Missouri Dog Bite Laws

When you’ve been in a crash with a drunk driver, you need a Missouri personal injury lawyer to protect your rights, because your insurance may come into play. His may not be enough, and you need someone that knows the law, and will pursue those cases aggressively. They’re not open-and-shut just because the other driver was drinking.

I remember a case, many years ago, where a drunk was aggressively driving, and racing someone else. Blew through a red light, and hit my client’s car in the side. The impact was devastating. His– when I first met the young man, his face didn’t even look like a human face, because of all the swelling, and all the injuries he sustained. But we were fortunate to be able to help him in that situation, and were very creative in finding enough coverage to try to help him put his life back together.

You wouldn’t think so, but a drunk driver in Missouri who’s hurt somebody with his first offense, even if it causes a death, may not go to prison, may get probation. Part of what civil law does, and what a Missouri personal injury lawyer does, is help hold these folks accountable for the damages they cause, make them pay for the beautiful vase that they’ve broken, or the beautiful life that they’ve destroyed. If you don’t hire a Missouri personal injury lawyer after you’ve been in a car crash, you’re at the insurance company’s mercy. And they are there – and they’re generating profits for their shareholders – not by paying folks like you who have been hurt, but by paying as little as possible on claims. They’ve got professionals on their side, and if you don’t have a Missouri personal injury lawyer fighting for you on your side, you’re going to take the crumbs that they feed you. When you’ve been hurt, and the bills are racking up, you don’t have to pay a lawyer out of pocket to represent you in your injury case. Call my office, and if we can help you, we won’t charge you anything until the end of your case, if we’re successful for you.  Call 314-A-LAWYER today for a free consultation.

By: Spencer Farris

Between school buses, public transportation and charter buses, we see buses on the road every day. And because there are more and more buses, there are more and more bus accidents. Although buses cost many times what an average passenger car does, they don’t often have the simple safety devices that we take for granted, when we buckle up to go to the grocery store. If you’re in a bus accident, whether it’s because a negligent driver struck your bus, or because your bus driver wasn’t paying attention and hurt you, it’s important to contact an attorney immediately. There are limits to insurance in all bus cases, and making sure that your claim is made is important. Call my office at the number on your screen, or visit us on the internet if you’ve been injured due to a bus accident. I am happy to visit with you, without any cost or obligation. Call 314-A-LAWYER today, for your free consultation.

By: Spencer Farris

When you’ve been hurt and the bills are piling up, the big question on your mind is: What is my case worth?  Injury Law News brought to you by the S.E. Farris Law Firm. I’m Spencer Farris, a St. Louis injury lawyer at the S.E. Farris Law Firm. The value of your case depends on a lot of factors. Let’s talk about those for a minute.  The facts of your case matter. What happened? Was it a injury that went away after a couple of days, or did you need surgery?   Where did it happen, in a conservative venue, or one where jurors understand that pain and suffering have a value?   How did it happen? There’s a difference to the value of your case if Grandma hit you on the way to bingo versus a corporation in a large truck with a drunk driver. The combination of these factors go into the mix and help determine what your case is worth, what a jury – and therefore a claims adjuster – would assign as the value of your claim.   Choosing the right St. Louis injury attorney matters. The insurance company knows what lawyers have the experience and the credentials necessary to prepare your case to present it to a jury, and that goes into their valuation of your claim.  If you have more questions about the value of your case, please contact my law firm at the phone number or the website address on your screen. We’re happy to talk with you without any cost or obligation about your case.  The S.E. Farris Law Firm is dedicated to the needs of injury victims and their families.

By: Spencer Farris

Insurance companies do a good job of making us feel guilty for hiring a Missouri personal injury lawyer. When you get your statement each month you read about frauds. And whether those stories are true or not in the back of your mind you think, I don’t want to be like that. The first word that most folks say when they call my office is, “I’ve never sued anyone before. Or I’m not the kind of person that sues.” You’ve already figured in the back of your mind that every lawsuit is fake even before you get hurt. And you know your case is real. And you know your injuries are real. You should always know that the insurance company is going to try to underpay those cases and those claims if you don’t have a Missouri personal injury lawyer fighting for you on your side. When you’ve been hurt and the bills are racking up, you don’t have to pay a lawyer out of pocket to represent you in your injury case. Call my office. And if we can help you we won’t charge you anything until the end of your case if we’re successful for you. Call 314-A-LAWYER today for free consultation.

By: Spencer Farris

A trial is when your case is finally decided by a judge or a jury, and somebody else decides what your case is about and what it’s worth.

By: Spencer Farris

When you’re in a car crash, the pain that you initially feel is only the beginning of your problems. When you make your claim to an insurance company, there’s a couple things that you need to know. One is that you’re entitled to recover your lost wages even if you took sick pay or vacation time at the time you were working. That was money that came out of your sick bank or your vacation bank and it’s money that is gone. The other thing you need to know is that insurance companies don’t automatically write you a check just because their insured hurt you. Just because they owe you money doesn’t mean they’re going to give it to you. You have to document your medical expenses and the treatment that went with them. I tell folks every day not to sign an authorization to let the insurance company get your medical records. You still have a right to privacy, but you want to control how those records are filtered to an insurance company. An attorney that’s experienced in representing injury victims is in a much better position to do this than you are. Call my office at the number on the screen or visit us on the internet. I’m happy to talk with you about your injury case and if I can’t help you, at least point you in the right direction so you can get on the path to recovery on your own.  Call 314-A-LAWYER today for a free consultation.

