Missouri Injury Lawyer Blog

As a southern Illinois auto accident lawyer, I was sorry to see a report about a St. George man who was killed in a downtown St. Louis crash. Zeljko Landup, 43, was thrown from an elevated portion of highway after he pulled into the left lane of Interstate 55 to deal with a fender-bender. Authorities told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that ice might have been a factor in the 6 a.m. crashes, but were still investigating as of Jan. 22. The other driver in the fender-bender suffered minor injuries when the second crash knocked him down. Nothing was reported on the third driver, who hit Landup’s car with a pickup truck. Landup and his wife and teenaged sons came to St. Louis from Bosnia about nine years ago; he worked at Archer-Daniels-Midland.

The article said Landup was likely on the way to work when he got into a minor accident with an unnamed 57-year-old driver. His wife, Jasmina Landup, was with him and planned to take the car home. Landup and the other driver were standing in the far left lane of Interstate 55, talking, when a pickup truck crashed into Landup’s vehicle. That crash pushed Landup over the guardrail, between the northbound and southbound portions of the elevated highway, and into downtown St. Louis below. The other driver was knocked to the ground and was treated at a hospital for injuries that were not life-threatening. Police officers were investigating the cause of the crash and did not assign a cause as of Jan. 22, but said parts of the road were icy on the morning of the crash, and parts of some highways were closed.

As a St. Louis car accident attorney, I hope drivers are very careful about weather and pull off highways whenever possible, so they can prevent another accident as senseless as this. Missouri and Illinois have been wrestling with icy weather for weeks, and we’ve had some weather-related accidents as well. But if this driver turns out to have hit Landup’s vehicle out of inattention or carelessness, he or she could face serious criminal charges as well as a lawsuit. As the article notes, this is a family of immigrants; Landup’s 17-year-old son had to translate for his mother in the KDSK story. Without good English, she may not be able to support the family on her own, meaning they may truly need a financial settlement to make ends meet.

Continue reading "Driver in Minor Accident Thrown to Death When Another Vehicle Hits His Parked Car" »

Guidant Corp.'s heart defibrillators have been linked to 13 medical device injuries ending in death. On Wednesday, a federal judge approved an agreement which calls for Guidant, now part of Boston Scientific, to pay $296 million. On top of what may be the largest criminal penalty in a medical device case, Boston Scientific will serve three years’ probation.

"I believe this serves not only the interests of the community and the interests of justice, but respect for the law and corporate responsibility,” said U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank.

Previously, Judge Frank rejected the $296 million agreement after doctors and patients connected with the faulty implantable defibrillators complained that the fine was an insufficient penalty for Boston Scientific. However, once the period of probation was added, the judge agreed.

As part of its probation, Boston Scientific will have to report to the U.S. Probation Office on a quarterly basis and allow regular records inspections. Boston Scientific also was called upon to continue raising awareness about heart disease through charitable programming.

The cause of the unprecedented fine was not the failure of the device. It was due to the company’s failure to disclose important safety information about three defibrillator devices that had serious problems. Guidant was in violation of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act because it concealed information from the FDA about dangerous short-circuiting of the implantable defibrillators. The company was aware of the devices’ problem as far back as 2002. The company tried to fix the problem with the devices but did not report it to the FDA.

After years of making less-than-aggressive attempts to deal with the problems of the devices, Guidant finally publically detailed the device problems in 2005, which later led to an FDA recall.

In 2007, Boston Scientific settled more than 8,000 lawsuits, agreeing to pay $240 million in connection with claims that Guidant hid the defects associated with the defibrillators.

Our St. Louis car wreck attorneys have written here before about the accident that took the lives of two young women from southern Illinois. Jessica Uhl, 18, and Kelli Uhl, 13, died in a crash caused by a former Illinois State Trooper who was allegedly speeding and distracted. Matt Mitchell was allegedly driving at 126 mph, talking on a cell phone and emailing at the same time when his squad car hit the Uhls’ car. They were killed at the scene, and two others in another vehicle were injured. Mitchell has already pleaded guilty to two counts of reckless homicide, but as the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Jan. 19, the young women’s parents, Brian Uhl and Kimberly Schlau, have also won an $8 million judgment from the Illinois Court of Claims.

An attorney for the state of Illinois said it was the largest tort verdict ever handed down by the Illinois Court of Claims, which handles lawsuits against the state. Schlau told the media the award wouldn’t make her family whole, but hoped it would deter similar behavior in the future. She made similar remarks in June, when she spoke to the graduating class at the St. Louis County Police Academy. At the time of the crash, Mitchell was responding to an emergency call, but other police agencies were already on the scene. In addition, he was reportedly talking on the phone to his girlfriend and emailing another trooper moments before the crash. According to the article, there was already a judgment against Mitchell for $1.7 million stemming from a 2003 car crash. He was involved in another single-car accident in 2002, but with no injuries.

