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Personal Injury

Recent Posts in Personal Injury Category

  • What are Punitive Damages in Missouri?

    In personal injury cases that involve extremely bad misconduct, punitive damages may be available. When compared to other states, though, Missouri law drastically limits when they can be awarded and how much can be received. What are Punitive Damages? Punitive damages, also known as exemplary damages, are a type of financial compensation that can be awarded in a personal injury case . They go ...
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  • Employers Can Now Retaliate Against Former Employees for Reporting Work Injuries

    The foreseeable effects of “strictly construing” Missouri’s workers’ compensation laws continue to unfold. Just last week, the Supreme Court of Missouri ruled that employers could legally discriminate against former employees who filed for workers’ compensation or reported a workplace injury. The pertinent statutes were not crystal clear that such retaliation was unlawful, so the Supreme Court ...
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  • How Does Negligence Per Se Work?

    Negligence per se is a way of proving fault in a personal injury claim . If someone was violating a law when they hurt you, like if they were breaking a traffic law and caused a car accident , that violation can be used to prove that they were being negligent. This can establish liability and make them pay for your losses. Unlawful Conduct Amounts to Per Se Negligence Every state has a long list ...
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  • LIRC Member Ignores Subjectivity of Workplace Injuries

    In our last blog post on workers’ compensation law in Missouri, we looked at how it took an appeals court to say that injuries do not have to be instantaneous to be compensable through workers’ comp. An underlying issue in that case is how injuries can be subjective: Activities that hurt one person may not hurt someone else. While this may seem obvious, at least one member of the Labor and ...
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  • Compensation for Property Damage in a Car Crash

    If you are driving a car and get hit in a car accident , you will suffer property damage to your vehicle. You can suffer property damage even if you were a pedestrian or bicyclist, though to a much lesser extent. When this happens, you deserve compensation for all of your losses , including for your property damage. Property Damage Can Be Staggeringly High Even if a car crash did not cause any ...
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  • Appeals Court Affirms Workers’ Compensation When Injuries Were Not Instantaneous

    A recent workers’ compensation case made it to a Missouri Court of Appeals after the employer claimed that the worker’s injury was not compensable because the accident did not immediately produce crippling symptoms. The case is a sign of how tilted the field of workers’ compensation law has become in Missouri. Worker Feels Symptoms Day After Accident The case is Harper v. Springfield Rehab & ...
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  • What is the Difference Between First- and Third-Party Car Insurance?

    Car insurance is not something that people like to think about. However, if you have been in a car accident , insurance is often something that you cannot stop thinking about. Understanding the difference between first-party insurance and third-party insurance is essential. It can also help you make an informed decision about what kinds of insurance to carry, which can better prepare you in the ...
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  • Can a Disability Discrimination Award Reduce Workers’ Compensation Benefits?

    In our last blog post about workers’ compensation law in Missouri, we looked at how workers’ compensation claims can become disability discrimination lawsuits . But what happens if you win your disability discrimination case and receive a settlement or verdict? Will the award reduce your workers’ compensation benefits ? The short answer is no. The Intersection Between Missouri’s Workers’ ...
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  • What if a Pothole Caused My Car Accident?

    Spring has sprung in St. Joseph and western Missouri, and that means potholes. Potholes and other unsafe road conditions can cause car accidents . When they do, victims may be able to hold the government accountable for their losses, though there are additional barriers and limitations to these personal injury claims . How Potholes Can Cause Car Accidents Potholes can cause a car accident in ...
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  • Workers’ Comp Cases Can Become Disability Discrimination Lawsuits

    If you get hurt on the job, you are often entitled to workers’ compensation . Additionally, if your injuries are bad enough, you may become disabled under the Americans with Disabilities Act , or ADA. This is important because, if you are covered by the ADA but are able to return to work in some capacity, often by performing light duty work, you are protected from workplace discrimination based on ...
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  • What is Missouri’s Parental Responsibility Law?

    In our last blog post about car accidents and personal injury law in Missouri, we looked at how Missouri handles minors who negligently hurt you or damage your property, or who negligently contributed to their own injuries. But what happens when a minor deliberately hurts you or destroys your property by, for example, driving a car into your vehicle? Missouri’s Parental Responsibility Law Like ...
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  • Missouri Strictly Construes Its Workers’ Compensation Laws

    In our last blog post about workers’ compensation law in Missouri, we looked at the definition of a “dependent” for survival benefits . The term had been, once again, strictly construed by the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission (LIRC) in order to deny a claim for benefits. It has not always been this difficult to recover compensation for work-related injuries in Missouri. What it Means to ...
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  • Can Minors Be Negligent in Missouri?

