Missouri Injury Lawyer Blog

As a Missouri defective automobile attorney, I was pleased to see reports that the federal Department of Transportation is looking into allegations about unsafe rental cars. As the Detroit News reported Nov. 23, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating how quickly car rental companies make repairs to vehicles in their fleets that are subject to recalls. The agency said it was acting in response to allegations that people have suffered injuries or deaths because rental car companies failed to pull recalled vehicles off the road. There has already been one high-profile case fitting that description, in which two young women died after their vehicle caught fire on a California highway. Their mother co-founded an auto safety group that has asked the FTC to require repairs before rental cars go back on the road.

The California case involved sisters Jacqueline and Raechel Houck, ages 20 and 24. They died in 2004 after the Chrysler PT Cruiser they had rented caught fire on the road, causing them to hit a tractor-trailer. Later, it was discovered that the PT Cruiser had been recalled for exactly this problem -- a risk of catching fire under the hood. Their parents sued Enterprise Rent-A-Car for renting the young women a car that was recalled because of the possibility of catching fire while in use. In fact, the family claims Enterprise rented the car at least four times after receiving the recall notice. After fighting the lawsuit for five years, Enterprise settled this summer for $15 million. A spokesperson for the car rental industry said no law requires companies to repair recalled vehicles before they go back on the road, but that most companies pull recalled cars from their fleets.

I hope the NHTSA investigation confirms that statement. But as a St. Louis auto defect lawyer, I believe the financial incentives at play here work against safety, not for it. Car rental companies only have so many vehicles, and when they place vehicles out of service, they can serve fewer customers. That leads to less money, of course. As a result, the companies have an incentive to keep as many cars on the road as possible. Even when the risk of a lawsuit is taken into account, some managers may judge that the risk of an accident is less desirable than the near-certainty of not making money while the vehicle is grounded. This policy makes sense if your only goal is to make money -- but it’s an unacceptable safety risk for rental car customers and the people they happen to pass on the road.

Continue reading "Federal Government Launches Investigation Into Safety Recall Repairs on Rental Cars " »

The Missouri state Supreme Court hears hundreds of cases a year. Often it is the final stop in major legal actions, since cases appealed beyond the state high court level aren't as likely to be heard. This year in particular, the court handed down a number of decisions, some of which may have important legal ramifications for victims' rights in a number of case types.

The first interesting case is the case of State of Missouri, et al. v. Stephanie Spilton, LCSW. Spilton was a social worker in the state of Missouri, who was accused of a number of cases of medicare fraud. A lower level court that heard the proceedings awarded a summary judgment against her to the value of nearly two million dollars. Spilton had appealed, but the Supreme Court upheld the verdict. This sends a clear message that fraud is not to be tolerated, and further might allow for other legal action to be brought against her.

Another case decided was Ann Spradling, et al. v. SSM Health Care St. Louis, et al. This case is a very important one for victims of medical malpractice, because it dealt with a certain technicality ruling at a lower level. Spralding and her husband had sued a neurosurgeon for a procedure that left her paralyzed. However, the lower courts threw out the case because the doctor that had seen her was not certified as a neurosurgeon himself. The Supreme Court ruling reversed this, ruling that doctors don't need the same board-certification as the defendant in order to make a case for neglect or malpractice.

There were other cases handled as well, but these two in particular seem to levy the strongest message. The first warns strongly against the abuse of state authority, which is of particular concern in recent days, and the second encourages people that they can make their case and can't have it dismissed merely on the defendant's reputation.

As a St. Louis motor vehicle accident attorney, I was sorry to read that a motorcyclist in southern Illinois lost his life to a crash. The Alton Telegraph reported Nov. 16 that James T. Selby of Alton, Ill. died in emergency surgery after sustaining serious injuries just hours before. Selby was riding on Milton Road when a driver, 19-year-old Christopher Dickerson, reportedly pulled out in front of him. The ensuing crash left Selby with serious injuries to his chest. No injuries to Dickerson were reported. A spokesperson for the Alton Police Department said Dickerson might be cited for failure to yield, pending the results of the investigation. Blood-alcohol tests are also pending, but police believe neither of the motorists was intoxicated.

