gartnerlawfirm

MCCLELLAN: LAWYERS, BANKS WORK A HOLIDAY MIRACLE

Mon, 23 Nov 2020 20:57:01 GMT

The Gartner Law Firm

December 6, 2018

INJURIES THAT QUALIFY FOR WORKERS' COMPENSATION IN MISSOURI

Mon, 23 Nov 2020 20:52:18 GMT

In 2019, there were an estimated 102,794 work-related injury incidents in Missouri. Workers' compensation laws and regulations are designed to protect employees against work-related accidents. Under the Missouri workers' compensation law, injured workers are entitled to receive certain benefits for their on-the-job injuries. These include medical care, lost wages, permanent disability compensation, and other additional benefits.

If you are involved in a work-related accident, it is important to consult with an experienced Missouri workers' compensation attorney immediately to protect your rights. Our attorneys at the Gartner Law Firm can answer your questions about the injuries that qualify for workers' compensation benefits in Missouri. We will fight empathetically to protect your rights and help you seek fair compensation for your workplace injuries.

The Gartner Law Firm proudly serves clients in St. Peters, Missouri, and the surrounding communities of St. Charles, O'Fallon, and St. Louis.

OVERVIEW OF WORKERS' COMPENSATION IN MISSOURI

The Division of Workers' Compensation in Missouri provides services to employees who have been injured in a workplace accident or exposed to occupational disease resulting from a work assignment or their employment.

Under Missouri workers' compensation law, employers are required to carry coverage or insurance policy that will pay for the medical treatment and lost time benefits for employees involved in work-related accidents. The Division ensures that injured workers receive the benefits they are due.

Furthermore, employers in the construction industry with at least one employee must have workers' compensation insurance. Employers in other industries with up to five employees are also required to carry insurance. The federal laws cover workers in the postal, railroad, and maritime industries.

BENEFITS AVAILABLE

The following benefits are available to workers who are involved in a work-related accident in Missouri:

Medical Benefits: All costs required for medical testing, treatment, prescriptions, and more will be covered.
Payment of Lost Wages: You may be eligible for temporary disability payments if the injuries sustained makes you unable to work temporarily.
Weekly Compensation: Injured employees will receive approximately 66 percent of their weekly wages, not exceeding a maximum amount determined by the law.
Compensation for Permanent Disability: Employees with a permanent disability resulting from the accident may be entitled to permanent disability payments.
Survivor Benefits: Upon the death of an employee who has suffered a compensable work injury or occupational disease, the decedent's surviving dependents may be entitled to weekly benefits from the employer or insurance provider. They will receive approximately 66 percent of the deceased's weekly wages, not exceeding a maximum amount determined by the law. Also, the employer or insurer will cover funeral expenses up to $5,000.
Additional Benefits: There are also additional benefits for employees who suffer occupational diseases due to toxic exposure. These include asbestosis, mesothelioma, bronchiolitis, berylliosis, silicosis, coal worker's pneumoconiosis, obliterans, and acute myelogenous leukemia.

INJURIES THAT QUALIFY

All injuries that occur during the course and scope of employment qualify for workers' compensation benefits in Missouri. However, Missouri workers' compensation law established three basic criteria for employees to be eligible, including:

Your employer must be covered under workers compensation
You must be an employee. Independent workers such as freelancers, IT consultants, and other domestic workers are not covered
The injury or illness must be work-related

Moreover, the accident or occupational exposure must be "the prevailing factor" that caused the injury, medical condition, or disability.

WHAT ARE THE BASIC ELEMENTS OF A CLAIM?

There are four basic elements required to pursue a claim of fault or liability against a healthcare provider. Those four elements are as follows:

There was a doctor-patient relationship. The doctor was rendering treatment or care to a patient.
The doctor was negligent. The doctor failed to adhere to their duty of care to the patient.
That negligence led to an injury. The doctor’s failure to adhere to their duty of care resulted in injuries sustained by the patient.
The injury caused damages. The injury or injuries suffered by the patient caused non-economic and economic damages.

I n this claim, the patient must assert that the standard of care was breached by the healthcare provider and demonstrate that that breach of care caused harm to the patient.

