I am proud to announce that this past Wednesday, a federal jury returned a verdict in the case of Burroughs v. Zurich American Insurance Company et al in the amount of five-hundred thousand dollars.  As a Missouri Truck Accident Lawyer, this was especially gratifying given that the two insurance companies against whom we proceeded to trial thought that they had absolutely no liability.  Of the two insurance companies, one refused to offer a dollar before trial, while the other offered a total of six thousand dollars.  Ironically, before trial, I had told the insurer that offered six thousand that I would recommend settlement to my client if they would pay ten-thousand dollars.  They refused to do so. 

 

The case centers around a car accident that occurred on March 9, 2007.  At the time, my client was working as an employer for the Flying J.  He was hauling a tanker truck east bound on Interstate 70 near Bryan Road in Wentzville, Missouri.  At that time, he was driving in the far left lane.  In the lane to the right of him was another tractor trailer owned by Mackie Moving Systems Corporation.  They are a trucking company out of Canada.  As the two went under the Bryan Road overpass, the Mackie truck suddenly swerved into my client's lane.  This caused my client to hit the brakes and also swerve over to the left in which he nearly missed the median.  While doing so, he was fighting his wheel and jerking it back and forth to avoid a bigger collision.  There were two eye witnesses from the scene.  One of them explained what caused the Macki e truck to swerve over into my client's lane.  That was a white car that was coming off of the Bryan Road overpass.  As it got to Interstate 70, it swerved left into another lane when it had no room to do so.  When it did this, it caused a red truck to swerve left into the Mackie tractor trailer.  This caused the Mackie truck to swerve left into my client.  The white car kept on going and no one knows the identity of that driver.  Thus, under the law, is considered an uninsured motorist.

 

Thus, the case proceeded against Mackie Moving Systems Corporation and the two insurance companies.  The reason that we were able to sue the two insurance companies was that both policies carried a type of coverage known as uninsured motorist coverage.  This type of coverage will compensate a person for injuries caused by an unknown motorist-in this case the driver of the white car.

 

As a result of the incident, my client suffered a herniated disc.  He endured fifteen months of medical treatment  stretching out over fifty-five different doctor's appointments and culminating in a L5-S1 spinal fusion.  At trial, the jury heard about the eighty-eight thousand dollars in medical bills charged to my client as a result of all of this medical treatment.  The trial lasted three days and was very contentiously fought.  During closing arguments, I asked the jury to send my clients home with nothing if they did not believe what I had been telling them throughout trial.  However, if they did believe what I was telling them, I asked the jury to make the insurance companies to pay my clients every last dime of what they deserved.  Specifically, I asked them to return a verdict for five-hundred thousand dollars.  After three and half hours of deliberation, the jury did just that. 

 

I am extremely pleased with the result and more importantly, I am extremely pleased for my clients.  This was the culmination of two and a half years of litigation during which time they felt like they had been called liars by the insurance company they had been paying over the years to protect them.  This case is just an example that if you fight hard, and have clients who tell the truth, jurors will still award a fair amount. 

While reading the news, I came across a story about a Tunas, Missouri teenager who was killed by a drunk driver in Ozark, Missouri on May 31.  The story reported that Joshua Bridges, 21, of Fair Grove was killed when the car in which he was riding turned in front of a truck.  The car was being driven by 17-year-old Karena Smith who was recently charged with first-degree involuntary manslaughter and two counts of second-degree assault.  The charges were based on Smith's reported BAC of .191.  This is more than twice Missouri's legal limit.  She was also driving on a revoked license due to pleading guilty to a DUI less than two weeks earlier.

Also injured in the car wreck were Ashley Pierce and Shannon Mitchell.  Pierce was riding in the car with Smith.  It is reported she suffered a head injury (brain injury), concussion, and a broken pelvis.  Mitchell was driving the truck and was said to have suffered a broken wrist. 

As a Missouri Car Accident Lawyer, I wanted to use this case to illustrate some examples.  First, we can all acknowledge the tragic nature of this accident and surely all of our hearts go out to all the families of those involved, especially to the Bridges.  As for the legal issues involved, they revolve around the different types of insurance which may be involved here.

First, if Pierce maintained any automobile liability insurance, surely it must pay the full extent of its policy limits to everyone involved.  But since she was a minor, I assume she lived at home with parents.  Due to a very recent Missouri Supreme Court case, their separate policies of automobile insurance (if they have them) can also be made to compensate the injured parties. 

