A personal injury in the legal context is when someone is harmed by the negligence, recklessness, or intentional acts of another person.  In car accident cases, it is not uncommon for there to be both an injury to your person and an injury to your property, such as your car.  In this circumstance, the injury to you may lead you to ask for compensation for your personal injury, and the damage to your property may lead you to seek a separate property damage claim.  For more information for how to handle your property damage claim, please see our blog on property claims.

There are a significant number of cases that fall under the broad category of “personal injury” claims.  For instance, if you are injured in a car accident, then you may have a personal injury claim.  If you are injured from a slip and fall on someone’s property, then you may have a personal injury claim.  If you are injured because of medical negligence, then you may have a personal injury claim. 

Uninsured Motorist Coverage (or “UM”) is a required coverage available under your automobile insurance policy that covers your personal injuries in the instance that the other driver is at-fault and does not have insurance.  Under Missouri’s motor vehicle financial responsibility law, all Missouri drivers are required to have at least $25,000 in liability coverage to cover any injuries they may cause in a car accident.  Unfortunately, there are times when people allow their insurance to lapse or just outright do not carry automobile insurance.

However, Missouri law also requires that every automobile policy in the state has to have $25,000.00 in uninsured motorist benefits.  As a result, even if you are injured through no fault of your own in a Missouri car accident and the other driver does not have insurance to cover your injuries, you still have coverage under your own insurance policy that will apply.  In some cases, that will be the state minimum of $25,000.00.  In other cases, there may be more coverage available if you purchased additional coverage for your policy.  Although uninsured coverage is required, most people are advised to carry additional uninsured motorist coverage for these types of scenarios.

It’s not often that you see something bigger on the road than a tractor-trailer. Accidents involving these lumbering vehicles, especially undercarriage accidents, result in thousands of wrongful deaths each year. There are many reasons why these wrecks occur; however, there are ways to decrease and even prevent the unnecessary loss of so many lives.

2016 Missouri Truck Accident Statistics  

Below you’ll find just some of the staggering statistics reported by the National Highway Safety Administration related to Missouri truck accidents in 2016. In this case, a truck is defined as weighing more than 10,000 pounds, excluding buses and motorhomes.

• 1,294 large trucks were involved in fatal crashes.
• As a result, 114 people were killed.
• 17 percent of these deaths were truck occupants, 66 percent were occupants of cars and other passenger vehicles, and 16 percent were pedestrians and cyclists.
• 11 percent of all motor vehicle crash deaths involved a large truck.
• 73 percent of deaths in large truck crashes were in crashes involving tractor-trailers and 21 percent were in wrecks involving single-unit trucks.

Medical payments coverage or “medpay” is an optional coverage under your own personal automobile insurance. If you have medpay, then it will provide coverage for you and for any individuals injured in your car as a result of a car accident that is the fault of another party.

One of the first things we investigate when you retain our firm is whether your insurance policy has medical payments coverage.  You pay a monthly premium for this coverage and should use it to your benefit if you need help paying your medical bills after a car accident.  We typically see coverage limits for medpay range from $1,000 to $10,000, depending on the policy.  Your own insurance adjuster should inform you after a wreck that this coverage is available to you to help with your medical bills.  Unfortunately, many clients who are injured in car accidents are never told they have this coverage, even though they pay for it, and are stuck with massive medical bills.

Going back to work sooner than you are ready can actually put you at a greater risk of re-injuring yourself or extending the time that it takes for your injury to heal.

The best tool for deciding when to return to work after a car accident is the treatment plan you receive from your doctor.  Your doctor will take into consideration your responsibilities at your job and will be able to determine when you are physically ready to handle them again.

In order for a personal injury claim to be successful, you need to have written medical documentation from your doctor that ties your injuries and symptoms to your car accident and shows a medical basis for your inability to immediately return to work.

Every attorney is different, and every attorney will look at different things when evaluating your personal injury case.  However, there are a few things that our firm looks at when evaluating a case to make sure it’s a good fit for us and for the potential client.  Besides making sure that we do not have a professional or personal conflict in a case, we take the following in consideration when evaluating a case:

• Who is liable (or responsible) for the collision/accident? One of the first things we look at is the liability or responsibility of the parties in the accident. In the case of a car accident, if you are responsible for the crash, then chances are that you will need an insurance defense attorney to help you.  We do not defend insurance companies, so we will inform you of this in our evaluation.  If you were not at-fault or partially at-fault, then we will dig deeper into your case.  For example, in our post about how fault is determined in a car accident, we discussed how comparative fault works and how that might affect a potential car accident case.

The Boone County Courthouse is located at 705 E. Walnut Street in downtown Columbia, Missouri. If you need to appear in court for whatever reason or are a client of our firm and need to make an appearance, we have compiled this blog to answer common questions we often receive at our firm.

In front of the Courthouse (pictured above), there are four columns which run along Walnut Street. Here are some other important things to know about the Courthouse:

• Only attorneys and Court personnel are permitted to bring their cellphones into the Courthouse. If you are not an attorney and do not work at the Court, do not bring your cellphone into the Courthouse.  You will be asked to leave and return without it.  The bailiffs will not hold onto your phone for you.
• There is a metal detector at the front entrance. You will be asked to empty all items and remove anything from your person that might set the metal detector off.  This is for your safety and the safety of others at the Courthouse.  Arrive early and expect a line.  Don’t bring a gun into the Courthouse.

Consider this scenario: You’ve been involved in a car accident and your car was damaged by another vehicle. Now you’re getting the run-around from the insurance company.  You are not sure what to do and you don’t know if you’re getting a good deal.  This situation can be frustrating, upsetting, and can seem to drag on for days while you’re waiting for your car to fixed.  Below are some tips to consider when dealing with insurance adjustors when working out your property damage claim:

1) Check to see if you have collision coverage on your vehicle.

If so, then you can make a claim through your own insurance company and see what your insurance adjustor will offer you.  This was you can compare the quote you’re getting from the other insurance company against your own.  Your own insurance company may treat you better than the other driver’s insurance company.

Hit-and-run accidents are traumatic experiences that are difficult to handle on your own. A car accident can affect you physically and emotionally. While you need to be focused on recovery, you’re probably worrying about medical expenses and missing work, not to mention catching the person who committed the hit-and-run.

An experienced Missouri car accident lawyer from the Law Office of Mike Campbell can help you get back on your feet. We’ll work with you to fight for the compensation you deserve. You can have peace of mind that someone is standing up for your rights.

When you meet with a car accident attorney for the first time, you are interviewing the attorney to handle your case and in many instances, the attorney is also interviewing you. As a result, the attorney will hopefully ask you numerous questions about you, your case, and what goals you have for your case. In return, it’s important for you to make sure that you are hiring the right attorney for your case. How do you know you are? By asking the right questions.

Below are some good questions you can ask your car accident attorney during your consult with them:

What areas of law do you practice?

If the attorney you are interviewing has a lot of practice areas, then the attorney may be a very capable and very smart attorney who has knowledge about many areas of the law.  However, it might also be that the attorney dabbles in a variety of practice areas without focusing exclusively on one or two.  You should know if the attorney practices personal injury law regularly and what kinds of cases they take on.