The accident occurred at about 1:15 p.m. Monday, according to the Telegraph. Selby was riding south on Milton Road when Dickerson, driving a sedan, tried to turn left from Milton Drive, directly into Selby’s path. In the ensuing crash, Selby was seriously injured when his chest hit the left front fender of the car. No part of the car ran him over, however. The motorcycle slid several feet away from the site of the crash. Selby was airlifted to Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis for emergency surgery, but died in surgery about three and a half hours after the crash. A police spokesperson in Alton said Dickerson did not appear to be guilty of anything other than failure to yield at a stop sign, but that the department was waiting for the results of an investigation before charging anyone with a crime.

I am not a traffic officer or a detective; I am a southern Illinois auto accident lawyer. But I am surprised that the Alton police are willing to tell the media that Dickerson failed to yield, yet not willing to actually issue the citation. If he truly did fail to check for oncoming traffic, and as a result pulled into the path of an oncoming vehicle, Dickerson would almost certainly be cited for that failure, and could also be held responsible for the death under some circumstances. Regardless of whether he faces criminal charges, Dickerson would also be legally liable in any motorcycle crash lawsuit filed by Selby’s family. In fact, families who have lost a loved one or suffered a serious injury don’t have to rely on the criminal justice system to seek justice. Instead, families may sue a negligent driver in civil court, allowing them to recover financial compensation for their hospital bills and other costs while holding wrongdoers legally responsible for their actions.

Continue reading "Southern Illinois Motorcyclist Dies After Crash With Car Driver Making Left Turn" »

The mother of a man who died while being booked into jail last November has filed a lawful death lawsuit against Tennessee's Cheatham County. The suit claims that on November 10, 2009, Chizum Whaley voluntarily went to the Cheatham County jail to turn himself in as he had several outstanding warrants for his arrest. The warrants pertained to a theft of property case and a related failure to appear, according to records. According to the lawsuit, Whaley immediately advised officers that he had taken a number of pills before coming to the jail. These pills included Xanax, methadone and oxycontin.

The suit further states that officials assured Whaley's mother that he would be fine because there was a nurse on duty; however no nurse is recorded as having participated in the booking process or indeed having seen Whaley at all. No attempt was made to address the testified medical needs that Whaley brought up when being booked, according to Paula Whaley.

The suit is quite extensive in its reach. Whaley's mother has named the county, numerous county employees, Ashland City and one Ashland City officer, the nurse on duty at the station that evening, a health partners group and others still. Whaley says she is seeking a total of $1.5 million dollars in compensatory damages for her son's wrongful death.

This case raises a lot of disturbing questions. Why was a nurse promised, but no record shows one having acted? Why was medical attention not sought for a prisoner who openly admitted to taking a great deal of medicine? Surely this would have been a suicide warning red flag to someone. Perhaps most of all, it shows how slow the process of seeking justice can be. A year is a long time to agonize through the details, and yet it is not unusual for cases such as these.

As a southern Illinois car accident attorney, I frequently work with families of people who were killed or badly injured by drunk drivers. That’s why I was disappointed to read in the Bellville News-Democrat about a 33-year-old Greenville man killed in a head-on collision with an allegedly drunk driver. Robert Reavis, 23, is accused of driving drunk on the night of Nov. 7, when he swerved across Illinois 140 and hit a car head-on. The collision killed Brock W. Adcock, 33. Chemical test results are pending, but Reavis is already charged with aggravated DUI resulting in death.