Moreover, if the car belonged to Pierce's parents, then there is probably a valid claim for negligent entrustment against them for allowing her to use the car (if they in fact did allow her to do so).  If they did, then their homeowner's insurance may also be responsible for compensating the injury victims.  Most homeowner's insurance have a $300,000.00 policy limit.

Also, given the nature of Pierce's actions, her insurance company can be made to pay the injured parties immediately.  If it delays, then a great Missouri car accident attorney will obtain a judgment and then sue her insurance company for bad faith refusal to settle and obtain the full extent of the judgment.  In this type of case, a judgment may well exceed into the millions of dollars. 

Finally, the parties involved may have underinsured motorist coverage.  If they do, that will also come into play as Pierce's insurance company will surely have to pay the full extent of its policy limits.  In Missouri, most of these policies contain a lot of fine print so that they can try and get out of paying.  For example, if one accepts a settlement from the responsible party's insurance company before obtaining permission from their own insurance, then the underinsured motorist coverage can be voided.

Josh Myers is a premier Missouri car accident attorney.  Over the years he has recovered millions of dollars in verdicts and settlements.  His achievements have garnered many recognitions including induction into the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum, induction into ATLA as a Top 100 Trial Attorney in Missouri, and being named as one of St. Louis' Top 10 personal injury lawyers by CitySpur.com.  He handles severe injury cases throughout all of Missouri and Illinois and can be reached at 888-956-2487.  He is also the author of The 7 Biggest Mistakes That Can Destroy Your Car Accident Case which is offered free of charge at his Missouri Personal Injury Lawyer website. 

Recently, we were able to settle one of our client's Missouri car accident cases for the complete $150,000.00 policy limit.  More important for our client, we were able to achieve this settlement without even having to file the lawsuit.  Our client was injured when she swerved to avoid an unidentified driver who had crossed into her lane.  In doing so, she lost control of her car and went off the side of the road striking a tree.  She then went to the hospital and followed up with her family physician who instructed her to "take it easy."  When she called us, she was still experiencing a lot of back pain and we helped make arrangements for her to see an orthopedic specialist.  An MRI was taken of the spine and it was confirmed that she in fact suffered a herniated disc in her neck and back.  However, because we could not identify the driver who crossed the centerline, we obviously could not make a claim against his insurance.
 
As a Missouri car accident lawyer, we often see cases where the wreck is caused by an unknown driver.  Accordingly, we then investigated and found out that our client had uninsured motorist coverage on her car insurance in the amount of $50,000.00.  However, we also found that she was insured for three (3) different cars.  We were then able to prove to her insurance company that Missouri law allows drivers such as our client to combine the available uninsured motorist coverage for each car insured.  This is known as "stacking."  Essentially, because she had $50,000.00 of uninsured motorist coverage on each car, we were successful in making the argument that she ultimately had $150,000.00 in coverage since there were three (3) cars.
 
Further, her insurance company initially argued that they were not liable because we could not prove the existence of this unknown driver.  They said it was our responsibility to provide proof, beyond our client's own testimony, that the wreck was caused by another driver additional driver.  I wholeheartedly disagreed with their position that we had to show proof beyond our client's statement (were they calling her a liar?), however, it did not matter because one of the first things we do when we get a case is to obtain statements of the police officer and all the witnesses.  These witnesses did in fact confirm that there was an unknown driver who forced our client off the road.  Thus, once our client had completed treatment, we gathered up all the records and sent a settlement demand package to the insurance company with all these documents.  We told them they had thirty (30) days to pay the full limits of the policy or we were going to file suit, not only for our client's injuries, but also for Vexatious Refusal to Pay.  This is an underused law in Missouri and holds that insurance companies are subjected to additional penalties and attorney's fees when they refuse to pay an insurance claim without justification.  On the twenty-seventh day, the insurance adjuster called me back and said that they would in fact be paying the full amount of limits.
 
Joshua P. Myers is the president of Myers Injury Law and a Missouri car accident lawyer.  His practice focuses entirely on personal injury law.  He has been inducted into the Order of Barristers for Outstanding Oral Advocacy and has also been honored into the American Association for Justice which is limited to the Top 100 Trial Lawyers in each state.  If you've been injured in a car wreck and would like to speak with a Missouri car wreck attorney, please feel free to call Josh at 888.956.2487.  He handles catastrophic injury cases throughout all of Missouri and Illinois.  Additionally, there is never any fee to speak about a case and there is never any fee until we recover on your behalf.