    Occasionally, children or young adults can act in ways that unintentionally cause injuries to themselves or to others. This can happen in two ways: The minor can behave negligently and hurt someone else, or The minor can get hurt because they were behaving negligently. If they were an adult, they would be liable for the damages they caused. Because they were underage, though, that would be unfair. ...
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  • What is a Dependent for Survival Benefits?

    The Missouri Labor and Industrial Relations Commission (LIRC) has, once again, shown that it will go to great lengths to deny any workers’ compensation claim that it can, all under the guise of “strictly construing” the provisions of the state’s workers’ compensation law . Most recently, it reached to great lengths to interpret the law in a way that would deprive a dependent ex-wife of survivor ...
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  • How are Lost Wages Calculated for a Personal Injury Claim?

    If you get hurt in a car accident in Missouri, it would be unfair to expect you to suffer if you were not the driver who caused it. By filing a personal injury lawsuit against the at-fault driver, you can recover the compensation you deserve . That compensation includes the wages that you lost while you recovered from the accident. Calculating your wage loss can be easy in some cases, but ...
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  • What is a Medicare Set-Aside in Workers’ Comp Cases?

    If you get hurt on the job in Missouri, you are entitled to workers’ compensation . If your case settles , you will get a check for a lump sum that covers your future disability payments and your future medical care. When you reach retirement age, though, your healthcare can be covered by Medicare. This presents a problem: You would have received money to cover the ongoing medical care associated ...
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  • Are Personal Injury Settlements Taxable?

    If you get hurt by someone else’s negligence, like in a car accident , you can file a personal injury lawsuit and recover financial compensation for your losses . In Missouri, most of that financial compensation is not taxable at the state or federal level. However, some of it is. The General Rule: Personal Injury Settlements or Awards are Not Taxed According to Section 61 of the Internal Revenue ...
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  • Dubuc: The Supreme Court’s Absurd Workers’ Compensation Ruling

    The Supreme Court of Missouri recently handed down a startling decision regarding the workers’ compensation process. The only good news it has for injured workers is that it is unlikely to apply to any cases but the one that it inexplicably brings to a close. Workers’ Compensation Case Makes it to the Missouri Supreme Court The case is one that we have blogged about before . Like so many others ...
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  • What Medical Expenses Can I Recover in a Personal Injury Case?

    If you get hurt in a car accident or any other incident because someone else was negligent, you deserve to get compensated for your losses. If they or their insurance company are unwilling to pay the full amount, you can file a personal injury lawsuit . That lawsuit demands compensation for all of your losses associated with the accident. While there are several common types of losses that you can ...
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  • Is Workers’ Compensation Taxable?

    Most Missouri workers who have been hurt on the job are entitled to workers’ compensation . These benefits pay for your medical expenses and cover a portion of any wages that you lose while you recover. However, as with any other time where you make money, this raises an important question: Is it taxable? Workers’ Compensation Benefits are Generally Not Taxable The general rule is that workers’ ...
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  • What is the Tort Lottery in Personal Injury Law?

    In our last blog post about car accidents , which covered holding defendants personally liable for a crash , we mentioned the “tort lottery.” This is a very difficult situation for victims to find themselves in, as their recovery depends on the affluence of the person who hurt them. Unfortunately, it can happen in a wide variety of ways in Missouri. The Tort Lottery The word “tort” is the ...
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  • The Penalties for Not Carrying Workers’ Compensation Insurance

    In Missouri, most employers are legally required to carry workers’ compensation insurance. By paying premiums to their insurance carrier, these companies ensure that injured workers have a large source of funding to recover compensation for their workplace injuries. Companies that are required to carry this insurance but who refuse to do so can face criminal penalties. Nevertheless, some companies ...
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  • Holding Defendants Personally Liable for a Car Crash

    It is a cliché in personal injury law to say that “you may be entitled to financial compensation.” However, getting the full amount that victims deserve after they have been hurt in a car accident is not always easy. Especially if the injuries will cost over six figures to recover from, the defendant’s insurance coverage may hit its policy limits. When this happens, you may have to hold the ...
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  • My Employer Does Not Have Workers’ Compensation Insurance: What Can I Do?

    Missouri workers’ compensation law requires all employers with five or more employees, and all construction companies with any employees at all, to carry workers’ compensation insurance. However, not all employers follow the rules . Many see workers’ compensation insurance premiums as an unnecessary or too costly expense. When they do not have insurance and you get hurt on the job, it becomes more ...
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  • Can I Sue a Drunk Driver for a Car Accident?

    A St. Joseph man pled guilty to driving while intoxicated (DWI) and causing a car accident that killed a local woman and her unborn child. The story raises a question that many accident victims ask: Can I recover compensation in a personal injury lawsuit from a drunk driver that hurt me? The answer is yes, sometimes. St. Joseph Man Pleads Guilty to DWI After Fatal Crash The fatal accident happened ...
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