The accident took place around 2 a.m. on the morning of Nov. 7, a Sunday. Adcock was driving his Dodge Stratus east on Illinois 140, a two-lane road, in Bond County. According to Illinois State Police, Reavis, of Smithboro, was traveling west on the same road in a Chevy Silverado pickup truck. Allegedly under the influence, he veered off the right side of the road into a cornfield, and then back across the westbound lane, crossing into the eastbound lane about 50 feet east of Linder Boulevard, near Greenville. There, he smashed head-on into Adcock's car. Reavis suffered minor injuries, but when police arrived at the scene only a short time after the accident, Adcock was already dead. As of Sunday evening, Reavis was being held at the Bond County Jail, and bail had not yet been set.

It’s almost too obvious to repeat that drunk driving is illegal and unsafe. Nonetheless, I see the sad results all the time in my work as a Missouri car accident attorney. In many of my cases, prosecutors have already filed criminal charges against the driver, although that’s not always the case -- especially in Missouri, which media reports have shown has a patchy and ineffective license suspension system. However, regardless of whether there’s a criminal case, victims have a legal right to hold the drunk driver responsible in civil court as well. When a driver ignores the law and common sense and then injures or kills someone, that’s a form of negligence. The law recognizes that victims should not have to bear the costs of accidents caused by someone else’s negligence, which is why victims may sue the perpetrator for all of their financial and personal losses.

Continue reading "Fatal Head-On Collision in Greenville Attributed to Allegedly Drunk Driver " »

A judge has ruled that a civil wrongful death case against a major polo mogul can proceed even while the DUI manslaughter case against the defendant remains ongoing. Judge Glenn Kelly denied a motion by club owner John Goodman to put the wrongful death case on hold while the criminal case regarding the crash that killed 23-year-old engineer Scott Wilson was resolved.

Palm Beach County sheriff's reports state that around 1 a.m. on Feb. 12, Goodman was traveling south on 120th avenue and ran a stop sign. He hit Scott Wilson as he ran the sign, which threw Wilson into a nearby canal, and the young man sadly drowned. Goodman was tested three hours after the collision, and his blood alcohol content registered at .177 percent. This is far more than twice the legal limit for intoxication while driving in Florida, which turned the case immediately into a DUI manslaughter investigation. Goodman also has been charged with vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of a crime.

The motion to postpone the wrongful death case was based on Goodman's Fifth Amendment rights. His attorney argued that if the civil case proceeded first, Goodman would have to choose between testifying and possibly incriminating himself with statements that could be used in the criminal case, or staying quiet and possibly compromising his civil case standing. The judge rejected this argument for the time being, given that the Wilsons' attorney cited several cases in which the civil trial had taken place before a criminal one. The judge did rule that attorneys could argue again for the case in January at the criminal proceeding's next hearing.

Goodman faces up to 30 years in prison on the criminal charges filed against him, and the civil case is estimated to involve approximately $100 million. The civil case is scheduled to begin in May, pending any additional review at the January hearing.

The family of an 11-year-old girl who died of an asthma attack has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the NYPD following an officer's refusal to help the child during the incident. Briana Ojeda's mother saw her daughter was having an attack and drove her to the hospital to get help. On the way, she drove the wrong way down a one-way street, and was pulled over by officer Alfonso Mendez. When Briana's mother explained the situation, she says the officer “smirked” and commented that he didn't know CPR. Briana died later that day, and her mother contends that the delay and the officer's refusal to help caused her daughter's death.

The case touches on a number of issues that have come up in recent months. For example, the Supreme Court consistently has ruled that emergency services personnel are under no legal obligation to provide aid. They may act entirely on their own discretion, and have no burden to act if they elect not to. On the other hand, Ojeda's case has raised awareness that while the NYPD requires its officers to test and train on firearms several times throughout the year, there is no requirement that they be certified in CPR.

The Ojedas and Assemblyman Felix Ortiz have proposed a draft of legislation that would change this state of affairs significantly. In short, “Briana's Law” would require police officers to certify in lifesaving techniques as often as they train in firearms proficiency. In addition, the law would make it a criminal offense for officers to fail to render aid in a lifesaving situation. This could have more implications than merely requiring officers to render CPR during an asthma attack — it directly challenges previous rulings that officers have no burden to act, and could lead to measurable reform of the current system.