Missouri Injury Lawyer Blog

The family of Centralia, Missouri, resident Michael Heaston has filed a wrongful death suit against both the City of Colombia and bus driver Archie Smith Jr. Heaston was killed this summer when he struck the bus Smith was driving while riding his motorcycle.

On July 12, Smith was driving his bus southbound and attempted to turn onto the eastbound lanes. He states that he had stopped at the stop sign, but did not see Heaston approaching. He was unaware of the motorcycle until he heard the brakes screech, and then a bang hitting the side of his vehicle. The investigation determined that Heaston had attempted to turn and avoid the impact, but hit the side of the bus anyway. He was pinned underneath the vehicle for several minutes before getting help, and died the next day despite receiving treatment.

The investigation further concluded that Smith had not yielded properly. Based on this and the events of the accident, Heaston's family filed the wrongful death suit in late November. The suit charges that in addition to failing to yield, that Smith made no effort to avoid the accident, as well as that he failed to maintain proper attention to the road.

However, video evidence and speed analysis have suggested that Heaston was driving too fast in the 35 mph lane he was traveling in, as well as suggesting he wore an improper helmet. Both the City of Colombia and Smith deny any wrongdoing, and insist that because Heaston was speeding and because he was wearing a half-sized helmet that did not meet minimum road safety standards, they were not at fault in Heaston's death.

Despite this, the attorneys for the Heaston family are confident the evidence is in their favor.

"The driver didn't look," the Heastons' attorney was quoted as saying.

As a Missouri drunk driving accident attorney, I’ve written here before about the sad case of Christine Miller, a Sunset Hills police officer who is accused of causing a fatal DUI crash. Miller was off duty when she allegedly drove drunk on the wrong side of the road, causing a head-on crash that killed four people and severely injured a fifth. Miller, and a bar that allegedly over-served her, settled a wrongful death lawsuit in April with the surviving victim and the others’ families. She is also criminally charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter and one count of assault. As the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Dec. 10, Miller pleaded guilty to those charges the day before. At her sentencing in March, she could receive sentences ranging from probation to 67 years in prison.

The crash injured Nitesh Adusumilli, 27, of Balwin, Mo.; and killed Anusha Anumolu, 23, Anita Lakshmi Veerapaneni, 23, Priya Muppavarapu, 22 -- all of Charleston, Ill., and Satya Subhakar Chinta, 25, of Aurora, Ill. All of the victims were Indian nationals in the United States to work or study, and Veerapaneni and Adusumilli were engaged to be married. They were heading home from bowling and dinner out when Adusumilli made a legal right turn and crashed head-on into Miller, who was driving the wrong way. Forty-five minutes after the crash, Miller had a blood-alcohol level of 0.229. Miller was hospitalized in critical condition right after the crash, and her defense attorney said she couldn’t remember it. In court, a prosecutor said a receipt in Miller’s purse showed she’d had five drinks the night of the crash. She has been on unpaid suspension with the Sunset Hills police department since the incident, and city officials expect to discuss her employment status soon.

As a St. Louis DUI crash lawyer, I hope this sad story encourages drivers in the region to think twice before driving drunk this holiday season. Because of drunk driving, four young people lost their lives in a country far from home, where their families couldn’t be with them -- representatives of the St. Louis Indian community rushed to the hospital instead. Miller and Adusumilli are likely suffering from permanent injuries, not to mention other personal losses. This case is somewhat unusual, in that the victims have successfully pursued a drunk driving lawsuit long before Miller could be criminally convicted, and in fact before she even pleaded guilty. That fact, and the guilty plea, suggests that the evidence against Miller is very strong. The compensation won by the victims can never reverse the accident, of course, but as the article notes, it has helped them deal with the aftereffects, such as the cost of bringing the bodies back to India.

Continue reading "Police Officer Pleads Guilty to Manslaughter in DUI Crash That Killed Four People" »

Durand Tyler of Anchorage, Alaska, has filed a wrongful death suit against a St. Louis haunted house on behalf of his daughter, whose death he claims was a result of the haunted house's atmosphere triggering her asthma into a fatal attack.

15-year-old Bellville resident Brittney Holmes was visiting the attraction, called The Darkness, in October of 2009 as part of Halloween celebrations. During what should have been a routine visit, the fog machines and sickly vapors triggered a severe asthma attack, and she was unable to use her rescue inhaler for undetermined reasons. As a result of the attack, she fell into a persistent vegetative state from which she never recovered. She died on November 12, 2010, without waking.

In an unusual turn, Brittney's mother had also filed a personal injury suit, independently of Tyler's motion. Attorneys involved in the cases have mentioned that the two cases may be consolidated, though this is not definitely decided.