As a southern Illinois auto accident lawyer, I am pleased that the Court of Claims made an appropriate award to this family. Mitchell’s behavior was described at trial as “indefensible” by a former director of the Illinois State Police, and reports suggest that it’s true. Distracted driving is becoming a major issue thanks to the rise of mobile phones, helping remind all of us that taking your eyes off the road to email or text is not safe. There’s also some evidence that talking on the phone while driving is dangerous, although this is less accepted. These behaviors are even less acceptable while driving at a high rate of speed, since speeding gives drivers less time to react to sudden changes on the road. Mitchell may have been doing his job when he rushed to answer the emergency call, but there was no reason why he couldn’t have done it with a greater regard for other motorists’ safety.

Continue reading "Parents of Teenagers Killed in Crash With Speeding Trooper Win $8 Million Verdict" »

It often takes a frustratingly long time for justice to be done. Eight years after a tragic rock wall climbing accident took the life of a University of Missouri student, the wrongful death lawsuit filed on her behalf has been heard at the Missouri Supreme Court.

Christine Ewing was 22 when she died. The case made national headlines at the time because Ewing is believed to have been the first person to die while climbing on a portable rock wall. The accident took place on July 14 of 2003, when Ewing fell and suffered ultimately fatal head trauma in front of hundreds at a Mavericks game. When the rope was found to be frayed, rusted and improperly secured with duct tape of all things, the owner of the wall was convicted of assault.

Ewings' parents filed lawsuits against the owners of the team as well, bringing the Mavericks' insurance companies into the matter, specifically Great American Assurance Co.

On January 14 of this year, the Missouri Supreme Court heard a number of arguments in the case that has dragged on for so long. There have already been victories at lower court levels. For example, in 2005 the Ewings were awarded an astonishing $4.5 million dollars. However, Great American Assurance Co. has refused to back the payments by a subsidiary group, Virginia Surety, because Virginia Surety has only paid the Ewings $700,000 rather than the full $1 million it had been ordered to.

The Ewings are insistent that Great American pay the settlement, because out of the companies involved they are the company that hasn't paid anything. The appeal the Ewings are making is that Great American hasn't lost anything yet, so it's hard to call their treatment “harsh.”

There may or may not be further motions filed, up to and including Great American perhaps taking action against Virginia Surety themselves. The case is, again frustratingly, still unfolding.

As a St. Louis pedestrian accident attorney, I was sorry to read about a man who was hit by not one but two vehicles as he walked down a snowy southern Illinois road. The Belleville News-Democrat reported that Richard Hicks, 25 and of Edwardsville, was hospitalized in critical but stable condition after he was hit by both an SUV and a snowplow. Hicks was walking north on Illinois 157 just after midnight on Jan. 8 when a fast-moving SUV apparently lost control and hit him. He was dragged 960 feet into the northbound lanes of the highway. The SUV did not stop. However, a snowplow clearing the highway’s southbound lanes came along and also hit Hicks as he lay in the road. That driver did stop. Police are looking for a large Ford SUV, gray or silver, with a missing grille emblem and damage to a dark-colored bug deflector.

Because police are looking for the SUV driver, it sounds like they may believe he or she is criminally culpable for hitting Hicks. It was unclear why Hicks was on foot at a late hour in a snowstorm, but a St. Louis Post-Dispatch story says he was walking south in the northbound lane, suggesting that he was taking steps to be extra visible. The witness statement that the SUV was going very fast and lost control could mean reckless driving, or it could simply mean the driver lost control in the snowy conditions. Of course, the driver would be guilty of leaving the scene either way, but if police think the driver was also driving recklessly or under the influence, the end result could be criminal vehicular manslaughter charges. Evidence of reckless driving could also strengthen any pedestrian accident lawsuit Hicks and his family might pursue.

The accident with the snowplow is another matter. By all accounts, the police don’t believe the snowplow driver is at fault -- he stopped after the accident and there was no report that he is being cited. But if authorities determine this driver was at fault, the legal landscape for any injury lawsuit would be very different. This driver was plowing an Illinois state highway, which means he works for the Illinois Department of Transportation -- that is, the state. Under a legal doctrine called sovereign immunity, states are generally able to specify shorter deadlines for suing, special administrative procedures to follow and other special rules. If you miss these deadlines or don’t follow procedures right, you can lose your right to sue, which is why experts suggest hiring a southern Illinois pedestrian accident lawyer right away if you have this kind of claim.

Continue reading "Illinois Man Hospitalized After Accidents With Hit-and-Run SUV and Snowplow" »

Stillwell, Kansas, resident Matt Fritzie is suing the Kansas University fraternity Phi Gamma Delta for injuries he claims he suffered after being forced to dive into a frat-constructed swimming pool as part of the fraternity's annual Fiji Island pledge party.