In a tragic accident, an Illinois man was involved in a fatal accident recently while riding his motorcycle.  Barry Willingham, from Belleville, IL, was killed when when a car struck his motorcycle from behind.  Willingham was thrown from his motorcycle and later died from his injuries at the hospital. 

After the collision, the car, which was stolen, lost control and hit a utility pole.  Two occupants then exited the vehicle and ran away.  It is believed the car was racing another vehicle on the street which also drove away. 

St. Louis Police are currently investigating the incident but it is unknown if they have any leads on the identity, please contact the Metropolitan St. Louis Department or our lawfirm at 888-956-2487.


It is unknown whether Willingham's family is pursuing a wrongful death claim.  Many people may not know this, you do not have to know the identity of the person responsible in a hit-and-run accident.  In those situations, the family can bring a wrongful death lawsuit against the injured persons own insurance company.  This is because virtually every person with car insurance has a type of insurance called uninsured motorist coverage.  With uninsured motorist coverage, your own car insurance company stands in the shoes of the person responsible.  This is a type of insurance that you pay for so don't be afraid to use it.  Additionally, your rates should not be affected since the accident will not be classified as your fault (unless you were at fault).

If you have been in a hit-and-run accident and would like to speak with a St. Louis Car Accident Lawyer, call Myers Injury Law at 888-956-2487.  As a personal injury lawyer, we handle cases throughout all of Missouri and Illinois.  It's always free to talk about your case and we front all case expenses and do not get paid until we recover for you. 

I recently saw the new commercial by All-State.  The scene is set in a court room just as a verdict is announced.  The defendant is a young man about the age of eighteen.  After the $100,000.00 verdict is read, the plaintiff's attorney walks over the defendant's counsel and indicates that they will begin collection immediately.  The very caring and concerned defense counsel then indicates that they "may not" have enough insurance to cover the judgment.  The ruthless plaintiff's attorney then goes on to say that he doesn't care, they know that the family has money somewhere, perhaps in the youngster's college savings. 

 

This commercial cannot possibly be a more disgusting misrepresentation of how it really works, and it is clearly aimed at forcing the so-called need for "tort-reform."  First of all, the defense attorney would never know if the insurance "may not" cover.  One of the first things we always ask in the beginning of a case is how much coverage there is.  Everyone knows this exact number straight from the outset.  Second, as a plaintiff's personal injury lawyer in St. Louis, if we think the verdict may exceed the insurance coverage, we will send a request to settle for the amount of the insurance coverage immediately.  However, it is often the insurance companies who refuse to pay the insurance limits, even when there is no good reason not to.  Thus, there are many occasions when we will take a case to trial and obtain an excess verdict, however, it is not to take money from the defendant personally, and I have never heard of one occasion where any plaintiff's attorney has done this.  Instead, we then sue the insurance company directly in what we call a "bad-faith" lawsuit.  Actually, it is not the injured client who sues, but the defendant who sues their insurance company.  The theory behind a bad faith lawsuit is that the insurance company refused to protect the defendant by failing to settle the case for the limits of the insurance coverage when they had a chance.  The insurance company can then be held liable for the entire verdict.  If you think that this type of thing happens just once in a blue moon, you are entirely wrong.  In fact, it happens all the time, and there is a whole industry of law and lawyers devoted to bad-faith lawsuits.  However, many times, it doesn't even have to get as far as a bad-faith lawsuit, as the insurance companies will often pay the excess verdict because the know they are liable for the bad-faith lawsuit as it is anyway, and they don't want an additional lawsuit on the books. 

 

Long story short, it just never happens the way this commercial makes it out to be.  Unfortunately, the plaintiff's attorneys often work individually or with small firms, and we just don't have the resources like the billion-dollar insurance industry to put out our own commercials to tell the truth.

