Missouri Slip & Fall Laws

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

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

You’ve been hurt, and you’re thinking that maybe you can handle your case without a personal injury attorney. Let me tell you some things you should look out for. 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. Folks call me all the time and wonder if they even need to have a personal injury attorney represent them in their claim. Maybe not. And I tell folks daily how to handle their own cases. But there are some things you need to be aware of. First and most important is the Statute of Limitations. Every case has a time limit, and it must be filed within the time limit or you forever lost your case. The law changes, and the law of medical bills and damages has changed in the last several years. You need to know what that is in order to present your case to a jury. Your health insurance is going to want to be reimbursed for the medical bills that they’ve paid for on your behalf. They may not be entitled to reimbursement. Whether or not they are is a question that you need to find the answer to. The insurance company has professionals looking out to investigate your case and try to find a way to pay you as little money as possible. Some folks are able to deal with the insurance company and able to handle their own cases. Most are not. In fact, studies show that people with an attorney get four to five times more money on their injury case than those without. You may have questions about handling your own personal injury case. Call my office and I’m happy to visit with you without cost or obligation. I tell folks everyday that they don’t need an attorney to handle their case, and point them in the right direction, and I’m happy to do that for you. Thank you for watching. The S.E. Farris Law Firm is dedicated to the needs of injury victims and their families.

By: Spencer Farris

MMI or Maximum Medical Improvement, is the term that the insurance company’s doctor uses when he or she believes that medicine will no longer make you any better, and you’re as good as you’re going to get from the treatment you’ve gotten after your work-related injury.

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

Missouri personal injury lawyers are trained to help you when you’ve been in a car crash, and it’s not your fault, and your own insurance won’t help you, if it’s not your fault. You pay your premiums for defense, not to recover for your own injuries. That’s where a personal injury lawyer will help you. Missouri personal injury lawyers help you when you’ve been hurt, because your car insurance won’t. They’re there to take care of the other person’s injuries. Unless the other person doesn’t have insurance, you’re never going to hear from your insurance company. You need personal injury lawyers to take care of you, to fight for you, and to help you get what you’re entitled to after a crash. If the other person isn’t insured? You, if you’ve bought car insurance, have uninsured motorists coverage, and Missouri personal injury lawyers know how to help you gather that coverage, and collect on the premiums you’ve been paying all these years.  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

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

They call them man’s best friend, but sometimes dogs cause more harm than good. If you or a loved one has been bitten by a dog, there are a couple things that you need to do immediately to protect your rights. One is to contact the authorities, police department or animal control, and fill out a report. Another thing which is very important is to find out and identify the owner of the dog. It doesn’t do any good to call an attorney, it doesn’t do any good to call the police if you don’t know who owns the dog that bit you. If you or a loved one have been bitten by a dog, contact us, call us on the number on your screen, or visit us through the Internet. I’m happy to answer your questions without any cost or obligation. Call 314-A-LAWYER today for your free consultation.

By: Spencer Farris

In our modern mobile society, freight and passengers move by rail car every day, just at the same time you and your family are in your car, travelling the highways. And it’s inevitable that at the intersection there’s a potential for devastating collisions. We try to avoid that with crossing equipment and crossbars, but sometimes it doesn’t function properly. Sometimes it hasn’t been properly maintained, sometimes it simply doesn’t exist. If you’ve been injured, or a loved one has been killed at a train crossing, you owe it to yourself and to your family to hire a personal injury attorney who can investigate the causes of the collision and determine whether or not your rights should be protected.  Call 314-A-LAWYER today for your free consultation.

By: Spencer Farris