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Personal Injury

Recent Posts in Personal Injury Category

  • The Coronavirus and Car Accidents are Not Comparable

    The costs of the spread of the coronavirus has recently been compared to the yearly death toll from car accidents that we see in the U.S. Unfortunately, the comparison overlooks the fact that nearly everyone travels in a car – even non-drivers – while only a tiny percentage point of people in the U.S. have gotten COVID-19. Why Comparing Coronavirus to Car Crashes Makes COVID-19 Look Tame To date, ...
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  • Will Workers’ Compensation Cover Healthcare Workers Infected with Coronavirus?

    As the coronavirus, or COVID-19, continues to spread through Missouri and St. Joseph, healthcare workers are getting exposed to the disease on a regular basis. It is only a matter of time before they start getting sick. Thankfully, Missouri law seems to indicate that healthcare workers who get infected with coronavirus should be covered by workers’ compensation . Missouri’s Occupational Disease ...
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  • Missouri DOT to Patch Nearly 1 Million Potholes

    As the weather warms up, the toll of a Missouri winter on the roads in St. Joseph becomes clear: There will likely be nearly a million potholes for the Missouri Department of Transportation to fill, this year. These are not just inconveniences for drivers – potholes pose a significant risk for car accidents . Missouri DOT Plans to Fill Nearly a Million Potholes Now that the weather is beginning to ...
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  • Missouri Supreme Court Hears Workers’ Compensation Cases

    The Supreme Court of Missouri recently heard oral arguments for two important workers’ compensation cases. Both of those cases seem poised to continue to restrict the rights of injured workers by limiting the concept of a workplace injury . This would make it increasingly more difficult for injured workers in Missouri to get the compensation they deserve. Supreme Court of Missouri Hears Two ...
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  • It’s 2020: Where are the Self-Driving Cars?

    Three years ago, everyone was talking about self-driving cars. Uber and Google were leading the charge in developing cars that could drive themselves without causing a car accident . But then the news stopped coming from the sector. Self-driving cars were still being tested , but the developments were no longer newsworthy. What happened? Self-Driving Cars Hit a Wall in Artificial Intelligence ...
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  • Missouri Workers’ Compensation Case Lacks Dependents

    A Kansas City man who was severely hurt in a workplace accident at a UPS facility on February 10 has died from his injuries. UPS has stressed, repeatedly, that the man was a contractor and not an employee. The difference matters for the workers’ compensation benefits, though even if there are survivor benefits available, the victim’s lack of dependents to collect it can complicate matters. Worker ...
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  • School Bus Accident Hurts 17 Children

    Just two weeks ago, we covered how sovereign immunity can complicate bus accidents . That post focused on a minor car accident involving a passenger vehicle and a bus run by St. Joseph Transit. A new bus crash brings those lessons back into the limelight. School Bus Crashes, Hurts 17 A school bus was taking an entire classroom of children on a field trip when it crashed and flipped on its side in ...
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  • 2 Cops Accused of Workers’ Compensation Fraud

    A husband and wife who had retired from working as police officers have been accused of workers’ compensation fraud for faking injuries and collecting benefits. Married Couple Accused of Workers’ Compensation Fraud The situation unfolded in Santa Clara, California. A husband and wife – both of whom worked as police officers in the area – had both retired from the force after suffering injuries. ...
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  • Accident With St. Joseph Bus Invokes Sovereign Immunity

    A car accident involving a St. Joseph Transit bus and a passenger car raises some important questions about how Missouri’s personal injury laws handle claims against the city. St. Joseph Transit Bus Collides With Car The accident happened around 7:20pm on Monday, January 27, 2020, near the intersection of the North Belt Highway and Sherman Avenue . Little information was made available for initial ...
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  • Workplace Death Leads to Products Liability Lawsuit

    The family of a St. Joseph man who was killed in a tragic workplace accident have filed a lawsuit against the company who made the machine that killed him. The lawsuit is an example of an important hole in the rule that victims who receive workers’ compensation cannot sue for other damages. Workplace Accident Leaves One Dead at St. Joseph Lumber Mill Back on March 12, 2018, a St. Joseph man ...
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  • Intentional Car Accidents Create Insurance Complications

    A St. Joseph man has been convicted for assault after deliberately running over his ex-girlfriend with his car. While the outcome of the trial appears to be good for the victim, it can actually keep them from recovering the financial compensation they need after being hurt in the car crash . Man Convicted of Second-Degree Assault for Intentional Car Accident The man was arrested after he ran over ...
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  • The 4 Types of Injuries in Workers’ Compensation

    Workers’ compensation law is full of complicated terms and phrases. Understanding the law, though, requires a thorough comprehension of these words and what they mean. Four of the most common phrases that get used to describe someone’s workplace injury are: Permanent total disability, or PTD, Permanent partial disability, or PPD, Temporary total disability, or TTD, and Temporary partial ...
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  • Car Accidents in Missouri Will Change With These 2 New Laws

    When new laws are made, they often go into effect on the first day of the upcoming year. 2020 is no exception. In Missouri, there are two important laws that will influence how car accidents are resolved in the state. One can have a significant impact on the compensation that car crash victims can recover in a personal injury lawsuit that is based on products liability . Here are summaries of the ...
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  • How Common are Car Accidents on Christmas?