The president of Halloween Productions, Larry Kirchner, would not comment on the case directly when contacted, and his attorney could not be reached by phone. However, the Haunted House Association trade organization released statements saying that haunted houses are extremely safe and rigorously-policed for fire code and freedom of movement compliance. Further, the haunted house in question is on record as having signs that people with respiratory problems should be cautious about entering and think about staying outside due to conditions in the house.

Brittney had suffered from asthma from the time she was 4 years old, and was allergic to a variety of things, ranging from nuts to mildew and dust. These latter might make her parents' case more problematic, given the nature of the warning signs that were posted. At issue is whether the signs were prominently enough displayed to make the warnings reasonable, or if they were even seen at all before she entered the haunted house.

The medical profession is one that we as a society have benefited immensely by. Diseases that crippled people just two generations ago are now virtually nonexistent in the general population of nations with access to high standards of medical care. However, this atmosphere of medical accomplishment can bring with it an air of permissiveness that does not serve patients well, and in fact can seriously endanger their lives. Numerous wrongful death suits are filed against medical practitioners each year, often for reasons that shock the general public. Worse, however, is the realization that many of the oversight organizations that monitor the medical profession are not taking particularly aggressive action to do anything about it.

For example, consider the case of doctor Janet Akremi. Akremi is a physician who works in Missouri and treats patients for a number of conditions, including pain management therapy. She has received a number of cautioning letters over the years from the Missouri group that monitors state doctors, the Board of Registration for the Healing Arts. The group repeatedly has cited concern for her prescriptions of strong painkillers, even in cases where such drugs clearly are not warranted. For example, she herself listed one patient as a “notorious” abuser of prescriptions, and yet wrote him a prescription for medications right after he overdosed with an injection.

However, this pales compared to what happened to Steven Flenoid, a teenager who died after taking strong prescription painkillers. After this incident, the board finally restricted Akremi's right to practice, but not entirely. She still is licensed to practice medicine — she simply cannot prescribe addictive painkillers any longer. More than twenty letters were filed, and yet the first serious action that was taken to discipline her didn’t come until someone had died. For her part, Akremi maintains her innocence in the case, and says that there is no evidence her prescription was responsible for Flenoid's death.

A major news story in St. Louis caught my eye as a Missouri pedestrian accident attorney. As the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Dec. 7, police have made one arrest in the death of a 17-year-old who was acting as a “flag girl” at a drag race. Trenton Pinckard, 19, was arrested on the day of the article for his part in the crash that seriously injured Sammie Boldwyn of Hazelwood. Pinckard was racing another driver, who has not been identified although police are looking for him. Both drivers left the scene. Boldwyn is hospitalized in critical condition at St. Louis University Hospital, with injuries including swelling of her brain and broken ribs. Her mother and sister declined to comment.

The accident reportedly happened on the night of Dec. 5, at an illegal street race in St. Louis. A pickup truck and a Mitsubishi Eclipse were racing at about 9:45 p.m., with Pinckard reportedly driving the truck. The Eclipse was driven by a man and also had a woman passenger. Bystanders described it as gray with a missing rear bumper. Boldwyn was standing in the street to signal the start of the race, and as the vehicles raced by, the rear fender of the Eclipse knocked her over. The impact pushed Boldwyn beneath the pickup truck, where she suffered serious injuries. A spectator said she and others ran to Boldwyn after they saw the accident and called for medical help, but neither vehicle stopped. Police say they have strong leads on the identity of the other driver.

This terrible, preventable incident is attracting a lot of media attention, in part because it was caused by illegal drag racing. As a St. Louis pedestrian accident lawyer, I’d like to discuss how that could affect the legal consequences for Pinckard and the other driver. Both drivers may be charged with illegal racing, but even if they are not, the record will show that racing was the cause of the crash. This will hurt them if they go to trial in a criminal case -- and it would also hurt them if Boldwyn and her family decide to pursue a civil lawsuit as well. When drivers break the law, even by doing something like running a stop sign, they are usually at fault for any accident that results. That means Pinckard and the other driver are almost automatically liable in any legal claim for Boldwyn’s injuries. And that could be a large claim, because if the newspaper is right that she has brain swelling, doctors are probably concerned about permanent brain damage.

Continue reading "Young Man Charged With Running Over Teen and Leaving the Scene at Drag Race" »

Medical care in prison is an exceptionally tricky situation to manage. There already can exist a degree of ill will against prison inmates due to their history, but that does not mean they surrender their rights at the door. Indeed, in certain circumstances they gain special, situational rights due to the fact their private options are restricted. One of these is the right to competent medical care: Because they can't go to their own doctors, the prisons must provide a level of medical care to the inmates based on certain reasonable standards.