By: Spencer Farris

Whether you’re shopping at a business or walking down the street, the last thing you expect is to be flat on your back, and feeling pain. When you fall, or what lawyers typically call a “slip and fall injury,” the first thing to do is to figure out what caused you to fall. Was it a change in grade? Was it a slick substance on the floor? This isn’t always easy to do, because as you lay there in pain, the most important thing in your mind is to get medical attention. That is crucially important but if someone with you can take pictures of the scene, it will be invaluable to you later. When you slip and fall on someone else’s property, it’s important to get an experienced attorney who’s capable of investigating those claims. And if the claim involves a government entity, it is even more important to have an experienced attorney to investigate on your behalf. Call my office at the number on the screen, or visit us on the web at any time. I’m happy to visit with you and answer your questions about your slip and fall injury, without any cost or obligation. Call 314-A-LAWYER today, for your free consultation.

By: Spencer Farris

A lady called me to tell me that she’d been in a car crash and before she even got home from the hospital she had a message on her answering machine from the insurance company. Let me tell you what happened next. Injury law news brought to you by the S.E. Farris Law Firm. I’m Spencer Farris, a partner at the S.E. Farris Law Firm. I represent injury victims and their families. And when I got the call from this lady I knew that she needed some help.

The insurance company wanted to initially make contact and befriend her if you will and offer her a settlement, that’s 101 in the claims adjusters handbook. They do that because if they settle a case quickly they know that they can so more cheaply. You won’t know the full extent of your injuries. You won’t have spoken to a lawyer and you won’t really know what your case is worth. In this client’s case it was a good thing that she called because we told her not to settle her case and six months later she needed surgery on her neck. You only get one opportunity to settle your case, to get all of your medical paid for, to gather your lost wages, and provide for your family, and to get whatever damages you’re going to get for pain, suffering, and inconvenience. If you do that too quickly in a case and don’t know the full extent of your injuries, you’re going to sell yourself and your family short. That’s what the insurance company wants. Thats what some lawyers want when they advise you to take a quick settlement, but it’s not what’s best for you. If you have questions after you’ve been hurt, call my office at the number you see on the screen or contact us through the internet at the web address below. We’re happy to visit with you for free and give you whatever advice we can on how to handle your case. The S.E. Farris Law Firm is dedicated the needs of injury victims and their families.

By: Spencer Farris

It’s too late, once you’ve been in a wreck, to think about insurance coverage.

Injury Law News, brought to you by the S.E. Farris Law Firm.

I’m Spencer Farris, an attorney with the S.E. Farris Law Firm, in St. Louis, Missouri. You buy automobile insurance and hope you never have to use it. But there are kinds of insurance that will help you quite a bit if you’re in a wreck. Let’s talk about those for a minute. In order to drive a car in Missouri, two types of insurance are mandatory: liability coverage, to take care of the harms you cause to other folks – and uninsured motorist coverage, in case someone hurts you, who doesn’t follow the law. Liability coverage protects you if you hurt someone else while you’re driving. It’ll also provide you with legal services in case you get sued. Although Missouri requires all drivers to have liability insurance, not all drivers follow the law. That’s why uninsured motorist coverage is also mandatory in Missouri.

Uninsured motorist coverage means that the person who hit you, who harmed you because of their negligent driving, has now coverage to cover your injuries. Besides the mandatory required coverages in Missouri, there are some other insurance coverages that will assist you if you’re ever hurt in a car crash, and it’s someone else’s fault. We’re not going to talk about property coverage today – just coverages for occupants, people, in the vehicles. The first of those is underinsured motorist coverage. Underinsured motorist coverage means that the person who harmed you doesn’t have enough insurance to cover all of your losses. If you’re seriously injured in a car crash, and the person who hurt you only has the minimum coverage required in Missouri – which right now is $25,000 – underinsured motorist coverage would help bridge the gap, between what they had and what you suffered, to help put you back where you were before you got hurt.

Even though you may have health insurance, medical payments coverage is another coverage that is available to you, to help defray some of the losses you have when you get hurt in a car crash. You can use medical payments coverage, even if you have health insurance, to help cover your deductibles and the other out-of-pocket medical expenses that you will have. Just because you have health insurance coverage doesn’t mean you can’t collect your medical payments. And it’s not cheating. It’s like having two life insurance policies. If you’ve paid for extra coverage, you get to collect when you have to. And if you’re hurt in a car crash, there’s not enough money for what you’re going through. You need to collect everything that’s available to you. In my office, and with most qualified injury attorneys in Missouri, there’s no fee for helping you collect your medical payments coverage. When you’re injured and go to the hospital or doctor, you want to make sure that, if you have health insurance, you present your health insurance information, and demand that the doctor or hospital bill your health insurance company.

Contracts with major providers, like Blue Cross Blue Shield, etc., will require that the doctor and hospital accept health insurance for payment. If you don’t do that, the health care provider is going to want to take money from your settlement. And there’s not going to be enough money, at the end of a settlement for an injury, for what you’ve suffered – the pain and the discomfort. It’s important to have a lawyer help maximize that coverage. And one way that my law firm does that is by making sure that health care providers bill health insurance. Medicare and Medicaid are the same thing as health insurance plans, and make sure that doctors and hospitals bill them. Don’t worry about repayments to Medicare, Medicaid, and other insurance plans. A qualified lawyer will take care of that, and try to minimize those repayments, so that more money goes to the injured victim.

Call the S.E. Farris Law Firm if you have any questions about insurance coverage. We’re happy to talk with you without a charge. The S.E. Farris Law Firm is dedicated to the needs of injury victims and their families.

By: Spencer Farris