    Some holidays come with a sharp increase in the number of fatal car accidents . Surprisingly, though, statistics show that the Christmas holiday is not one of them. The average number of fatal accidents that happen per day between 6pm on Christmas Eve and 6am on January 2 nd is actually lower than on a normal day over the rest of the year. Holidays See Fewer Fatal Accidents than a Normal Day of ...
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  • Jail Time Counters Worker’s Unemployable Claim

    A workers’ compensation case made it all the way to the Missouri Court of Appeals. Once there, though, the court made an interesting statement about how hurt workers can prove that they are “unemployable” because of a disabling injury. At the very least, the court’s decision highlights the importance of vocational experts. At most, though, the repercussions could have disturbing consequences. ...
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  • When Can Workers’ Compensation Claims Recover the Costs of the Case?

    A workers’ compensation case in Missouri clarifies when one side can be made to pay the court costs and attorney’s fees of the other side. According to the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission, only what happens during the claim for workers’ compensation matters – not anything that happened before the case was filed. Judge Makes Employer Pay Attorney Fees and Court Costs The case, Stratton v. ...
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  • Why Workers’ Compensation Judges’ Beliefs Are Difficult to Appeal

    In a recent workers’ compensation blog post, we discussed how administrative law judges weigh the credibility of testifying doctors . In short, it is very easy for these judges to see what they want to see. What an administrative judge wants to see typically aligns with their pro-business or pro-worker political stance, which in turn mirrors the stance of whoever appointed them to their position ...
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  • 3 Reasons for Car Crashes on Thanksgiving Holiday

    This Thanksgiving holiday is shaping up to be an especially dangerous one on the roads. The number of car accidents in western Missouri and St. Joseph will not be increased by lots of travel and drunk driving, but also some bad weather that forecasters are saying will hit at just the wrong time. 3 Reasons Why Thanksgiving Can Be One of the Most Dangerous Holidays to Drive One of the leading ...
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  • Car Hits House: What Can the Homeowner Recover?

    Two people were hurt in a car accident in Kansas City, Missouri, when a car ran into a house. The compensation that the homeowners should be able to recover in a personal injury lawsuit would go far beyond just their medical expenses. Can Crashes Into Kansas City House The accident happened just after 9pm on Friday, November 15, at the intersection of 88 th Street and Wornwall Road in southern ...
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  • The Problem With How Administrative Law Judges Determine Credibility

    An otherwise innocuous workers’ compensation case highlights one of the ways that the legal system is stilted against injured workers in Missouri. Whenever there are conflicting medical opinions about how a worker got hurt – and there usually are – administrative law judges have to decide which doctor is more credible. Those credibility findings are extremely difficult to overturn on appeal, and ...
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  • Proposed Bill Would Help Truck Accident Victims

    While there is rarely anything that can be called a trivial car accident , there are still some that are more severe than others. Among the worst are truck accidents . Many of these crashes end up causing severe or fatal injuries to the person or people in passenger cars. Despite the high likelihood for serious injuries, lawmakers have let the minimum liability insurance coverage requirements for ...
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  • Workers’ Compensation Cases and the Rule of Necessity

    A recent workers’ compensation case made it to the Missouri Court of Appeals. In the case, Nivens v. Interstate Brands Corp. , an injured worker applied to the Second Injury Fund for compensation after workplace injuries coupled with older medical conditions to make him unable to function on the job. The case is a rare one that revolves around the Rule of Necessity, which allows even conflicted ...
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  • Pedestrian Accident Could Have Harsh Legal Results

    A car accident involving a pedestrian in St. Joseph brings out some of the harsh realities about assigning fault in an accident. While many people assume that the “victim” in a crash was the one who got seriously hurt, the law focuses instead on who was responsible. In some cases, the person who suffered the most can also be legally liable for the other person’s losses and injuries. Pedestrian ...
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  • OSHA Continues to Give Workplace Safety Powers to Employers

    The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is said to be investigating a fatal workplace accident in St. Joseph. The role of OSHA in that investigation, though, has been shrinking to dangerously narrow proportions in recent years, as the agency pushes more and more responsibility onto employers. When employers investigate fatal accidents at their plants, the losers are the employees. ...
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  • How Do Medical Liens Work After a Car Accident?

    It is a common dilemma: People who get hurt in car accidents might very well be entitled to compensation from the other driver, but their medical bills are due now . The pressure from hospitals to pay the bills can make car accident victims think that they have no other options. It often drives them to settle their personal injury lawsuit as quickly as possible, even if it means they only get a ...
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