Car Accident Attorney In St. Louis

The Glassman Law Firm, P.C. of St. Louis has been helping personal injury victims in the State of Missouri win substantial settlements and awards for many years. Our team has 50 years of combined courtroom experience, and we are proud of the fact that most of our clients have been referred to us by other satisfied clients.

In 2005, 78 more people died in traffic accidents on Missouri's roads than in 2004. The 1,208 deaths is a 7% increase from 2004. The number of deaths has not been below 1,000 since 1994. The Glassman Law Firm, P.C. understands that as an accident victim or the family of a victim, you may be overwhelmed and suffering from emotional, physical and financial injuries. Defending your rights is probably secondary in your mind to your personal recovery process. However, the justice system strives to return the victims of personal injury to some semblance of life they led prior to an injury. While monetary compensation cannot change the past, it can help lessen anxiety about medical bills, employment, rehabilitation, and your future.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there were more than 6 million reported motor vehicle crashes in 2004. While the majority of accidents involved only damage to property, 38,000 lives were lost and almost 2 million people were injured. Even minor accidents can produce injuries that are disproportionate to the event, and symptoms may not arise until well after the original accident. People involved in motor vehicle accidents include:

• Drivers of vehicles involved in accidents where another driver was at fault,
• Passengers in vehicle accidents whose driver or the driver of another vehicle was at fault,
• Pedestrians hit by vehicles, and
• Cyclists and motorcycle riders hit by motorists.

Under Missouri state and federal law, those injured in accidents caused by the negligence or recklessness of others are entitled to file a civil action suit - called a "tort" - against those who caused them harm. The plaintiff (claimant) files a lawsuit against the party that caused the injury (defendant). If negligence is proven, the defendant must pay the plaintiff monetary "damages" that may include consideration for present and future loss of earnings, medical expenses and pain and suffering. In order for the plaintiff to recover damages, a skilled attorney must prove the critical elements of negligence:

1. The defendant had a duty to the plaintiff.
2. The defendant failed in that duty.
3. The plaintiff was injured and damages resulted from the defendant's breach of duty.

Accident-related injuries range from minor to serious and permanent. If you have been injured in an automobile accident, your physical trauma is probably compounded by the uncertainties of your financial future. How will you pay medical bills and make up for lost income?

In Missouri, automobile owners are required to carry proof of insurance coverage. If the other driver has no liability insurance, your own policy does provide benefits to protect you against uninsured drivers. If the responsible driver did not have a sufficient amount of liability insurance to adequately compensate you for all of your damages, we can assist you in presenting an underinsured motorist claim against your insurance company if you purchased this coverage in your automobile policy. These are very important and frequently misunderstood coverages. Although uninsured and underinsured claims are brought against your own company, your company cannot legally cancel your policy or raise your premiums for making these claims because they are not considered "chargeable losses" under your policy (i.e., they are not your fault). It is best to consult The Glassman Law Firm, P.C. so that your rights to seek damages are fully explored and pursued against responsible drivers and insurers. This is especially so when:

• There was a fatality.
• Bones were broken or fractured.
• Surgery has or will be required.
• There is permanent and serious injury or disfigurement.
• There is significant rehabilitation time and disability from work.

If you are eligible for damages, your compensation may include medical expenses, lost income, property damage, and pain and suffering damages. If the accident was caused by someone else's negligence (exceedingly reckless or careless behavior), punitive damages may be awarded.

At The Glassman Law Firm, P.C., we relentlessly pursue compensation for our injured clients. Mr. Glassman and his committed staff are personally involved in the unique nature of your injury and how it has affected your life. Our open-ended consultations are free of charge. Let us know if we can be of service to you.

Contact us today at (314) 446-6000, or you may contact us via our online form.

Please see our Car Accidents Frequently Asked Questions.

Please see our Car Accidents Resources / Links.

Proposed Distracted Driving Legislation In Missouri

There are many environmental distractions a driver may face on the road, but because text messaging demands the manual, visual, and cognitive attention of a driver, it is probably the most recklessly negligent distraction, next to driving while intoxicated. The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found that sending or receiving a text takes a driver's eyes off the road for an average of 4.6 seconds. This is the equivalent of driving more than the length of an entire football field at 55 mph, blind. Colorado studies have shown that the reaction time of texting drivers is equivalent to that of drunk drivers!

