ATV while intoxicated — help make it a safer experience for everyone. But they feel they should have the right to teach their own children to use ATVs responsibly, and that these new rules take away their right to do so.

It's every parent's nightmare: sending your children off with their friends on a school-related trip, only to hear later that the school buses have crashed. As a St. Louis bus accident attorney, I was disturbed to learn of a horrible accident like this right here in Missouri, in which a student was killed and several others suffered serious injuries in a crash with a large truck and a pickup. Also killed was the 19-year-old driver of the pickup. Initial reports put at least some blame on the bus drivers. My sympathies go to the families of those killed, and I wish those who were injured a speedy recovery.

Band members from John F. Hodge High School in St. James, Mo., were on two school buses making their way to Six Flags St. Louis when the buses crashed into slowed traffic and each other. Danie Klein, 14, was sitting at the back of the first bus. She suffered two broken vertebrae and a fractured skull. Luckily, her doctors say she escaped neurological or brain damage. Her best friend, Jessica Brinker, 15, was sitting next to her, and tragically, Jessica was killed. Emily Perona, 16, sat in the second-to-last row of the bus, right in front of Danie and Jessica. When the second school bus smashed into the one she was riding, Emily was thrown into the air and pinned against the seat in front of her, breaking her pelvis, cutting her skin, and possibly injuring her neck. Another 54 students were treated for minor injuries. Daniel Schatz, 19, of Sullivan, was driving another vehicle involved in the crash, and sadly, he was killed as well.

The accident occurred as traffic slowed for a work zone on Interstate 44 in Gray Summit, Mo., about 40 miles from St. Louis. Michael D. Crabtree, of Kearneysville, W.Va., was driving a semi cab without a trailer. Crabtree slowed for the road construction and was rear-ended by a pickup truck driven by Schatz. Then Schatz's truck was rear-ended by a school bus driven by 75-year-old Katherine P. Shackelford, of St. James. A second school bus driven by Kelly M. McEnnis-Mullenix, 38, hit the first one. Schatz's truck was pushed on top of Crabtree's cab, and Shackelford's bus was pushed on top of both of those vehicles. The Missouri Highway Patrol told the newspaper that nothing was off the table this soon after the crash, but an initial report did not blame the truck driver, Crabtree. Rather, it said bus driver Shackelford was "inattentive" and her colleague, McEnnis-Mullenix, was following too closely.

We'd all like to think that those who drive our children will use particular caution, so it's particularly disturbing to read that the drivers of the school buses were allegedly failing to exercise the most basic level of care that we expect of all drivers. Large vehicles like school buses are heavy and require plenty of stopping distance. Failing to pay sufficient attention to traffic conditions and following too closely can and does cause serious, but completely preventable, accidents. Drivers of school buses should be especially careful about maintaining enough stopping distance between their vehicle and the ones in front of them because many school buses do not have seat belts. Stopping suddenly, or crashing, can be especially dangerous when young passengers do not have safety belts to help protect them.

In my experience as a Missouri bus crash lawyer, accidents like this can impose high financial and emotional costs on victims and their families. Treatment for the children who were injured will be lengthy and very expensive. Victims may need special tutoring to help them keep up with schoolwork during recovery, and they will lose out on participating in sports and other activities that they had looked forward to as the school year's start approaches. Their parents may lose income while making sure they get the medical treatment they need. The families who lost loved ones will have to deal with funeral expenses and emotional devastation. The law recognizes that victims should not have to pay for all these costs themselves if they were not at fault for their injuries.

In cases where government entities like school districts may be at fault, a lawsuit to recover compensation can be complicated. Government entities have "sovereign immunity," meaning that they are exempt from lawsuits. In Missouri, sovereign immunity does not extend to government employees' negligence in operating motor vehicles, but there are caps and restrictions on the amount and kind of compensation victims can receive from public entities. This is why victims of crashes like this one need an experienced southern Illinois bus wreck attorney who knows how to handle these complex areas of law.

Continue reading "School Bus Crash With Semi Truck Blamed on Negligence of Several Drivers" »

When a patient is in a coma, there is no proven treatment to help him regain consciousness. That is why doctors have considered these patients such a daunting medical challenge. And a recent study that shows brain activity in many such patients makes it all the more frustrating. But the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan may be offering some answers.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has four special “emerging consciousness” programs across the country. In them, comatose or vegetative patients with brain damage caused by accidents, wounds or illness are returning to consciousness in much higher numbers than anywhere else. Their successes have offered hope in a field that has offered very little up until now.

Thanks to increased funding because of the high numbers of soldiers suffering from traumatic brain injuries in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the VA has been able to hire more medical personnel to focus on the problem. The increased funding also allows patients a longer time to emerge from a coma — up to 90 days in the VA, as opposed to no more than 30 days outside.