This apparently has not been the case in certain St. Louis jails as of late. Frequently there have been wrongful death cases in the news relating to the standard of medical care in the St. Louis prison system, but a recent one seems to define the particular odiousness of the situation.

According to the ACLU's recently-filed suit, an HIV-positive inmate assigned to the downtown Justice Center and the medium security facility on Hall Street was denied medical care. This wasn't a case of a slight delay, either, but rather a lapse of a full 17 days before he was given any care, and only sporadic care provided after that.

Specifically the inmate, who has not been identified, had been successfully treated for his illness prior to incarceration, but was denied medicine or access to a doctor during his stay, according to ACLU attorneys. They further allege falsification of records and highly unsanitary conditions for all inmates, contributing to the complexity of the matter.

The facilities in question have said they cannot comment directly on the suit itself, but that according to all their own records the inmate in question received all due medical care consistent with his constitutional rights.

Doctors and attorneys for the patient said that further tests of his condition are pending now that he has been released. There is still no word on why he was held.

As a St. Louis auto accident lawyer, I was interested to see a recent report on how attorneys can help homeowners in foreclosure. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Nov. 30 on the practice of suing lenders who are about to foreclose for reasons the borrower considers unfair. Our firm primarily handles personal injury work rather than foreclosures, but the article started with the story of a woman who was sent into foreclosure by a personal injury she never expected. Darlene Lehman was injured on Christmas of last year in an accident that was not her fault, keeping her out of work for four months. This meant she lost income, which in turn put her behind in mortgage payments. Only with the help of an attorney did she manage to hold on to her home.

Lehman was driving a van for a hotel on Interstate 70 when the accident took place. Cars around her van began spinning out and crashing on the icy road, so she stopped her van. Unfortunately, drivers behind her didn’t or couldn’t stop, and she was rear-ended, triggering a chain reaction of rear-end accidents that shoved her van into a median. She told the newspaper that she blacked out after severe pain to the left side of her head, and eventually woke up with injuries to her head, neck and back. Ultimately, the injuries took her out of work from Christmas Day until early May, and she was not able to make mortgage payments. Together with $1,500 in foreclosure fees and attorney costs for her bank, she owed more than $5,000 she couldn’t pay. The bank had scheduled a foreclosure sale before her attorney convinced it to take an expected workers’ compensation settlement as payment in the future.

This article goes into detail about the services of foreclosure attorneys as well as their problems. But as a southern Illinois car crash attorney, I want to highlight the financial problems this crash caused for Lehman. Lehman had a job and an income, but all of that was taken away in an instant by the 25-car pileup. Her injury took her out of work for several months, during which time she was not able to make an income and apparently was also unable to secure the workers’ compensation that typically applies to accidents on the job. Unfortunately, this is a typical story for people who are sidelined by serious injuries not their fault. As this woman found, serious injuries create sky-high medical bills and other costs, while taking away victims’ ability to earn the money they need to pay for care, let alone support themselves.

Continue reading "Foreclosure Article Outlines Serious Financial Problems Traffic Accidents Can Cause" »

The Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veteran's Affairs has agreed to pay a settlement to the family of a veteran who wandered away from a state veteran's home in Philadelphia only to tragically freeze to death. The department will pay $250,000 to the estate of Harold Chapman, and in particular to his two surviving daughters. Neither the Chapmans' attorney, Ezra Wohlgelernter, nor the defense for the Department of Military and Veteran's affairs responded to requests for comment.

The case, which has been in process since 2007, took several unusual turns. A number of staffers at the facility were reprimanded after Chapman died, with some being suspended. One staffer chose to quit rather than submit to questioning, and further inquiry revealed that he had previously been convicted of stalking. Chapman's body was ultimately found less than a mile from the home, prompting his widow to comment that the hospital would have tripped over him if they had looked at all. According to officials at the home, which can accommodate 130 residents, the incident has inspired a number of changes in procedures to prevent any residents from wandering off in such a fashion again.

The settlement will be divided up according to terms agreed by the parties. Chapman's daughters, Cheryl Pieretti and Laura Cerminara, each will receive $30,128, with $90,380 going to the Chapman estate. The remainder will be paid out in attorney's fees for the plaintiffs' representatives.

Cases such as this show how utterly unnecessary such wrongful deaths are. Given how close Chapman was to the facility when he was discovered, it boggles the mind that anyone could have missed him if conducting any degree of serious searching. Further, the fact that such an obviously clear-cut case took nearly three years to complete is appalling. It raises serious questions about just what the culture of care is like at the Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veteran's Affairs.