The party took place September 17th, according to the lawsuit in which Fritzie claims a number of appalling things. Firstly, a number of minors were apparently served alcohol as part of the party proceedings. Additionally, the pledges were ordered to construct a homemade swimming pool out of sandbags. This is a particular sticking point for the fraternity, for a number of reasons.

First, the KU chapter of Phi Gamma Delta has been warned in the past about issues of behavior and safety at its Fiji Island parties. Additionally, national fraternity guidelines clearly stipulate that pools and ponds are forbidden at pledge parties.

Fraternity leaders allegedly violated all these rules and served alcohol liberally before ordering Fritzie to jump into the sandbag pool after forcing the freshman pledges to construct it. Fritzie suffered a series of injuries including spinal column trauma and permanent paralysis.

The incident took place in Kansas, but was filed in Missouri because that is the location of the parent chapter's pledge education center. The suit alleges that the parent fraternity officials were aware of the safety issues and violations of past Fiji Island parties, and put little to no effort toward correcting the matter.

The lawsuit does not stipulate the number of claims being filed, nor does it explain the degree of compensation sought for damages. Attorneys for Fritzie and for the fraternity were unavailable for comment according to local news sources, and as of this writing there is no date set for court proceedings in the case.

As a Missouri auto defect attorney, I have followed the news about the Toyota sudden acceleration problems with great interest. As you might remember, regulators focused their attention on Toyota vehicles in 2009 after evidence emerged showing that Toyotas had an unusual number of accidents blamed on acceleration the drivers didn’t intend. The automaker initially blamed floor mats for trapping gas pedals, then “sticky” gas pedals, and recalled millions of Toyota and Lexus models to fix those problems. But some observers believe the real problem is with newer cars’ electronic throttles, also known as “drive by wire,” malfunctioning without a clear way for drivers to override them. That’s the theory behind product defect lawsuits filed by seven insurance companies against Toyota on Dec. 30.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the insurers are seeking to recover insurance payments made to their customers in crashes they believe were caused by defects in Toyota vehicles. They are claiming damages in excess of $230,000 from 14 crashes, but say as many as 725 crashes may have been caused by unintended acceleration. In the lawsuits, the insurance companies say the problem comes from defects in Toyota’s products, and that Toyota could have fixed it by including an override system that idles the vehicle when the gas and brake are both pressed. Evidence shows that Toyota discussed this solution with federal regulators as early as 2007 -- but didn’t implement it until 2010. The same legal theory is behind a slew of lawsuits by accident victims, which are consolidated in California federal court and still pending. Toyota was also sued by Allstate Insurance three months ago.

The new lawsuits indicate to me, as a St. Louis car crash lawyer, that all of these lawsuits are likely on the right track. Individuals may or may not choose to sue for emotional reasons, but when a business like an insurance company files a claim, it’s likely because that business thinks it’s worth the financial risk. That bodes well for everyone making the claims against Toyota. If records show the automaker considered putting in a safety override to its electronic throttle system three years before it actually did so, that could look a lot to a jury like a decision to place finances ahead of its customers’ safety. And as other automakers know, that is unlikely to impress a jury favorably. After all the claims are finished, Toyota is likely to be on the hook for millions of dollars, not just the money the insurers claimed.

Continue reading "Insurance Companies Join Drivers With Sudden Acceleration Lawsuits Against Toyota" »

A New York court recently ruled that it is unreasonable to expect to hear “Fore!” in the case of every single stray ball that might threaten on the golf course. Neurosurgeon Azad Anand was playing golf with a friend of his in October 2002 when a stray ball hit him in the head. The impact blinded him in one eye and left the doctor unable to work following the impact. In cases where a ball is going astray, it is customary for the person who made the shot to shout “Fore!” to alert anyone who might be in the foreseeable danger zone.

It seems that phrase is the sticking point of the matter, as the New York court has ruled that Anand was not in this zone of danger and had consented to a certain degree of risk by agreeing to play. Thus, the court decided that his case was to be dismissed.

However, the facts of the case raise some interesting questions. For one thing, the man whose ball went awry claims he did shout the warning. Thus the claim that Anand was not in the foreseeable zone of danger might not stand as such. If he wasn't in the zone of danger, why does the defendant claim to have seen and warned him? Further, both Anand and another golfer with him that day testified they did not hear the supposed warning call.

The third party claimed that the defendant and Anand were approximately 20 feet from each other when the shot was made. The defendant disputes this, saying Anand was further away and at a different angle.

The primary argument that Anand's attorney made was that the case at least deserves a trial rather than summary dismissal, because of disputes such as these and the factual confusion over the case. However, the New York court has elected to disagree, and for now it seems this eight-and-a-half year long lawsuit has ended.