Therapies include all kinds of stimulation for the patient: friends and family help exercise the patient's muscles, massaging their joints and stretching their limbs. Doctors use drugs, TV shows and different aromas. They strap the patient in a wheelchair and take him out in the sun, or put him on an upright tilt table so that he is in a standing position. They order, question and coax the patient — anything to try and get his brain functioning again.

While it is still unclear what specifically is helping to bring these patients back to consciousness, the numbers are impressive. The VA's success rate is almost 70 percent. In 11 studies in private hospitals, the best recovery rate for patients who are comatose was 54 percent. And in five of the 11 studies, the rate was less than 10 percent.

Time is needed to understand this success, but the VA's efforts are offering a ray of hope in this very dark area of the study of the brain.

As a St. Louis auto accident attorney, I am very concerned about design flaws that make automobiles more susceptible to crashing. That's why a recent story in the New York Times about a Japanese inventor who argues that having separate gas and brake pedals right next to each other in cars is simply dangerous got my attention. The inventor has come up with a new design that combines both pedals into one, preventing crashes caused by "pedal confusion," when a driver mistakenly hits the accelerator instead of the brake.

Toyota and other car makers that have been faced with lawsuits for “sticky” gas pedals have blamed driver error for the unintended acceleration. Masuyuki Naruse, 74, an inventor who owns a small factory in southwest Japan, has designed a new pedal to prevent this problem. Drivers would press one part of the pedal with a sideways motion to accelerate, and press down like on a traditional brake pedal to stop. Pushing down on the brake automatically releases the accelerator. “We have a natural tendency to stomp down when we panic," said Naruse. "The automakers call it driver error. But what if their design’s all wrong?” Another inventor, Sven Gustafsson, came up with a similar idea, and a prototype of his pedal is being tested by regulators in Sweden. Naruse's design is being used in about 130 cars in Japan.

(Image from the New York Times)

The single-pedal design offers an important opportunity for automakers to invest in a new safety technology. Yet, even though it has been around for two decades and clearly offers an improvement for public safety, automakers have not adopted it. Naruse said that Toyota engineers tested a prototype of his pedal in 2000, but they didn't like the design. In 2009 alone, 37 deaths and 9500 injuries were attributed to accidents caused by pedal confusion in Japan, according to the Tokyo-based Institute for Traffic Accident Research and Data Analysis. In the United States, auto safety experts say there have probably been tens of thousands of crashes because of pedal confusion, most notably a 2003 accident in Santa Monica, Calif., that killed 10 people when a driver accelerated into an outdoor market.

Even though drivers would have to learn how to drive smoothly with the new pedal, in my view as a Missouri car crash attorney, the prospect of preventing accidents by changing the car's design seems worth the investment. Retrofitting cars with the pedal is not prohibitively expensive. Naruse said it costs about 100,000 yen, or $1,156, and it does not require major changes to the car's existing braking or acceleration systems.

Continue reading "Inventors Design New Gas and Brake Pedal to Avoid ‘Pedal Confusion’ Crashes" »

Back in the 1940s, an epidemic of young boys' burns was acknowledged as a result of Gene Autry cowboy suits igniting because they were highly flammable. Soon after, an epidemic of girls' burns was recognized as being caused by flammable cotton sweaters. The sweaters even came to be called “torch sweaters.”

In 1953, the Flammable Fabrics Act was passed to ensure a measure of safety for consumers with regard to fabric fires. But this law and its standards don't mean that clothing won't burn. However, it will not ignite as easily and it will burn slower.

Different materials have different burning characteristics. For instance: wool is difficult to ignite and burns very slowly; cotton burns “like a torch;” rayon burns more slowly than cotton, but ignites easily; nylon is less flammable, but melts and will cling to the skin; whereas silk is much less flammable.

Loose-fitting clothes are much more likely to catch fire than close-fitting ones. Close-fitting clothes are less likely to accidentally come into contact with a flame. Loose, baggy clothes, long-sleeved shirts, or clothes designed with fringe, ruffles or frills are much more likely to catch fire than clothes without these loose features.

Rules were adopted in the 1970s which required that mattresses, rugs and carpets also pass flammability tests in order to reduce burn injuries, death and destruction in house fires.

If your clothes catch fire, what you do in the first few seconds will make a big difference in the extent of your possible injuries. If your clothes can be removed very quickly, get them off. If not, STOP, DROP and ROLL to smother the fire. Running may fan the flames and make things worse. If someone with you has his or her clothes on fire, throw a blanket or coat over the fire to smother it. In any event, act quickly. Any inaction gives the fire a chance to cause more severe pain and injury.

