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Cell phones and driving don't mix, and the research is there to prove it!  The New England Journal of Medicine and the British Medical Journal recently completed studies that confirm the that driving while on the phone drastically increases the risk of getting into a serious or fatal accident.  In fact, drivers who use cell phones have a slower reaction time on the road than a drunk driver!  This data is a rude awakening for all of us that conduct business, talk to family and friends, or check email on our phones from behind the wheel of a moving car.  This danger is also only going to rise, as cell phone users rose to almost 276 million in 2009.

Take for instance the story of an investment broker who was on his phone in New York when he drove through a red light, striking a young man on a motorcycle and killing him.  In 2004, an attorney was on the phone when she hit and killed a teenage girl.  The law firm the lawyer worked for eventually paid a settlement and the attorney was disbarred.  These two careless drivers aren't necessarily 'bad people' but they did make a conscious decision to risk life and limb to talk on the phone.  Is there ANY phone call that is THAT important?  We don't think so.  And rest assured, our personal injury lawyers request cell phone records in each and every car accident case to verify who was on their phone at the time of the crash.  We even request our own client's cell phone records to make sure they were not on the phone at the time of the crash and thus partially to blame.

In situations where we discover that the other driver was using a cell phone at the time of the crash, our lawyers are taking it one step further to determine whether that phone call was anything "work-related."  If we determine that the call was work related, our lawsuit will also include the employer of the negligent driver who caused the crash.  In a claim against the employer, our lawyers will prevail if we can prove:

• The driver was in the 'course and scope' of his/her employment at the time of the crash; and
• The employer did not have a policy against using cell phones while driving a car; and
• The use of the cell phone contributed to the cause of the crash.

Many people are unaware how dangerous drivers can be when using their cell phone from behind the wheel.  How many times have you seen the guy driving down the highway, veered in and out of his lane, only to pull up beside him and see him text messaging or talking on his phone?  It happens all the time.  Unfortunately, preventable car accidents take place each day due to the decision we make to use our phone.  Think twice.  Call 866.840.3636 or 314.448.0934 for more information.

If you have just been hit by a negligent driver or distracted driver, chances are high that you are in the hospital or seeking treatment from your primary care physician.  The last thing you are thinking of is locating a personal injury lawyer or car accident attorney.  However, you should locate one sooner than later so that evidence and other items of importance are not tampered with or destroyed.  Evidence collected at the crash site may prove critical in presenting a personal injury claim to an insurance company down the line.

The statute of limitations in Missouri for most personal injury claims is five years.  A statute of limitations is essentially a time frame of which you are permitted to file a personal injury lawsuit against negligent parties.  If your case has value in excess of $25,000, Missouri law allows you to file the case in a "Curcuit" court.  There are variations and exceptions to the standard statute of limitations, including but not limited to circumstances involving death, medical malpractice, and intentional acts.  This is another reason why it behooves you to locate a competent attorney at your earliest convenience following an incident involving negligence such as a car accident.

Locating a personal injury lawyer can be as easy as using the Internet, talking to a friend, or picking up the yellow pages.  There are many choices when looking into legal representation for a car accident and the search can become overwhelming.  Our advice is to ask as many questions as possible and if the situation feels 'weird', then the fit is probably not a good one.  You need to feel comfortable and confident with your lawyer.  Your lawyer should be dedicated to personal injury law and should not be a general practitioner.  Your lawyer should give his or her cell phone number to you for emergencies.  Your lawyer should pledge to update you on the status of your case on regular intervals.  If you are looking for all of these things in a personal injury lawyer, call 314.448.0934 or 866.840.3636 for more information and a free case evaluation.

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.

Missouri car accidents are traumatic incidents that typically result in both emotional and physical damages.  Following a serious car accident in Missouri, a personal injury victim has up to five (5) years to file a personal injury claim.  Claims for compensation are filed with the responsible party's insurance company.  A Missouri car accident lawyer or Missouri personal injury attorney will typically file a settlement demand with the defendant's insurance company in an effort to resolve the case without the need for litigation.  If the claim cannot be settled, a lawsuit will be filed in the jurisdiction where the crash took place due to Missouri's venue laws. 

If a lawsuit is filed, a plaintiff still has the opportunity to settle his or her case prior to trial.  There are many opportunities to settle a personal injury claim and statistically, over 95% of all injury lawsuits are resolved prior to a trial.  As a Missouri car accident lawyer, we are only able to settle a case with the express authority of the client.  One of our jobs as a lawyer is to advocate for fair compensation for all personal injury claims.  A settlement is fair if it accounts for both economic damages (medical bills, lost wages, prescription costs, etc) and non-economic damages (pain & suffering, emotional pain).  There is no magic formula to determine what constitutes a fair personal injury settlement.  Claims must always be valued on an individual case by case basis.

