Missouri Personal Injury Laws

I’m Spencer Farris, I practice law in Saint Louis, Missouri, and I want to tell you a story about a client of mine, who was hit on her way to work by a semi-truck.

Traumatic Injury Litigation Example

She was pulling on to the highway, a route that she had taken 100’s of times over the past 17 years of her work, and a truck driver following to close to the truck in front of him, paying attention to his computer, and tired on the road, and really wasn’t paying attention to her when she pulled her car in front of him. He smashed the rear of her car, pushed the back in really into the back seat, and she had horrible injuries. Had to have three or four surgeries to her back and neck, was near death at several points along the way.

Filing Claim with the Insurance Company

Even through all this the insurance company and the trucking company refused to admit fault. That’s when she called us. We interviewed and deposed the witnesses, the truck driver, and then we hired some of best experts in the country to help us develop her case.

Why am I telling you this? If you’ve been in an accident, a car crash, or more seriously a truck accident, you may have questions. This is what I do every day and I’m happy to answer those questions for you.

Call us at our number, it’s 314-A-Lawyer (252-9937). I’m happy to answer your questions and thank you for watching.

By: Spencer Farris

You’ve been hurt and you’re angry. You’re not the kind of person who sues, but you want to know what the stages of a lawsuit are. Let’s talk about it.   Injury Law News, brought to you by The S.E. Farris Law Firm.   I’m Spencer Farris, a personal injury lawyer in St. Louis, Missouri, and partner at The S.E Farris Law Firm. People get hurt and call my office every day, thinking that we can get their case resolved in a matter of hours like they do on TV. But there are a lot of stages to a personal injury case, and I want to go through those with you. Before you think about a lawsuit, you need to think about taking care of yourself. If you’re hurt, get medical treatment. Follow your doctor’s instructions, go to your doctor visits, and take your medication. That’s important for two reasons. First of all, you won’t get better if you don’t do those things, and feeling better’s the most important part of recovering from an injury. From a legal perspective, you can’t recover your damages if you don’t document that you have been injured, and the way that you do that is taking the time to follow your doctor’s directions. Get the medical care that you need.  Almost as important as hiring good doctors is to hire a qualified attorney, someone who’s experienced in handling injury cases and someone that you want to work with. Remember that an injury case can take months or even a couple of years to get resolved, and you want to find someone that you don’t mind having a partnership with that will last throughout that time period. Stay in touch with your lawyer. Make sure that if you move or change phone numbers or change doctors your lawyer knows about it. When your doctor’s done treating you, it’s time for your lawyer to get to work gathering the medical records and the facts necessary to present your case. Most lawyers will then put together what’s called a claim packet or a negotiation packet. By this time your lawyer should have contacted the person at fault for your injury and their insurance company. Now, your lawyer presents the case to the insurance company and starts negotiations. Remember that most cases settle at this stage – better than half, at least. If the insurance company is reasonable and your lawyer does his job to present your case, you should be able to get the case settled. It doesn’t always work that way however, and if it doesn’t, you move to the next stage which is an actual lawsuit. We’re going to talk about that in the next video. In the meantime, if you have questions about handling a personal injury case or the stages, please feel free to call or contact my office at the website and the phone number at the bottom of the screen. We’re happy to visit with you at no cost or obligation and talk with you about your case, whether we represent you or not. The S.E. Farris Law Firm is dedicated to the needs of injury victims and their families.

By: Spencer Farris

Board Certified

Board certified means that after a certain number of years and a certain number of cases I’m able to take a written test and provide verification that I’ve practiced properly. Then each year I have to recertify, prove that I have my practice insurance, that I complete my continuing legal education hours, that I don’t have any complaints – bar complaints against me.

Deposition

A deposition is a recorded statement that you give with a court reporter for use under the rules of evidence in court.

Discovery

Discovery is just like -what it sounds like. You discover what’s going on in a case. You learn facts.

Interrogatory

An interrogatory is like a deposition, but it’s in written format and you answer your questions under oath.

Malpractice

Malpractice is when a professional breaches the standard of care. Not that they have to be perfect, but that they have to be reasonable in their actions.

Workers Compensation

Worker’s compensation means that you were hurt on the job. Your employer’s liable for your medical, a portion of your wages while you’re off work, and a lump sum for the disability that you have after medicine’s done the best it can do.

By: Spencer Farris

A Missouri wrongful death lawyer should help you make sure that the bills are getting paid after your love one has died. The bills for last treatment. Remember that the health insurance is probably going to want repayment for what they’ve spent. And you need someone fighting on your side to put that money to where it belongs. Taking care of you, your spouse or your children rather than paying back an insurance company. It’s really hard when you’re in the middle of the grieving process, and trying to think of all the things that have been taken away from you when a love one is killed to hire a Missouri wrongful death lawyer. But it’s important for you and your family to look forward into what’s going to happen when that person’s income– that person’s advice. All the things that person was bringing into your life are taken away. You’re never going to profit from the death of a love one. But it takes a skilled professional and basically a compassionate concerned professional to help you gather up some of the loses that you have, and help patch the hole a little bit when somebody is been taken out of your life. In Missouri a health insurance company is going to always asked to be reimbursed even for the death of a love one. And a Missouri wrongful death lawyer knows how to minimize those payments to health insurance. Most health insurance is not entitled to reimbursement, but they all asked for it. And you need a professional on your side to tell them no. 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

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

Punitive damages are sometimes called exemplary damages. Those are the damages that a jury awards to punish the defendant for bad acts, and to keep other folks from repeating those kinds of acts.

By: Spencer Farris

Choose Spencer Farris

When you’ve been hurt, you have a choice to make on which attorney you hire. But the good news is, most attorneys in this area and almost all Saint Louis car accident lawyers charge about the same rate. It’s contingent on recovery, which means you pay at the end of your case. The question you have to ask yourself is, “Do I want to collect a percentage of a good recovery, or a percentage of a not so good recovery that I got from using an inexperienced or unqualified lawyer?”. After your car crash, you wouldn’t think twice about going home to set your own broken arm or stitch your own wounds. That’s because you only get one opportunity to heal after your injury. And it’s the same when you hire a Saint Louis car accident lawyer. Some folks are tempted to handle these cases on their own, but that’s one of the biggest mistakes you can make for you and your family. Look, the insurance company has professionals on their side, they do this day in and day out, and they know how to keep from paying you money. And you need someone on your side who knows how the system works, to work just as hard to get you the damages that you need to recover. When you’ve been hurt and the bills are racking up, you don’t have to pay an 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

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

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