As a St. Louis personal injury lawyer, I noted a recent news report that a 16-year-old girl's death in the adolescent psychiatric ward of SSM DePaul Health Center in Bridgeton was ruled a homicide. State and federal regulators had already warned the hospital to correct its alarming series of lapses in patient safety. The hospital apparently failed to live up to its moral and legal obligations to provide enough well-trained staff to care for all of its patients. The tragic result may have been the death of Alexis Evette Richie, who had reportedly been verbally and physically abused by staff members.

Alexis had been in foster care for nine years and was often in emotional turmoil that led to acting out. She was admitted to DePaul after stabbing a teacher at Evangelical Children's Home with a pencil on October 16, 2009. She died in the hospital ten days later. The day of her death, she reportedly verbally abused and physically attacked DePaul staff members after she was told that it was time to go to bed, and was threatened with a tranquilizer when she did not comply. To restrain her, staff members held her facedown in a beanbag chair while a nurse administered shots of Geodon (ziprasidone), an antipsychotic, and Ativan (lorazepam), an anti-anxiety drug. Then the nurse left. Alexis reportedly went limp, so the aides left her facedown in the beanbag chair. Finally, the charge nurse checked on Alexis and found her unresponsive and soaked in her own urine, with a weak pulse, no reflexes and fixed pupils.

The charge nurse did not begin CPR, and nurses even told an aide not to begin CPR because there was no breathing mask. The aide started CPR anyway, 12 minutes after the charge nurse discovered Alexis's condition. Nine minutes later, a doctor put a breathing tube down Alexis's throat, and an emergency team tried to restart her heart, but soon after, she was pronounced dead. An autopsy showed that she died from being sedated and suffocated by the beanbag chair. Leaving Alexis for 12 minutes after she stopped moving was cited as a serious problem in investigations by both the state health inspector and the Children's Division of the Missouri Department of Social Services. The Children's Division also charged the aides and the nurse who administered the shots with child neglect, since Alexis had been a ward of the state. Alexis's biological parents have hired an attorney to investigate the case as well.

In my view as a Missouri wrongful death attorney, cases like Alexis's demonstrate what can go wrong when hospital staff are poorly trained, ill-supervised, and spread too thin. State and federal regulators had warned DePaul two years earlier to pay more attention to patient safety after learning about other patients' deaths after being restrained and secluded -- deaths that DePaul failed to report to the authorities, as is legally required. A nurse said that the hospital was short-staffed because of budget cuts, so patients in seclusion and restraint weren't being monitored constantly, also as legally required. And in Alexis's case, nurses told police that they didn't even know why they didn't start CPR on Alexis as soon as they discovered her condition.

Patients who enter a hospital do so expecting to get better, not to be neglected and abused. All patients, including foster children with no one to stand up for them, should be able to expect that hospitals will adhere to basic standards of care. Federal and state regulators do their best to ensure that hospitals meet their responsibilities, but as DePaul's case demonstrates, when hospitals keep regulators in the dark about their problems, regulators can't always address the problems. Unfortunately, patients and their families are the ones who experience the consequences of these failings. A southern Illinois personal injury attorney can help these victims fight back, holding negligent hospitals responsible for their careless conduct. It's important for families of victims killed by a hospital staff's carelessness to contact a lawyer immediately, since wrongful death lawsuits must be filed within as little as 30 days after families learn about the incident.

Continue reading "St. Louis-Area Hospital Allegedly Negligent in 16-Year-Old Girl's Suffocation Death" »

When actress Natasha Richardson died of a head injury related to a skiing accident last year, she initially thought she was okay. The problem with brain injuries is that they're not always immediately noticeable. While a head injury usually results in a headache immediately thereafter, and then might include some discomfort for a while, it might also have very serious consequences. Because of this, research is being done on helmets that could immediately inform someone as to the possible severity of a brain injury.

Sporting goods manufacturer Riddell already has a football helmet on the market that measures impact data. The helmet sends this information wirelessly to medical staff computers on the sidelines. These helmets sell for more than a thousand dollars each — not exactly practical for most of us.?However, researchers at Northeastern University are working on a helmet that they think even high school football teams could afford. Their helmet contains seven accelerometers — sensors that measure changes in velocity — that monitor the forces acting on the head of the wearer. For example, if a snow skier took a tumble, the helmet sensors would keep a record of the forces exerted on the head as a result of the body's acceleration during the fall.

Additionally, this helmet could alert the wearer or medical personnel on the scene if the level of acceleration goes above a certain range by flashing an LED light or setting off some kind of alerting sound. If successfully developed, such an affordable helmet with these capabilities could mean that many serious brain injuries which might otherwise go initially unnoticed would now get treated.?In Natasha Richardson's case, a regular helmet would probably have prevented the injury, but if it didn’t, a ski helmet designed by Northeastern University researchers would have alerted someone to the severity of her injuries.