Legal Representative Cases
Motorcycle Accident
Our clients were the family of a business man who was riding his friend's Harley Davidson on the outskirts of Columbia, Missouri. An O'Reilly Automotive employee, driving a delivery truck for the company, failed to see the motorcycle approaching and pulled out in front of it, causing a collision. The motorcyclist was thrown from the motorcycle and suffered multiple injuries including fractures of his arms, legs, pelvis, and ribs as well as multiple internal injuries. He was treated in the Intensive Care Unit at a local hospital. However, his injuries were too extensive and he died 11 days after the collision. He was survived by our clients: his wife, two adult children, and his mother. One of his children was disabled and financially and physically dependent upon her father for care. We pursued the case aggressively and learned through discovery that the driver of the delivery truck had an expired license, and that the delivery truck driver was entirely at fault in the collision. After extensive litigation, during mediation, the family's claims were settled for $2.5 million.
Workers Compensation And Wrongful Termination
Our client was an employee of a local factory where she had worked for several years. She was injured while at work and sought treatment for her injury from her employer through worker's compensation. The employer referred our client to an in-house physical therapist who worked with our client for several weeks. When her injury did not improve the employer referred our client to a local physician. Eventually, our client was referred to a doctor in St. Louis. After several months of tests and conservative treatment, the physician informed our client that a surgery would be necessary to explore the cause of her continuing problems. Our client expressed an interest in obtaining a second opinion concerning the need for surgery. After that, the employer discontinued our client's treatment. The employer returned her to work full duty and placed her on machines that required heavy lifting, despite knowing that the doctor had recommended surgical intervention. After obtaining a second opinion that surgery was needed, our client informed the employer that she wanted to proceed with surgery. Instead of notifying the surgeon that our client wanted to schedule the surgery, the employer scheduled another appointment with the physician to determine if surgery was still recommended and to determine whether or not our client's injury was a result of her work. In the meantime, the employer continued to assign our client to jobs that required lifting heavy machinery. Our client attempted to work her assigned duties, however, eventually informed the employer that she could not continue to work the heavy machinery. She was fired for insubordination. Approximately one month after being terminated, our client received her surgery which revealed a torn shoulder muscle. We sued the employer alleging retaliatory harassment and termination for filing a workers compensation claim. During mediation the parties agreed to a confidential settlement amount that was satisfactory to our client.
Trucking Accident
Our client was a young man who was a passenger in his friend's car. As they traveled along a narrow country road, a pickup truck heading the opposite direction forced them off the road, causing his friend to lose control of the car. The vehicle left the roadway and rolled over before striking a tree. Both the driver and our client were wearing their seatbelts and neither was intoxicated. The pickup truck did not stop and was never located. Our client suffered injuries to his heart and back that kept him in the hospital for weeks. His total medical bills were in excess of $350,000.00. He recovered fairly well, but the driver of the car only had $275,000.00 of insurance available. The driver's insurance paid the full amount available on his policy. Additionally, we were able to acquire full payment of our client's uninsured motorist coverage for the negligence of the pickup truck driver. Because our client's insurance provided coverage for more than one vehicle, we were able to “stack” his coverage and obtain an additional $400,000.00 for our client. Our client's total settlement of $675,000.00 represented all insurance coverage available to our client. Finally, we were able to increase the benefit to our client by showing that our client's health insurance company did not have a right to repayment from the insurance proceeds. The health insurance company had initially demanded full reimbursement for the $350,000.00 it expended to pay for our client's medical bills. That amount was, through aggressive research and representation, reduced to $0.
Workers Compensation
Our client was working on an electrical panel near a roadway. An employee of another business was towing a homemade trailer to a jobsite, when the trailer broke free and struck our client from behind. We obtained a double recovery for our client by advancing his workers compensation claim and, then, through negotiation and aggressive representation, obtained recovery from the responsible party. Pursuant to Missouri law the workers' compensation carrier was entitled to reimbursement from the settlement for the amounts it had paid to compensate our client for his injury. We were able to convince the carrier to accept an amount much less than the sum to which it was legally entitled.
Trucking Accident
Our client (name is confidential) was a passenger in a pickup truck operated by an intoxicated individual who lost control of the truck at high speed. The truck rolled over repeatedly, ejecting our client. He sustained multiple fractures, internal injuries and head injuries. Initially, the insurance company refused any coverage whatsoever. After dealing with difficult comparative fault issues, we settled his case for the $300,000.00 insurance policy limits.
Car Accident
Our client was a young woman sustained soft tissue injuries to her neck and shoulders in an automobile collision. Less than a year later, she was a passenger in another vehicle when it was involved in a collision. She suffered additional soft tissue injuries to her neck and shoulders from the second collision. Usually insurance companies pay very little under these circumstances because it can be very difficult for plaintiffs to prove the extent to which each collision contributed to the resulting injuries. We were able to overcome those difficulties and obtain settlement in both cases for the insurance policy limits of both drivers who were at fault.
Workers Compensation And Personal Injury
Our client was an elderly business owner (and former pro football player) who was rear-ended by a young person who had stolen a car. We successfully collected his workers' compensation case and, because of the complexities, the insurance carrier agreed to release its interest on further recoveries. Our client was then the victim of medical malpractice related to his injuries, and we successfully resolved those issues through further settlements. We collected the maximum amount of uninsured motor vehicle coverage from his own policy and convinced that insurance carrier to release its claim on further recoveries. Finally, we pursued the car thief and found additional insurance through him and obtained almost all of his available policy limits. Throughout all of this, each insurance company blamed most of our client's injuries on previous injuries he had sustained as a professional football player. We overcame these issues in our representation.
Slip And Fall
Our client was an elderly woman (name is confidential) who was shopping at a grocery store. In order to select her grocery item she had to reach through a rolling ladder. While reaching for the item she lost her balance and fell, suffering injury to her back and shoulder. The defendant argued that the danger was open and obvious to our client and thus, they had no liability for her injuries. We overcame their arguments by demonstrating her need and elderly condition. We obtained a six-figure settlement for our client after proving that the ladder was too heavy for her to move and that it should have been in the back storeroom instead of blocking the dairy cooler.
Personal Injury
On a hot mid-summer day, our client purchased a cup of iced tea from a local convenience store. Our client entered the store and prepared her own cup from the iced tea dispenser available to all customers. After she took her first drink, she realized that the liquid that came from the dispenser was not iced tea. She discovered that, in fact, the employee who had been responsible for cleaning the dispenser had failed to empty the cleaning solution from the dispenser. The cleaning solution caused damage to our client's throat and vocal chords. She is a local school teacher and had to use a special microphone so her students could hear her after she was hurt. The injuries required special treatment. She had $23,000.00 in medical bills. The case was tried to a jury and resulted in a $250,000.00 verdict in favor of our client.
Food Contamination
Our clients became violently ill after eating at a local restaurant. Investigation revealed that all clients had consumed the same entree, Amberjack fish, in the same time period. A leftover sample was sent to the FDA for analysis which revealed that the fish was contaminated with the neurotoxins that cause ciguatera poisoning. Research revealed that this toxin is common in large predatory fish and is prevalent in areas such as Hawaii where local diets are comprised of such species. Our clients eventually recovered from their illnesses, but some were left with symptoms that included extreme fatigue and reversed temperature sensitivity. We sued the restaurant and the fish supplier for failure to warn the customers and test the fish. Eventually, the company responsible for catching the fish was also named in the suit. We settled the case for a confidential amount that was satisfactory to all of our clients.