Distracted driving is a dangerous epidemic in our country. In 2011 alone, 3,331 people were killed in distracted driving related incidents and another 387,000 people were injured. That number is up from the 3,267 people that were killed in 2010.

There are two Missouri bills currently in the legislature that seek to expand the state's ban on texting while driving to drivers of all ages, says handsfreeinfo.com. Currently the law only applies to drivers under the age of 21. The 20 and under age group has the greatest number of drivers reported to have been distracted during a fatal accident.

The Columbia Missourian recently reported that on average, fewer than four people per month have received a texting while driving ticket; and out of Missouri's 114 counties, half of them have ticketed no one. Prosecutors believe that the age barrier makes it difficult for police to pull drivers over, since they must make an age determination of the driver while they're in a moving vehicle.

The following distracted driving bills will be taken up by the Missouri House of Representatives in 2013:

House Bill 145: This bill would outlaw the use of any handheld wireless communication device while driving unless the device is equipped with hands free voice recognition technology, and is being used in this manner.

House Bill 394: This bill would apply Missouri's text messaging law to all drivers. Hands free voice recognition technology is exempt from this.

House Bill 524: This bill will prohibit all drivers, regardless of age, from text messaging while operating a moving vehicle unless the device being used is equipped with technology allowing for voice-recognition hands-free texting.

Contact the St. Louis Personal Injury Attorneys of The Glassman Law Firm at 314-446-6000 if you have been injured in an accident involving a distracted driver.

Trucking Accident Attorney In St. Louis

In 1980, before the interstate trucking industry was deregulated, there were approximately 20,000 interstate motor carriers operating in the United States. Following deregulation, the American Trucking Associations undertook a study in 2002 which revealed that there are over 500,000 truckers using our highways. This increased competition for trucking business has motivated the less principled companies to cut corners and "overlook" the hours-of-service regulations that legally limit the number of hours that a trucker can drive per week. As a result, 40 ton commercial tractor-trailer rigs are being operated on our highways by sleep deprived drivers every day. How and why does this happen?

Federal law limits the number of hours a tractor-trailer operator can be "in service" each week. Federal law considers a trucker who is waiting for his cargo to be loaded or unloaded to be "in service." Even though a trucker is legally "in service" when waiting for his cargo, the trucking companies do not pay drivers for this wasted time. They are paid only for miles driven.

How do these big-rig drivers make money with these pay limitations? Many of them break the law by falsifying their driver logbooks, by understating their loading time and claiming they accomplished their 300-500 daily driving miles during normal hours. In truth, because they had to wait several hours for a load, they violate the hours-of-service laws and drive most of the night in order to get paid for mileage.

This cheating could easily be discovered by the trucking companies if they cared about highway safety. Today, many trucks are equipped with global positioning satellite (GPS) technology and computers which enable the trucking companies to know exactly where their trucks are at all times, when a truck is being driven and how long a driver has been parked. Even before GPS, trucking companies had access to security gate logs at all of the docks where their drivers picked up and delivered, showing exactly how long a driver was loading versus driving. In addition, trucking companies have always reimbursed their drivers for fuel, maintenance and personal expenses, and these bills, if reviewed, would reveal when and where drivers stopped to eat, refuel or have repairs performed.

The bottom line is this: Many trucking companies know that their drivers break the law, but "look the other way" because profit is more important to them than the safety and well-being of citizens who have to share the highways with tired tractor-trailer drivers.

Is this a serious enough problem to make these negligent trucking companies take responsibility? In 1995, the U.S. Department of Transportation convened the first National Truck and Bus Safety Summit at which safety experts concluded that driver fatigue was the number one safety issue facing their industry.

In 1999, a Department of Transportation study on driver fatigue and alertness revealed that 28% of these tractor-trailer drivers reported falling asleep at the wheel at least once in the prior month!

The Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 30% of the deaths and 70% of highway injuries are the result of negligently operated trucks by fatigued drivers. In 2005, Annette Sandberg, Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, cited statistics showing that negligent fatigued truck drivers were responsible for 410 deaths and more than 7,500 other non-fatal crash injuries.

Missouri is a prime example of how these trucking companies recklessly disregard the law. In 2005, the Missouri Highway Patrol issued 4,183 tickets to truckers who violated the hours-of-service regulations or driver logbook regulations, and this number does not include the big-rig drivers who were simply let off with warnings instead of citations. Imagine: the Missouri Highway Patrol catches more than 11 semi drivers breaking the law every day!

