The first thing to do if you are involved in a car accident in St. Louis or anywhere else in Missouri is to contact local law enforcement by dialing 911.  If you car accident takes place on highway in Missouri, the 911 call will be routed to the closest EMT service and the Missouri State Highway Patrol.  Ambulance personnel and law enforcement will typically arrive within several minutes of the call.  If you car accident involves only minor damage and no serious injuries, Missouri law requires that you move off of the highway onto the shoulder, as long as this can be accomplished safely without endangering yourself and others on the road.

If the car accident takes place in a rural area in Missouri, you are still best off by calling 911.  Emergency operators will route the dispatch to the closest ambulance service and likely to a local sheriff's office.  If the car accident involves serious or life-threatening injuries, 911 operators will likely dispatch AIR EVAC or another life-flight service that can arrive at the scene quick and transport injured drivers and/or passengers to the closest level-one trauma center.  Many rural area hospital and med stops are not equipped to handle catastrophic injuries that can result from head-on car accidents in outlying areas throughout Missouri. 

If you witness a car accident, it is also recommended that you dial 911 and report the accident to authorities.  This is important for several reasons.  First, the persons injured in the crash may be incapacitated or unable to locate their phone to call for help.  Second, persons injured in car accidents sometimes find it hard to communicate due to shock or excess adrenaline in the blood supply.  Third, when you contact authorities, they will ask for your contact information in the event that you need to provide witness testimony in the future.  This can be extremely beneficial to assisting in the resolution of an injury claim or property damage claim down the line.  Often times it comes down to the testimony of independent witnesses to a car accident.

You have been injured in a car accident in Missouri.  Paramedics show up at the scene, place you on a spine board, and transport you to the local emergency room.  Your car and your body are both damaged.  That's what car insurance is for right?  Not necessarily.  Insurance companies are in business to please their board members and shareholders....that's it!  Don't think for a second that an insurance claims adjuster has your interests at heart.  The fact of the matter is that without the assistance of a St. Louis personal injury lawyer, your chances of fair compensation are unlikely, at best, and here is why......

Insurance claims adjusters know that injury victims are not well educated on the laws in Missouri that cover medical treatment history, negligence, comparative fault, or right to monetary compensation.  Right from the very start, the claims adjuster and the car accident injury victim are on an unequal footing.  To make matters worse, the injury victim is likely still under duress from the accident itself, resulting in a situation where he or she may be willing to accept a low ball settlement offer.  Insurance adjusters use every tactic in the book, including a request for 'all of your medical records dating back to birth', obtainting a 'recorded statement', claiming 'comparative fault', and the list goes on and on.

The Missouri injury attorneys at Schultz Legal Group deal with unfair insurance claims adjusters every single day.  In fact, each and every client of the firm has one thing in common, they are all personal injury victims.  We turn the table on insurance companies and give them a dose of their own medicine.  The result is recorvery of fair compensation for each injured client.  If the adjuster continues to act in bad faith, we file a lawsuit and take the matter to the courts.  Often times our cases are settled prior to a trial, but nevertheless, the case may have to involve our court system in order to get the attention of the 'decision makers' at the negligent driver's insurance company.

Car insurance policies themselves are very difficult to interpret, even for lawyers and judges!  For this reason, an injury victim typically does not realize that numerous avenues of financial recovery that may be available to compensate for the injury.  Third-party liability, underinsured motorist coverage, uninsured motorist coverage, medical payments coverage, and other coverages can sometimes be 'stacked' by a personal injury lawyer to obtain substantial compensation for an injury.  To discuss the available avenues of financial compensation and recovery in YOUR case, call our personal injury hotline at (866) 840-3636, or (314) 448-0934 to speak with an experienced personal injury attorney immediately.  You may also email our injury lawyers for a response.

Accutane settlement drug lawyers recently obtained a $25 million dollar jury verdict against Accutane for causing inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) to a New Jersey woman.  The American College of Gastroenterology addressed the causal link between Accutane and IBD in an article published in November 2009.  Roche, the manufacturer of Accutane, first faced claims of injury in 2000.  Now, Accutane litigation is centralized in two states, Florida and New Jersey.  Roche continues to deny the link between IBD and isotretinoin, the active ingredient found in its anti-acne medication Accutane. 

In five trials between May 2007 and February 2010, juries found for Accutane injury victims and awarded verdicts of $2.6 million, $7 million, $10.6 million, $13 million, and $25 million.  Our Accutane injury lawyers are alleging that the warnings issued by Roche were insufficient and that the company knew there was a direct link between IBD and Accutane use.  One juror was recently questioned following an Accutane trial and was quoted as saying "it was all about the wording on the label....It didn't give a clear-cut explanation as to what you can get by taking this drug...that's my issue, was it properly labeled?"