OCCUPATIONAL DISEASES THAT QUALIFY

An occupational disease can be described as a medical condition or illness caused by occupational exposure in the workplace. Some common examples of occupational diseases recognized by the Missouri Workers' Compensation Law include:

Injuries that are caused by repetitive motion, such as trigger finger, carpal tunnel syndrome, and epicondylitis
Loss of hearing due to prolonged exposure to industrial noise
Radiation disability that occurs when an employee is exposed to various types of radiation

To receive benefits under Missouri workers' compensation law, the employee must prove that work was the prevailing factor that caused both the medical condition and disability resulting from the claimed occupational disease.

HOW AN EXPERIENCED WORKERS' COMPENSATION ATTORNEY CAN HELP

Workers' compensation benefits are intended to provide relief to employees who are involved in a work-related accident but navigating the workers’ compensation process can be complicated. If you were hurt on the job, hiring a knowledgeable Missouri worker's compensation attorney is crucial to protect your rights and help you recover your benefits.

Our experienced attorneys at the Gartner Law Firm are committed to providing outstanding legal services and strong representation to clients in both workers' compensation and personal injury matters. Our team will review your case, carry out a detailed investigation, and determine case-value. As your legal counsel, we will fight compassionately to protect your rights and attempt to recover your rightful compensation for your injuries.

Contact the Gartner Law Firm today to schedule a one-on-one consultation and discuss your case with an experienced workers' compensation attorney. We proudly serve victims of workplace accidents in St. Peters, St. Charles, O'Fallon, and St. Louis, Missouri.

The Gartner Law Firm

September 15, 2020

ESTABLISHING FAULT IN A TRUCKING ACCIDENT

Mon, 23 Nov 2020 20:47:20 GMT

In 2019, semi-trucks were involved in 179,509 crashes. Their size and weight make truck accidents among the most severe. Nearly 5,000 people were killed in trucking-related crashes in 2019 and thousands more injured, some critically. Lives are lost and others changed forever when someone is negligent while operating a 40-ton vehicle.

If you’ve been injured in a truck accident, or if a loved one has been incapacitated or killed, you may be entitled to compensation. Gartner Law Firm helps clients with personal injury claims in St. Peters and St. Charles, Missouri, and the surrounding communities obtain compensation for medical expenses, lost earnings, pain and suffering, and wrongful death. We help people overwhelmed by injury or death find a way to move on with their lives.

COMMON CAUSES OF TRUCK ACCIDENTS

According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, most semi-truck accidents are caused by the truck driver. Reasons include fatigue, poor training, use of prescription or over-the-counter drugs, distracted and inattentive driving, overcompensation or slow reactions, following too closely, and excessive speed. Other frequent causes are mechanical failures, roadway conditions, and shifting cargo.

ESTABLISHING FAULT

Because Missouri is a fault state, you can file a claim against your own auto insurer for medical payment benefits, or for uninsured or underinsured motorist benefits. You can also file a personal injury or wrongful death claim against the truck driver, trucking company, truck or parts manufacturer, and others responsible for the crash.

Liability or “fault” for an 18-wheeler accident can lie with more than one person or entity:

The crash might be the fault of a driver who failed to inspect the truck properly, logged excessive hours on the road, or simply failed to pay attention.
The trucking company might be liable for inadequate driver training and supervision, or for placing profit over safety. In most cases, the company’s insurer pays the damages and losses of someone injured or killed in a crash.
The manufacturer of the semi-truck, trailer, or parts used on the vehicle could have provided faulty parts, like defective brakes, or a compromised coupling mechanism, which led to the crash.
Maintenance personnel who failed to inspect, repair, and maintain the vehicle could also be liable. Even the person who loaded cargo could be at fault if he did so improperly and shifting cargo contributed to the crash.

In most truck crash cases, you need to file a civil suit to allow adequate discovery of information critical to your claim. Determining liability requires a thorough investigation of all factors, including driver fatigue and qualifications, road and weather conditions, mechanical conditions of the truck, and any potential liability on your part or on other vehicles involved.

WHAT STEPS SHOULD I TAKE NEXT?

Generally speaking, most medical malpractice lawsuits target medical professionals. That includes (but is not limited to) doctors, nurses, dentists, and therapists. All of these individuals can be held liable for any negligent actions that resulted in injury or death in a medical malpractice lawsuit. Hospitals and clinics might also bear some level of liability, as they are responsible for the conduct of their employees and medical professionals who provide services inside their facilities.