These startling numbers do not take into account the thousands of semi crashes caused by negligent loading, alcohol and substance abuse, improper braking and merely driving too fast for weather conditions.

Finally, we can look forward to even greater risk of death and serious injury on our highways thanks to a U.S. Department of Transportation pilot program that will permit Mexican trucks to travel directly from Mexico to their destinations in America, beginning in April, 2007. Despite objections by Rep. James Oberstar, Chairman of the House Transportation Committee and Todd Spencer, Executive Vice-President of the Owner-Operator Independent Driver’s Association, with regard to the safety of these Mexican truckers, the profits available to the trucking industry under NAFTA appear to have superseded concern for public safety.

The Glassman Law Firm, P.C. is committed to helping the victims of big-rig trucking accidents and making the trucking industry accept responsibility for violation of federal safety regulations. When we pursue these cases, we hire nationally known experts in safety regulations, accident reconstruction and fleet maintenance to show juries exactly why and how our clients have been killed and disabled by trucking companies who have little regard for public safety. If you or a loved one has been involved in a trucking accident, contact The Glassman Law Firm, P.C. for a prompt free consultation.

Please see our Trucking Accidents Frequently Asked Questions.

Please see our Trucking Accidents Resources / Links.

For more information on Trucking Accidents click here to view Mr. Glassman's interview on ABC's "Legal Minds."

Big Rig Safety

Semi-trucks, big rigs, tractor-trailers, and 18-wheelers are large trucks that can be roughly 13.5 feet tall, 8.5 feet wide, up to 70 feet long, and can weigh up to 80,000 pounds. Needless to say it takes a great amount of experience and agility to be able to operate a vehicle of this magnitude. However, drivers don't always possess these attributes, this is when trouble arises.

In 2010, which is the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's most recent data regarding trucking accidents, 276,000 large trucks were involved in collisions in the United States. Of those accidents, 3,675 people were killed and 80,000 people were injured.
Fatalities have gone up 9 percent from 2009 to 2010. Of the deaths resulting from accidents with large trucks, 76 percent were occupants in passenger cars, 10 percent were pedestrians, motorcyclists, or bicyclists, and 14 percent were occupants in large trucks.

Just this morning a tractor-trailer truck was implicated in a 30-vehicle crash that killed three people on a snowy Iowa highway. We will hear in the days to come, whether the truck driver was in compliance with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations with respect to the speed and weather limitations placed upon drivers of these big rigs.

There is no doubt that if not operated properly a truck can be a deadly weapon. As drivers, we can all be more aware around large trucks. Here are a few tips that will hopefully save your life:

• Give truck drivers room to turn. They sometimes will need room to swing wide to the left to make a right turn. They won't be able to see you if you squeeze in between them and the curb. If they are properly using their blinkers, you should be able to prepare and move out of the way when they make this type of turn.
• Large trucks have even larger blind spots. Refrain from riding on either side of a large truck. A good rule of thumb is if you can't see the truck driver's face in the mirror, then they can't see you. 
• Never jump in front of a large truck too soon after passing. Large trucks need room to stop. In fact, their breaking distance varies greatly depending on the amount of cargo they are carrying. Never leave this distance to chance, give trucks plenty of space. 

Being involved in an accident with a large truck can result in catastrophic injuries that can require months, years, or a lifetime of rehabilitation. This type of accident can leave you in a great deal of pain as well as permanently disabled. You could even lose your life. If you or a loved one has been injured in a trucking accident, contact the Missouri Truck Accident Attorneys of The Glassman Law Firm.

GlaxoSmithKline Involved In Largest Health Care Fraud Settlement In US History

In the largest health care fraud settlement in United States history, GlaxoSmithKline is set to plead guilty to promoting drugs for unapproved uses. GSK must pay $3 billion dollars in fines, $1 billion will go towards criminal wrong doing while the remaining $2 billion is set aside for a victims fund.

In an attempt to maximize profits, GSK unlawfully promoted drugs that were not approved by the FDA for alternative uses, hid dangerous results from the government and consumers, and bribed physicians into using these drugs whenever possible even when not medically necessary.

