Missouri Personal Injury Laws

Spencer Farris with the Farris Law Firm in St. Louis, Missouri. I’ve been practicing for almost 20 years and I’ve had my own law firm for about the last eight. When I was in high school I got to work as a page in the Oklahoma Senate and I realized at that point that I was interested in the law. Once I got a taste of the courtroom that’s all I really wanted to do. I did my undergraduate work at Oklahoma State University. I went to law school at Washington University in St. Louis. I have never represented an insurance company. We only represent injury victims and their families at my law firm. Well, I’m board certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacies as a Civil Trial Advocate. I took the testing for that. I”m an adjunct professor at St. Louis University School of Law in the trial program.

You know there’s only a couple areas of the law these days in my opinion that you actually get to go to court and try cases. The criminal arena, which I had no interest in and I had no interest in representing big companies and big businesses. So I put everything I wanted to do with folks who really need help. It’s kind of nice to feel like my work makes a difference in somebody’s life

By: Spencer Farris

Ok, you have the contact number of Missouri motorcycle accident lawyer, but you want to find someone else who rides, because the physics and the science of being on a motorcycle make those crashes different than a simple car crash. It’s helpful to get someone who understands what it’s like to be out there on the road and how naked and exposed you feel when you’re riding next to a three-ton car. You might be wondering how to hire a personal injury lawyer, or what kind of things you should look at. And the first thing that I tell every client, “Look, if you look around Saint Louis or Missouri, there’s probably 300 or 400 folks that will do just as good a job for you as my firm will do,” but you need to find someone that you feel comfortable working with, because you’re forming a partnership. And if you’re going to spend two or three years locked in a partnership with someone who won’t return your phone calls, doesn’t answer your e-mails, or really doesn’t care about you and thinks of you like you’re a number, no matter how qualified that lawyers is, he’s not the right lawyer for you.

You need a good mix of qualifications, and concern and caring chemistry, if you will, to get the right match so that you hire the right lawyer for you and your case.  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; Nevada Auto Accident Lawyers.

Catastrophic Injury Litigation

No one wants to get hurt and all personal injuries are serious. But some of them are so traumatic and so devastating that we called them Catastrophic Injuries. For example, a closed head injury. Injury to the brain that doesn’t break the skull or sometimes even the skin. Injuries that result in paralysis. Injuries to the unborn, or to new born and small children are typically catastrophic injuries. And hiring an attorney to represent you and your family in a catastrophic injury case requires you to do some extra research. You need an attorney that has the trial experience, the knowledge and the background to take the insurance company to task for the injuries that you sustained. Remember that in a catastrophic injury case you’re not simply looking to get your medical bills paid, but someone has to take care of the long-term consequences of the injury you or a loved one has suffered. If you or a loved one has suffered a catastrophic injury, call my office at the number on the screen or visit us on the internet at anytime. I’m happy to visit with you about your case, answer your questions without any cost or obligation and help you get the maximum recovery for the horrible injury you sustained. Call 314-A-LAWYER today for your free consultation.

By: Spencer Farris

You’ve been injured and you’re thinking of dealing with the insurance company without an attorney. That’s probably a mistake, but here are some things to watch out for if you decide to go down that road.

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

I’m Spencer Farris and I represent injury victims throughout Saint Louis and the state of Missouri. I’ve helped hundreds of folks handle their case for personal injury, but every now and then I meet someone who thinks that they don’t need an attorney. Let me tell you a few things to look out for if you decide that you don’t want to hire an attorney.

Get pictures. Whether it’s the car you’ve been crashed in or the place that you fell, a picture is worth a thousand words. And if you’re relying on the insurance company to take pictures for you, you’re making a big mistake. If those pictures would have been helpful to you and they disappear, you’ll never be able to recreate that important evidence for your case.

The insurance company will want to take a statement from you and that’s a mistake. Remember that the person asking the questions controls and frames how your answers come out, and the insurance company is not there to help you. You never want to give a statement without someone on your side to help you through that step, and typically that’s where you have an attorney.

Finally, the insurance company’s going to want you to sign medical authorizations. And in Missouri, you don’t give up your right to all privacy just because you’ve had an injury case. You don’t have to sign the authorization that gives the insurance company the right to get all of your medical records from the time that you’re born, but the form that they give you will do just that. Don’t sign that form.

Studies have shown over and over that folks with attorneys get four to five times more money for their injury case than those without. If you’ve been injured and you have questions – whether you want to hire an attorney or not – please call me at the number on your screen or visit us at our internet website that you see on the screen as well. We’re happy to help, and if we can help you resolve your case without hiring us, great. And if you need an attorney, we’d be proud to represent you.

The S.E. Farris Law Firm is dedicated to the needs of injury victims and their families.

By: Spencer Farris

When you’ve been hurt whether it’s in a car or because you’ve gotten injured on someone’s property at that moment a Missouri personal injury lawyer is important to you and the Missouri law is important to you. But up until that time you weren’t even aware it existed and you’re always in the cross hairs in our state legislature. There hasn’t been a year gone by since the 22 years that I’ve been practicing that the Missouri legislature hasn’t had injury victims in it’s cross hairs. They want to get at the lawyers, but they do it by walking over folks like you, that have been hurt.