We are now in the process of filing suit against our client's insurance company.  In 2007, our client was struck by an uninsured driver.  This is a common occurrence, and many drivers think that they are out of luck if the defendant driver does not carry insurance.  In fact, this is untrue.  If you have your own policy of car insurance or you live with a relative who has car insurance, you are completely protected.  By state law, every insurance policy must afford you uninsured motorist coverage.  This is a type of coverage which kicks in if a driver hits you that is uninsured.  In our case, we submitted all of our client's medical bills as well as the police report to his insurance company, and requested reimbursement for his bills and injuries.  After a month went by, we received no response.  Then one day, I received a voicemail from the adjuster claiming that they were sending the file out for additional review.  Another month then passed without any word.  We tried to be reasonable with the insurance company by giving them two months to review a small stack of records, but yet they had not done anything on the case.  Moreover, under Missouri law, they can be liable for vexatious refusal to pay by failing to pay the claim within thirty days after their receipt.  In our case, we gave them double that amount of time, and still have not heard a thing. 

 

Now, we are going to sue them not only for his injuries, but also for additional penalties provided under the statute. 

 

Many attorneys that do not specialize in injury law are unaware of these statutes.  This is why it is critical to retain an attorney who specializes only in injury law.  We know all the ins and outs and we know how to prevent the insurance companies from playing their games.  If you have been injured in a car accident and would like to speak with a St. Louis injury attorney, feel free to contact Josh Myers.  It is always free to discuss your claim. 

One of my new clients was severely injured while driving in Saint Louis. While driving, she was struck extremely hard in the rear of her car. The collision threw her car into the median causing it to flip around several times. Apparently the man who hit her was fleeing from the police. This is often the case; he does not have any insurance from which she would recover for her injuries. Luckily, my client has uninsured motorist coverage. I was first concerned with the fact that she carried only the minimum limits of $25,000.00. However, after further investigation, we discovered that she has three different cars which all carry the minimum limits. What some owners may not know is that you are able to combine the coverage from all of these three different cars so that we now have $75,000 of uninsured motorist coverage. Uninsured motorist coverage is a kind of coverage which is required by state law. Basically it applies when you are injured by someone who does not carry liability insurance. Your own insurance essentially steps into the shoes of the uninsured driver.   

           

The little twist in this case is that the local police department was engaging in a high speed pursuit. Apparently, the only reason is because the uninsured motorist was speeding. The problem for the police department is that there are strict laws stating when they can and cannot engage in a high speed pursuit.  Obviously, these laws and regulations are to help protect the safety of the general public, to prevent circumstances like this. As for now, my client is continuing to visit the doctor and recover from her injuries.  Once that is done, we will proceed against collecting from her insurance company and possibly the police department as well.

 

If you have been injured in a car accident, you need to contact a personal injury attorney immediately. Situations such as those described above are a good example of why you need an attorney who focuses their practice exclusively on personal injury. If you have been injured, feel free to contact Josh Myers. He will not charge an hourly fee, so you will not have to pay any money for us to being handling your case.  Case consultations are always free.

At approximately 10 am on August 7, 2008, a woman driving westbound on I-64 hit a man walking along the side of the road.  Initially, the woman pulled over and got out of the car with her young child and flagged down another car.  The woman and her child then got in this other car and took off, leaving the man lying there.  He was rushed to SLU Hospital in serious condition.  Strangely enough, the woman returned with her husband about an hour later.  As it turned out, she did not speak fluent English, and she had gone to get her husband to have him translate.  This was a strange twist in this pedestrian accident, and I am certainly glad to know that she did not intend to flee the scene with the hopes of not getting caught. 

 

However, this incident should be a good reminder of the dangers of walking on the side of the road.  As a St. Louis pedestrian accident lawyer, I have seen too many cases of people getting hit by a car while walking along the road.  If there is no sidewalk to walk on, you should always walk on the side facing oncoming traffic so that you can at least see the cars coming towards you. 

 

Additionally, this case highlights another issue.  Many people injured in a hit-and-run accident, whether they were a pedestrian or in a car, assume there is nothing they can do because they do not know the identity of the responsible driver.  However, what most people don't know is that in every Missouri and Illinois autmobile insurance policy, you have uninsured motorist coverage.  Uninsured motorist coverage protects you in the event you do not know who hit your and it also protects you if the responsible driver does not have insurance.  A good car accident attorney will know the ins-and-outs of uninsured motorist coverage. 

 

If you've been injured in a hit-and-run accident by an unknown driver or by an uninsured driver, call St. Louis Injury Josh Myers to discuss your rights.  It's always free to talk about your case.