Persons taking Accutane must be very careful and monitor their health closely.  This is a very strong anti-acne medication.  If you experience any symptoms associated with inflammatory bowel disease, contact an Accutane litigation attorney immediately following a consultation with your physician.  Accutane injury lawyers are available 24 hours a day to discuss your case.  Contact an Accutane lawyer by calling (866) 840-3636 and get your questions answered immediately.   

St. Louis police and accident investigation teams are still pouring over evidence from the scene of a fatal Missouri tractor-trailer crash that occurred on westbound I-64 yesterday morning.  Both lanes of the highway were closed for several hours as authorities collected evidence and removed the mangled truck from the roadway.  Witnesses claim that the tractor-trailer was in the fast lane when it suddenly veered into the median and struck a concrete bridge support beam.  The cab of the truck was pulverized and the driver was pronounced dead at the scene.  The Taylor Road overpass also remained closed as structural engineers examined whether or not the bridge was safe for motorists to traverse.

Fortunately, the truck driver was able to keep the big rig from striking other surrounding passenger vehicles.  Had the out of control truck crashed into other vehicles, there could have been additional fatalities or serious personal injuries caused.  Typically truck accidents involve at least one other vehicle on the road, even if that is another tractor-trailer.  These big rigs can weigh in excess of 60,000 pounds, that's 30 tons!  That amount of weight is difficult to keep from bouncing off other smaller passenger vehicles or stationary objects. 

Tractor-trailer crashes in Missouri can be serious incidents of injury and death.  Our state has seen its fair share of high profile truck accidents throughout the state.  This has also lead to concerns of whether there is strict enough legislation to assure safety in the commercial trucking industry.  Distracted driving is a lead concern in that campaign, and whether truck drivers should be banned from using cell phones behind the wheel.  A recent influx of fatal rear-end truck crashes in southern and central Missouri have been the product of distracted truck driving.  It remains a heated issue amongst motorists and the commercial trucking industry.  Missouri tractor-trailer accident lawyers remain dedicated to advocacy for improved safety in the trucking industry.

St. Louis police and accident investigation teams are still pouring over evidence from the scene of a fatal Missouri tractor-trailer crash that occurred on westbound I-64 yesterday morning.  Both lanes of the highway were closed for several hours as authorities collected evidence and removed the mangled truck from the roadway.  Witnesses claim that the tractor-trailer was in the fast lane when it suddenly veered into the median and struck a concrete bridge support beam.  The cab of the truck was pulverized and the driver was pronounced dead at the scene.  The Taylor Road overpass also remained closed as structural engineers examined whether or not the bridge was safe for motorists to traverse.

Fortunately, the truck driver was able to keep the big rig from striking other surrounding passenger vehicles.  Had the out of control truck crashed into other vehicles, there could have been additional fatalities or serious personal injuries caused.  Typically truck accidents involve at least one other vehicle on the road, even if that is another tractor-trailer.  These big rigs can weigh in excess of 60,000 pounds, that's 30 tons!  That amount of weight is difficult to keep from bouncing off other smaller passenger vehicles or stationary objects. 

Tractor-trailer crashes in Missouri can be serious incidents of injury and death.  Our state has seen its fair share of high profile truck accidents throughout the state.  This has also lead to concerns of whether there is strict enough legislation to assure safety in the commercial trucking industry.  Distracted driving is a lead concern in that campaign, and whether truck drivers should be banned from using cell phones behind the wheel.  A recent influx of fatal rear-end truck crashes in southern and central Missouri have been the product of distracted truck driving.  It remains a heated issue amongst motorists and the commercial trucking industry.  Missouri tractor-trailer accident lawyers remain dedicated to advocacy for improved safety in the trucking industry.

Roche, the makers of the strong acne medication called Accutane, have come under fire recently due to a substantial quantity of Accutane injury claims being made against the company.  Accutane is a prescription medication used to treat severe cases of acne.  Regulators fear that Accutane can cause serious side-effects, including Accutane birth defects, inflammatory bowel disease, suicide, and liver complications.  Accutane injury settlement claims are now being filed against Roche and compensation may be awarded to those who qualify.

Accutane birth defects can result in brain injury and eye, nose, ear, and other skin deformities that can be caused by just ONE dose of Accutane by an expectant mother.  Accutane birth defect lawyers will seek advice from medical experts and other physicians to determine if your child's birth defects were caused by Accutane toxicity.  Accutane can cause excessive Vitamin A deposits in the tissues, which can result in trauma to the liver.  Persons considering an Accutane prescription should do their homework before using this powerful drug. 

Accutane side-effect lawyers will typically file a claim against Roche on a contingency fee basis.  This means that your drug defect injury lawyer will not charge attorneys fees unless he or she wins your case and obtains compensation for your injury claim.  This allows equal opportunity to high quality legal representation, regardless of whether the victim is rich, middle class, or low-income.  Accutane lawyers will vigorously evaluate the merits of your case, and if a link exists between your use of this drug and the injuries sustained, your personal injury lawyer will seek compensation in the form of a settlement or verdict.