When determining what is fair compensation for your car accident personal injury claim, factors such as venue, property damage, comparative fault, crash scene dynamics, and other aspects must be carefully weighed.  The amount of your medical bills is never a determining factor of the amount of compensation that should be demanded from an insurance company claims adjuster.  Many attorneys overlook subtle aspects of a case that can actually play a heavy factor on what a jury would really award if the case were to go to trial.  It is important to discuss ALL aspects of your case with a qualified Missouri personal injury lawyer who has experience in court and mediation.  Our lawyers are recognized as a Top 100 trial lawyers by the American Trial Lawyers Association and are members of the elite Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum.  Because we are respected by defense attorneys and insurance companies, our St. Louis personal injury lawyers are able to obtain substantial compensation for our client's personal injury claims.

As a St. Louis Personal Injury Lawyer, we present injury claims to insurance companies on a daily basis.  Many of them involve the following types of incidents:

• St. Louis car accident injury claims
• St. Louis tractor-trailer accident injury claims
• St. Louis motorcycle accident injury claims
• St. Louis pedestrian injury claims
• St. Louis brain injury claims
• St. Louis spine injury claims
• St. Louis construction accident injury claims
• St. Louis dram shop claims
• St. Louis products liability claims

Anytime our lawyers present a serious injury claim to an insurance company, the claims adjuster makes a decision whether to pay or deny the claim.  In situations where an insurance adjuster improperly or hastily denies a claim, an insurance bad faith claim may become viable down the line.  I say down the line because a bad faith claim will only accrue (become viable) upon a jury verdict.  When a plaintiff in a personal injury lawsuit obtains a jury verdict in his or her favor, and if the insurance claims adjuster had previously denied that claim, the defendant may have a bad faith claim against his own insurance company for failing to pay the claim when it could have, thus exposing the defendant to an excess verdict. 

When an injury victim obtains a verdict in excess of the defendant's policy limits of insurance, the defendant's personal assets then become available to the plaintiff for sale and satisfaction of that excess verdict.  A string of Missouri cases deal specifically with insurance bad faith law and direct insurance companies to be very careful when evaluating the merits of a personal injury claim. Ganaway v. Shelter Mutual Ins., 795 S.W.2d 544 (Mo. App. 1990); Craig v. Iowa Kemper Ins. Co, 565 S.W.2d 716, 711 (Mo. App. W.D. 1978); Grewell v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins., 162 S.W.3d 503, 409 (Mo. App. W.D. 2005); Freeman v. Leader Nat'l Ins. Co., 58 S.W.3d 590, 598 (Mo. App. E.D. 2001); and Zumwalt v. Utilities Insurance Co., 228 S.W.2d 750 753-56 (Mo. 1950).

Insurance companies are constantly denying meritorious St. Louis personal injury claims and they must be held accountable for their actions.  Contact a St. Louis personal injury lawyer at Schultz & Myers to find out if the insurance claims adjuster in your case is acting in bad faith. 

Our Missouri Personal Injury Lawyers have the unfortunate task of encountering fatal car accident wrongful death claims on a regular basis.  The situation is particularly traumatic for family members and understanding Missouri's wrongful death statute can be confusing.  Because in Missouri, only certain surviving family members are permitted to file a Missouri death claim on behalf of a person fatally injured in a car accident.  Those persons are broken up into three (3) classes, with surviving spouses and children getting first opportunity at filing any wrongful death claim.  Even the forms and type of compensation permitted in a fatal car accident wrongful death claim is limited in Missouri.

Wrongful death claims and wrongful death settlements for compensation must be approved in a Missouri court.  A Judge will hear evidence put on by all persons with a claim filed on behalf of a fatal car accident victim.  The Judge will make sure that all classes of persons have notice of a potential claim and right to recovery before he or she will approve any settlement proposed by the parties.  Occasionally an insurance claims adjuster will attempt to propose a wrongful death settlement disbursement to surviving family members.  It becomes critical to immediately discuss your options with a Missouri personal injury lawyer before accepting any proposed wrongful death settlement.  In certain situations there may be excess liability insurance or an umbrella policy that will provide extra compensation to surviving wrongful death claimants.  Insurance companies rarely, if ever, volunteer this excess coverage as applicable.

Typically a wrongful death claim is filed in the jurisdiction and venue in which the Missouri fatal car accident took place.  Most judges require the attendance of ALL claimants at a settlement approval hearing, although some judges will accept sworn affidavits in lieu of live testimony if attendance would cause undue hardship.  Wrongful death claimants who live out of the state of Missouri may sometimes use these affidavits in place of traveling to court in Missouri.

A Missouri wrongful death attorney at Schultz & Myers is available to discuss your case and concerns at (314) 448-0934, or toll-free at (866) 840-3636.

Car accidents happen everyone in and around the city of St. Louis Missouri.  Some of these car accidents are more severe than others, resulting in personal injuries to drivers and passengers.  Victims are transported to level 1 trauma centers such as Barnes Jewish or St. Johns Mercy Medical Center for treatment for their injuries.  For those accidents that take place in rural areas around St. Louis, Air Evac or Arch Air may be dispatched to the scene of the crash to airlift injury victims to the quality hospitals located in the city.  A typical admission into one of these hospitals will cost $5,000-$10,000 depending upon the level of diagnostic treatment ordered by emergency room physicians.  X-rays, MRI, and CAT Scans are some of the most frequently ordered procedures when a car accident injury victim arrives in the emergency room.