If you choose to pursue legal action against a healthcare provider for breach of that duty, an Affidavit of Merit must accompany the initial petition for damages filed in civil court. In the affidavit, a qualified medical expert must state that he believes malpractice has been committed.

WHAT ARE THE BASIC ELEMENTS OF A CLAIM?

To help your personal injury claim:

Make sure you get all necessary medical treatment for your crash-related injuries;
Don’t admit any fault to anyone;
Don’t post photos or other information about the crash on social media;
Don’t speak to anyone representing any potentially liable party. Tell them you are consulting an attorney; and,
Retain an attorney with experience in pursuing trucking-related claims.

If a loved one was incapacitated or killed in a trucking crash, talk to an attorney right away. Preserving evidence is key to your claim.

WHAT KIND OF DAMAGES CAN I SUE FOR?

Patients can sue for compensatory and non-economic damages. Compensatory damages include medical expenses, lost wages, and other quantifiable losses. Non-economic damages include less quantifiable losses like pain and suffering, permanent disability, disfigurement, and loss of future earning capacity.

Unfortunately, Missouri law caps the amount injured patients can recover for non-economic damages, even in the event of a loved one’s death.

YOUR PERSONAL INJURY ATTORNEY’S ROLE

If you’ve been injured in a crash involving a semi-truck, or if a loved one has been incapacitated or killed, you need an experienced attorney to tackle the complicated task of investigating the crash and proving liability. This might require a crash reconstructionist, witness interviews, and inspections of the truck, trailer, and other vehicles involved. The federal government requires the trucking industry to comply with rigorous safety standards. You need an attorney who is knowledgeable about these regulations and experienced in determining if those standards were breached.

Trucking companies typically carry high liability insurance limits, which means there can be a lot of money at stake. It also means the insurer will have highly compensated attorneys on their side, so it’s important you have an attorney on yours.

You need someone with the best legal expertise and experience fighting for you to make sure everyone liable for your injuries or your loved one’s death are held accountable.

Gartner Law Firm has provided aggressive legal representation for dozens of trucking accident victims and their families in St. Peters and St. Charles, Missouri. Put our experience to work for you. Consultation is free, and you pay us nothing unless you recover a settlement or judgment, so call now.

The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be decided solely upon advertising.

The Gartner Law Firm

October 29, 2020

THREE COMMON CAUSES FOR MEDICAL MALPRACTICE CLAIMS

Mon, 23 Nov 2020 20:38:31 GMT

A 2016 analysis by Johns Hopkins University attributed more than 250,000 deaths a year to medical error in the United States, with hundreds of thousands more left injured.

Many of those who are left injured face a long road toward recovery. These victims face anything from minor injuries to significant health complications that can leave them incapacitated for the rest of their lives. Families across the country have suffered after their loved ones have been subjected to serious injuries or even death — all caused by negligence. To make matters worse, in Missouri, many of the laws surrounding medical malpractice favor physicians rather than the patients that they’ve harmed.

Gartner Law Firm has been helping clients successfully pursue medical malpractice claims in St. Peters and St. Charles, Missouri, and the surrounding communities for more than 25 years. We put our experience as personal injury attorneys to work to help seek compensation for both victims and their families.

UNDERSTANDING MEDICAL MALPRACTICE

Medical malpractice in Missouri is defined as the rendering of or a failure to render healthcare services that result in the injury or death of a patient.

There is a two-year statute of limitations for medical malpractice cases in Missouri. This means that you must file a lawsuit against your healthcare provider within two years of the date of the injury or within two years of the date, you should have reasonably known about the injury. The state’s provision surrounding the date you should have “reasonably known” about the injury allows more time for patients whose injuries might not be immediately apparent. For example, if a doctor was negligent during a surgical procedure, you may not experience symptoms or complications from the surgery harm until days, weeks, or even months later.

Regardless of when you become aware of the injury, the state does mandate that you must file a claim within 10 years of the date of injury, whether it was immediately known or not.

WHAT ARE SOME COMMON MEDICAL MALPRACTICE CLAIMS?

