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Personal Injury

Recent Posts in Personal Injury Category

  • 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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  • What Happens If Workers’ Compensation Law Changes During My Case?

    In our last blog post about workers’ compensation law in Missouri, we looked at whether you can file for workers’ compensation while pursuing a personal injury lawsuit . Under the “election of remedies” doctrine, you cannot benefit from both, as it could result in a double recovery. The case we looked at in that post, Hood v. Menech , hid another interesting aspect of Missouri workers’ ...
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  • U.S. Falls Behind in Fatal Car Accidents

    New data about car accidents in the United States paints a bleak picture about roadway safety here compared to abroad: While the U.S. was once among the safest places to travel, it now has a higher rate of fatalities from road accidents than any other rich nation in the world. According to one analysis, America’s car-centric transportation policies are to blame, as the roadway deaths ...
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  • Can You File for Workers’ Compensation and Sue at the Same Time?

    Occasionally, workers who have been hurt on the job have the option of either filing a claim for workers’ compensation or a personal injury lawsuit. When they have these options, though, the “election of remedies” doctrine prohibits them from benefitting from both, as this would lead to a double payment. A recent case at the Missouri Court of Appeals is an example. Workers’ Compensation Award ...
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  • Who is Liable for Car Accidents Caused by Pets?

    In our last blog post about car accidents , we discussed some instances where someone else could be held liable for your single-vehicle crash . While these accidents are more commonly caused by products liability issues, like a defective car part, occasionally a car accident will be caused by a loose pet, like a dog or cat. In these instances, the pet owner can be held liable even if they were not ...
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  • Missouri Legalizes Recreational Marijuana: What This Means for Workers’ Compensation Claims

    Now that Missouri has legalized recreational marijuana, it raises an important question for employees in the state: If you get hurt on the job while high on marijuana, can you still recover workers’ compensation ? The answer is sometimes, but you may find the claims process to be more difficult than if you were sober. Missouri Legalizes Recreational Marijuana One of the issues on yesterday’s ...
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  • Can Someone Else Be Liable in a Single-Vehicle Car Crash?

    In our last blog post about car accidents , we looked at whether injured passengers could hold their own driver liable for their losses. The specific crash that we discussed, though, was a single-vehicle accident. That raised an important issue in personal injury law: In single-vehicle accidents, is the driver of that vehicle always responsible for the crash? The answer is no. Aside from the ...
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  • What is an Open Medical Workers’ Compensation Award in Missouri?

    In some cases, workers’ compensation claims can recover what are known as “open medical expenses.” While the circumstances that can lead to these “medical open” awards are narrow, they appeared in one recent case before the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission (LIRC) . Commission Affirms “Open Medical” Award The case, Burns v. Wal-Mart , involved a cashier who tripped and fell over a wooden ...
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  • Can Injured Passengers Hold Their Driver Liable for a Car Accident?

    A serious single-vehicle car accident west of St. Joseph put five people in the hospital. The crash is a great example of how the injured passengers in a car can recover the compensation they need after an accident from the driver who was responsible for the crash. Single-Vehicle Crash Sends Five to the Hospital According to both the news report and the police report , the accident occurred just ...
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  • The Jurisdiction of Missouri’s Workers’ Compensation Law

    Each state has its own workers’ compensation system. The small differences between those employment laws can drastically alter how much compensation injured workers can receive after a work injury. To prevent hurt workers from shopping around for a workers’ compensation system that gives them the best benefits , each state has rules that limit the jurisdiction of their workers’ compensation laws. ...
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  • Is Drugged Driving Dangerous or Not?

    As more states in the U.S. legalize marijuana for medicinal or recreational purposes, the use of the drug has exploded. So too has the number of people with marijuana in their systems at the time of a car accident . But determining whether the marijuana was actually the cause of the accident, or how dangerous it is to drive while under the influence of the drug, is not as easy and simple as that. ...
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  • Missouri’s Process for Workers’ Compensation Claims

    Hopefully, employees never have to go through the workers’ compensation system, because doing so means that you suffered a significant injury. However, for those that do have to rely on workers’ compensation for their recovery, the process can be confusing. Here, the workers’ compensation and personal injury lawyers at the Smith Law Office provide an overview of the process. Contact them online or ...
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  • Parking Lot Accidents Can Be Severe

    In our last couple of blog posts about car accidents , we have looked at who has the right of way in a parking lot and how common parking lot accidents can be . The general conception of these accidents is that they are trivial. However, that is not always the case. Some of them can be quite significant, especially when the victim is elderly or a child. Unfortunately, these victims are likely the ...
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  • 8 Reasons a Workers’ Compensation Claim Can Get Denied

    In Missouri, if you are an employee and you get hurt on the job, you can be entitled to workers’ compensation . However, workers’ compensation is a type of insurance: Your employer pays regular premiums to an insurance company so the company pays for certain costs of workplace injuries that fall within the policy’s coverage. Importantly, some workplace accidents and injuries are going to fall ...
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  • How Common are Car Accidents in Parking Lots?

    In a recent blog post, we looked at who has the right of way in a parking lot . This might seem like a trivial topic for personal injury law . However, parking lot car accidents are more common than you might expect, and can be far more devastating than you would think , given the low speeds of the crash. In this post, we will look at how common these accidents are. In our next post about car ...
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  • My Employer Denied My Workers’ Compensation Claim. What Can I Do?

    If you get hurt on the job, you can report the injury to your boss and initiate the workers’ compensation process. However, there are times when your employer or the workers’ compensation insurance company denies the claim. While there are numerous legal justifications for them to do so, it does not necessarily end your case. Why Would a Claim for Workers’ Compensation Get Denied? As we will show ...
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  • Car Accident Fatalities Increase 7 Percent

    A new federal study estimates that fatalities from car accidents increased at some of the highest non-lockdown levels in decades earlier this year, with Missouri seeing a higher increase than the national average. The data paints an alarming picture of roadway safety. Study Estimates a 7 Percent Increase in Accident Fatalities This month, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) ...
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  • Can Workers’ Compensation Cause an SSDI Offset?

    In our last blog post about workers’ compensation , we looked at Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits , and when injured workers were eligible for them. One thing that we mentioned but did not detail was what happened when you receive both workers’ compensation benefits and SSDI benefits. The SSDI Offset Injured workers can recover both workers’ compensation benefits as well as ...
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  • Who Has the Right of Way in a Parking Lot?

    Lots of car accidents happen in parking lots in St. Joseph. Some of them can be surprisingly serious , especially when a pedestrian is involved. Understanding who has the right of way in a parking lot is not always easy, but it can help you avoid making a decision that puts others at risk and let you know when someone else can be held liable if you got hit and hurt. The Three Different Areas of a ...
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