St. Louis car accident injury claims for compensation can occasionally be settled with the insurance company by a St. Louis personal injury lawyer.  For those car accident injury cases that cannot be settled for fair compensation by an injury lawyer, a lawsuit can be filed against the negligent driver and his/her car insurance company.  Missouri venue laws require a Missouri personal injury lawyer to file a car accident lawsuit in the jurisdiction in which the crash took place.  So car accidents in St. Louis City must be filed in the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis.  Car accidents in St. Charles County would be filed in the Circuit Court of St. Charles County, and so on. 

St. Louis car accident claims for compensation can include several theories of negligence and prayer for several forms of financial recovery, including compensation for lost wages, past and future medical bills, pain & suffering, and emotional damages.  A Missouri personal injury lawyer can offer advice as to what forms of recovery apply to each type of injury case and the overall value of the claim. 

Have you been injured in a car accident in the St. Louis area?  Don't attempt to negotiate any settlement with an insurance company without first consulting with a personal injury lawyer at Schultz & Myers LLC.  Never sign a medical record release authorization or submit to a recorded statement.  Doing so will expose yourself to the games that insurance company claims adjusters play with personal injury victims.  Call the Schultz & Myers car accident injury victim hotline at (314) 448-0934 or toll-free at (866) 840-3636.

With the upcoming 4th of July weekend approaching, many motorists will be hitting the highways in search of their holiday destination.  With the influx of traffic, there will be Missouri car accidents this weekend.  Some of those accidents will involve alcohol, others will be caused by distracted driving.  One of the most common causes of serious car accidents in Missouri is driver distraction or inattention.  The safest way to avoid a car accident of this type is to keep off your cellphone and keep eyes on the road. 

Traffic on Interstates 70 and 44 will be heavy this weekend.  Despite the 70 mph speed limit, traffic will be slow and congested at times.  This presents a real danger, as cars and trucks that are used to traveling at freeway speeds for set distances will be faced with slowing traffic.  This is precisely what caused the recent fatal tractor-trailer crash in Herculaneum Missouri a few weeks ago.  In that instance, a distracted truck driver failed to notice slowing traffic and violently collided into seven passenger cars that were slowing in traffic congestion. 

If you notice traffic slowing ahead of you, check your rear-view mirror for fast-approaching vehicles.  If necessary, active your emergency flashers briefly to grab the attention of motorists traveling behind you, including large trucks.  If that doesn't work, your last resort may be to pull off onto the shoulder of the roadway to avoid a collision.  Bottom line is pay attention to your sorroundings on the highway and have a safe holiday weekend.  You don't want to be calling a St. Louis personal injury lawyer this weekend due to a preventable car accident.

As a St. Louis Car Accident Lawyer, I am always asked by new client what the value of their car accident injury claim is.  The answer is not a simple one.  Any personal injury lawyer that is able to opine as to the value of an injury claim after first meeting with a new client is either purposely or mistakingly misleading the client.  The true value of an injury claim can only be determined when the victim has completed treatment OR when all treating doctors are in a position to forecast what the cost of future medical treatment will be.  Even the best doctors are not fortune tellers, they cannot forecast future medical costs with absolute certainty.  After it is all said and done, a lawyer can only offer a ballpark of what a car accident compensation claim is worth.

Compensation for injuries sustained in a serious car accident in Missouri depends on many factors, some of which have nothing to do with the injury victim.  For instance, the venue where the lawsuit will be filed factors into value.  Venue is a procedural law in which a lawyer must observe and file a civil injury lawsuit in a certain Missouri county or city circuit court.  The current venue laws in Missouri require a plaintiff to file his or her injury lawsuit in the county or city where the car accident took place.  Rural venues such as Audrain County, Butler County, and Clay County typically offer rather conservative jury pools, where a plaintiff can reasonably anticipate a verdict that is lower than an urban county such as St. Louis County or St. Charles County.  Venue is a value indicator that is often overlooked by less experienced Missouri personal injury lawyers.

Medical bills, lost wages, future medical costs, emotional damages, and pain & suffering all play a large part of how to value a car accident personal injury claim.  Medical bills and lost wages make up the economic damage component of the claim, while emotional damages and pain & suffering comprise the non-economic damage portion of the claim.  Age, marital status, economic status, and other factors also effect the value of the claim.  Younger plaintiff's can typically expect to obtain more compensation for their personal injuries, especially if the injuries are permanent.  Keep in mind that even soft-tissue injuries such as disc herneation and whiplash injuries can be categorized as permanent.

The first step to understanding the value of your Missouri car accident injury claim is to contact a St. Louis personal injury lawyer.  An experienced injury lawyer can discuss all the components that will effect the value of your specific case and offer advice on how to protect this value from being minimized by an insurance claims adjuster.  Contact a Missouri personal injury lawyer by calling (866) 840-3636 or locally at (314) 448-0934.