This past Tuesday, September 22, 2009, Hillcrest High Junior Kimmy Armstrong was seriously injured after being hit by a car.  By all accounts, Kimmy appears to be a wonderful, bright, young teenager and this is an extreme tragedy.  The accident happened about 6:30 am while Kimmy was walking to school to meet with her study group when she was struck in a crosswalk while crossing the street.  Reports are that she was almost completely through the crosswalk.

Kimmy is currently in critical condition.  Her injuries are so severe that the doctors are keeping her in a medically induced coma.  She has suffered serious brain injuries as well as a broken pelvis and shoulder. 

A special webpage has been setup at www.careforkimmie.com.  The page gives details on a fund set up by her family to help cover her medical expenses.  Additionally, donations may be made through paypal. 

Our Missouri Personal Injury Lawyers routinely handle catastrophic injury cases such as this.  One of the ways we maximize our recoveries is to try and set up the defendant's insurance company for a bad faith lawsuit.  Most insurance policies insure drivers for $25,000, $50,000, or $100,000.  In catastrophic cases, this is far from necessary to cover the medical expenses.  So what we do is send a specialized demand package that expires in a short amount of time.  If the insurance company waits just one minute past the expiration date, we rescind our offer to settle for those insurance policy limits.  We will then proceed to trial and obtain as large as verdict as possible.  Many times, the insurance company will pay the full amount of that verdict.  If they do not, we will then file a separate lawsuit against the defendant's insurance company for the full amount of the verdict.  The reason we do that is because they failed to settle the case for the dismal policy limits when they had the chance.

Joshua P. Myers is a Missouri Personal Injury Lawyer handling motor vehicle cases across all of Missouri and Illinois.  If you have been seriously injured and would like a free consultation, feel free to call at 888-956-2487

Just yesterday, Orville Tasco was injured while riding his bicycle along Route C, near La Grange, Missouri.  The initial report is that he was struck from behind by 21-year old Joshua Norcross who was driving a 2007 Chrysler.  It is further being reported that Norcross did not see the bicycle. 

 

The crash happened at 8:10 p.m.  Obviously it would have been dark out; however, motorists always have a duty to pay attention to all of their surroundings.  Further investigation into this case should reveal exactly where on the road Tasco was riding his bike and whether he had any reflectors.  The answers to those questions are not being reported; however, it is known that Tasco was taken by ambulance to Blessing Hospital in Quincy, Illinois.

 

Joshua P. Myers is a Missouri Personal Injury attorney specializing in significant accident cases.  He travels throughout all of Missouri and Illinois in his cases.  If you have been seriously injured and would like to speak with Missouri car accident lawyer Josh Myers, please feel free to contact him at 888-956-2487.  It is always free to talk about your case.

Investigators are continuing to search for a white male in a white passenger van who struck a 15-year-old boy who was crossing I-55.  The incident happened near the Reavis Barracks Road Exit.

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.