Unfortunately you don’t know your rights have been infringed upon, you don’t that you’ve been within the cross hairs of the legislature until you get hurt. But because of that you don’t know all the things you need to do to handle your case once you’ve been hurt and how the law has developed over the last several hundred years. And you need a Missouri personal injury lawyer to help guide you down the path and make sure that you don’t get taken advantage of by the insurance company for the folks that hurt 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

Bad things happen and you’ve been in a wreck. Now you need to figure out what to do to make the best of this terrible situation.

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. We’re going to talk about some things that you can do to help your St. Louis injury lawyer make the best of the bad situation that the car crash caused you. Your situation is the opposite of the movie, Fight Club. Talk about your wreck, talk about your wreck, talk about your wreck. Talk about your wreck to the police. Make sure they know what happened and they know how it happened. Talk about your wreck to health care providers. If you’re having pain and problems, you need to make sure that your doctors see you immediately, and they know why you’re there. Tell them about your wreck. A picture of your crashed car, a picture of your injuries will all be important to your injury lawyer when he represents you. Don’t rely on the insurance company to take pictures for you. And don’t expect that the pictures they take will be available to you if you need them.

After the wreck, expect a call from strangers with the insurance company and other investigation sources. The professionals at the insurance company will work hard to defeat your claim. They’re going to ask you a lot of questions and for a lot of information. Don’t give them a statement. Remember that they’re not there to help you. You wouldn’t do surgery on yourself and you probably shouldn’t handle your own injury case either. In fact, studies by insurance institutes have shown that folks who get a lawyer to represent them after an injury get four-to-five times more money than those without.

If you have more questions, feel free to contact my law firm, at our web address, or the phone number that’s listed. We’re happy to visit with you and talk about your case without cost or obligation. The S.E. Farris law firm is dedicated to the needs of injury victims and their families.

By: Spencer Farris

I got a call from a lady the other day who wanted to know how her medical bills were going to be paid after her injury.

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

I’m Spencer Farris and I represent injury victims in the state of Missouri. I get that kind of call a lot from folks who are worried about their rising medical bills and the daily mail that they get with another bill collector looking for payment. And this is what I typically tell them.

Medicare

Senior citizens and folks on social security disability are covered by Medicare and Medicare will pay the medical bills as they are incurred. However, Medicare gets part of their money back from your injury case at the end. Your lawyer will have to negotiate that for you because Medicare will want dollar for dollar on what they spend.

Medicaid

Children in Missouri who don’t have private health insurance, and some adults, are covered by Missouri Medicaid. And Medicaid also will pay Medical bills and, at the end of your lawsuit, they will expect to be repaid. However, a judge can reduce or totally eliminate your payback to Medicaid. You’ll need your lawyer to help you with that.

Private Insurance

The other group that frequently pays medical bills in Missouri is private insurance and private insurance will ask for repayment almost always. Unless they are a special plan, a self-funded union plan or something along those lines that is governed by federal law, they’re not entitled to reimbursement. The word that they will say is subrogation, which means they stand in your shoes and get to collect their money back from the person who hurt you. Make sure that your lawyer is well aware and willing to fight for you so that you don’t have to pay back the health insurance. And this isn’t cheating. You paid benefits to get the health insurance. You wrote a check every month. They shouldn’t get their money back just because they did what they promised to do.

No Insurance

Finally, there are a lot of folks that don’t have any health insurance. And in those situations, hospitals and doctors will treat you on what’s called a lien basis. Hospitals don’t have to see you unless you’re in an emergency. But, experienced trial lawyers can help you find a doctor who will treat you on a lien basis and will make sure that your doctor understands that they will get paid.

When you’ve been hurt, the most important thing is to feel better and not be worried about how you’re going to pay for your medical bills. Remember that a trial lawyer who cares about his clients will fight for you and fight to put money in your pocket, rather than spend it all on the health care that you wouldn’t have needed but for your injury. If you have questions about medical care or how to pay for it after an injury, call my office or reach us at the website at the bottom of the screen. I’m happy to visit with you without any cost or obligation and hopefully help put your mind at rest.

The S.E. Farris Law Firm is dedicated to the needs of injury victims and their families.

By: Spencer Farris

What Happens When Your Bitten by a Dog?

Hi, I’m Josh Myers, attorney at Schultz & Myers. We’re a personal injury law firm here in St. Louis, Missouri. Today I want to answer a question we get a lot, which is what happens if you’re bitten by a dog?

The One Bite Rule

A lot of people come in, and they ask us about this “one bite rule” or what they’ve heard of before called a “one bite rule” , and in Missouri, there’s no such thing. It used to be the law in Missouri that we had to show the dog had some kind of dangerous propensities, or meaning a past history of aggression. Several years back, the law was completely rewritten, so now it is a case of what’s called strict liability.

Basically this means if you were bitten on public property, or if you’re on private property and as long as you were there lawfully, the owner of the dog is completely liable for the damages you suffered.

Dog Bite Case Process

So it’s pretty simple these days. If you’re bitten by someone else’s dog, they’re responsible for that. Of course the real key comes in determining how much money it takes to make up for the harms and the damages that you suffered, and that’s where our expertise comes in.

So I hope this helped answer some questions. If you’ve ever been bitten by a dog, and you’re looking for a personal injury lawyer, I certainly hope that you’ll give us a call and at least let us talk to you about your case. Our phone number’s easy to remember. Just remember the fours: (314) 444-4444.

By: Josh Myers

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