Healthcare providers owe a legal duty of care to all of their patients. That is, they must adhere to a standard of reasonable care while performing any acts or procedures that could foreseeably harm their patients. There are a number of different ways that they can breach that duty of care, but three of the most common causes for malpractice claims include:

Misdiagnosing a medical issue or failing to diagnose an issue at all.
Failing to provide the proper and necessary treatment to a patient based on a diagnosis.
Committing errors during surgery, including removing incorrect limbs, leaving surgical items inside a patient, or allowing bleeding or infection.

WHO CAN BE SUED FOR MEDICAL MALPRACTICE?

WHAT ARE THE BASIC ELEMENTS OF A CLAIM?

There are four basic elements required to pursue a claim of fault or liability against a healthcare provider. Those four elements are as follows:

There was a doctor-patient relationship. The doctor was rendering treatment or care to a patient.
The doctor was negligent. The doctor failed to adhere to their duty of care to the patient.
That negligence led to an injury. The doctor’s failure to adhere to their duty of care resulted in injuries sustained by the patient.
The injury caused damages. The injury or injuries suffered by the patient caused non-economic and economic damages.

I n this claim, the patient must assert that the standard of care was breached by the healthcare provider and demonstrate that that breach of care caused harm to the patient.

WHAT KIND OF DAMAGES CAN I SUE FOR?

Unfortunately, Missouri law caps the amount injured patients can recover for non-economic damages, even in the event of a loved one’s death.

HOW THE GARTNER LAW FIRM CAN HELP

Medical malpractice claims can often be complex and difficult to prove. You need an attorney with experience prosecuting medical malpractice claims, one who understands complicated medical issues, and one who has relationships with knowledgeable and respected medical experts who can attest to a defendant’s claim that the medical provider was in breach of their duty of care.

G artner Law Firm has the experience and expertise you and your family need to represent you in a medical malpractice claim — just as we have for dozens of clients in St. Peters and St. Charles, Missouri for over 25 years. Don’t face this challenge on your own. Your consultation is free, so call now.

The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be decided solely upon advertising.

gartnerlawfirm

MCCLELLAN: LAWYERS, BANKS WORK A HOLIDAY MIRACLE

The Gartner Law Firm

December 6, 2018

INJURIES THAT QUALIFY FOR WORKERS' COMPENSATION IN MISSOURI

OVERVIEW OF WORKERS' COMPENSATION IN MISSOURI ﻿

BENEFITS AVAILABLE ﻿

INJURIES THAT QUALIFY ﻿

WHAT ARE THE BASIC ELEMENTS OF A CLAIM?

OCCUPATIONAL DISEASES THAT QUALIFY ﻿

HOW AN EXPERIENCED WORKERS' COMPENSATION ATTORNEY CAN HELP ﻿

The Gartner Law Firm

September 15, 2020

ESTABLISHING FAULT IN A TRUCKING ACCIDENT

COMMON CAUSES OF TRUCK ACCIDENTS ﻿

ESTABLISHING FAULT ﻿

WHAT STEPS SHOULD I TAKE NEXT? ﻿

WHAT ARE THE BASIC ELEMENTS OF A CLAIM?

WHAT KIND OF DAMAGES CAN I SUE FOR?

YOUR PERSONAL INJURY ATTORNEY’S ROLE

The Gartner Law Firm

October 29, 2020

THREE COMMON CAUSES FOR MEDICAL MALPRACTICE CLAIMS

UNDERSTANDING MEDICAL MALPRACTICE

WHAT ARE SOME COMMON MEDICAL MALPRACTICE CLAIMS?

WHO CAN BE SUED FOR MEDICAL MALPRACTICE?

WHAT ARE THE BASIC ELEMENTS OF A CLAIM?

WHAT KIND OF DAMAGES CAN I SUE FOR?

HOW THE GARTNER LAW FIRM CAN HELP

The Gartner Law Firm

November 9, 2020 ﻿

OVERVIEW OF WORKERS' COMPENSATION IN MISSOURI

BENEFITS AVAILABLE

INJURIES THAT QUALIFY

OCCUPATIONAL DISEASES THAT QUALIFY

HOW AN EXPERIENCED WORKERS' COMPENSATION ATTORNEY CAN HELP

COMMON CAUSES OF TRUCK ACCIDENTS

ESTABLISHING FAULT

WHAT STEPS SHOULD I TAKE NEXT?

November 9, 2020