Among some of the drugs that were improperly marketed are the widely used antidepressants Paxil and Wellbutrin. Wellbutrin was marketed by GlaxoSmithKline from 1999- 2003 for alternative uses such as sexual dysfunction, substance addiction, ADHD and weight loss -- treatment for which the FDA had not been approved Wellbutrin. The adult approved antidepressant. Similarly, Paxil, an adult-approved antidepressant, was marketed by GSK from 1998-2003, representing its safe use by children and adolescents, though the FDA never approved it. GlaxoSmithKline also failed to report safety problems with its popular diabetes drug, Avandia, to the government from 2001 to 2007. Avandia has been banned in Europe and restricted in the U.S. after it was found to greatly increase the risk of heart attack and congestive heart failure. Advair was promoted by GSK as therapy for mild asthma with misleading claims. The anti-epileptic medication Lamictal was marketed for off-label psychiatric uses and pain management. Certain forms of Zofran were promoted to treat “morning sickness” in pregnant women even though it was only approved for post operative nausea.

"GSK's sales force bribed physicians to prescribe GSK products using every imaginable form of high priced entertainment, from Hawaiian vacations to paying doctors millions of dollars to go on speaking tours, to a European pheasant hunt, to tickets to Madonna concerts, and this is just to name a few," said Carmin M. Ortiz, U.S. attorney in Massachusetts.

Contact The Glassman Law Firm if you have suffered the effects of any of these drugs. The Glassman Law Firm has experience and success in obtaining substantial settlements when dealing with a large drug company’s settlement fund. As in the instance of the Dalkon Shield. The Dalkon Shield IUD, which was marketed by the A.H. Robins Company, was found to cause severe injury to a large percentage of its users. This subsequently lead to lawsuits in which juries awarded millions of dollars in compensation. Approximately 2.8 million women used this IUD as a result of the aggressive marketing of the Dalkon Shield despite the manufacturer’s awareness of safety issues. Through the representation of The Glassman Law Firm, you will be contributing the safety of your community by not allowing drug companies to misrepresent products that cause injuries to those relying on them to improve heath.

If you or a loved one has suffered loss of employment, serious injury, or death as a result of taking GlaxoSmithKline medications listed below, contact the The Glassman Law Firm.

• Advair 
• Avandia 
• Flovent 
• Imitrex 
• Lamictal 
• Lotronex 
• Paxil 
• Valtrex 
• Wellbutrin 
• Zofran

Dangerous Premises Attorney In St. Louis

Owners, managers and occupants of retail stores, parking lots, apartment complexes, construction sites, and even homeowners are all responsible for proper maintenance, inspection and repair of dangerous conditions on their property which may cause foreseeable injuries to visitors. The law imposes a duty of reasonable care upon these people who are responsible for the prevention of accidents, such as slips and falls.

More and more merchants operate self-service stores where they know that customers are likely to drop or leave merchandise on floors, creating a serious risk of harm to other customers. Owners and operators of these stores are legally required to regularly inspect and maintain their premises in order to minimize the risk of injury to other shoppers. Failure to do so often results in liability for permitting a hazardous condition to exist.

Inadequate signage or warnings, uneven surfaces, and unguarded holes that result in serious injuries are other examples of dangerous premises for which owners, supervisors and occupants of the property may be liable for injuries which occur.

Owners and occupants of commercial premises are responsible for compliance with building and safety codes to assure the prevention of hazardous defects which may result in injury. These codes impose minimum safety standards with which building owners and managers must comply. While accidents sometimes just happen, if an accident is due to a code violation, negligent maintenance, inspection, repair or warning, the victim of an injury caused by such a hazard is entitled to compensation for any loss of income and medical bills, as well as any permanent or residual pain, discomfort or disability.

Most businesses and homeowners today carry premises liability insurance. If you or a loved one has been injured by a hazardous condition on someone's property, contact The Glassman Law Firm, P.C. for a free consultation by an experienced premises liability attorney who will advise you of your rights.

Please see our Dangerous Premises Frequently Asked Questions.

Please see our Dangerous Premises Resources / Links.

Look Both Ways Before You Cross

"Look both ways before you cross."-- Who can forget Mom's advice? And what sound advice it was. But even when one looks both ways, tragedy can still strike. Every year pedestrians are injured or killed in and out of crosswalks all over the world. Sometimes as a result of negligence on the part of the driver and/or the pedestrian. In other cases, it's an unfortunate obstruction such as a tree or a bend in the road that may hinder one's ability to negotiate how quickly a car is traveling; resulting in tragedy.

In one recent case, a young man at Missouri University of Science and Technology was hit by a car while attempting to cross highway 63 in Rolla. A four lane highway with speeds exceeding 60 mph in city limits. Luckily for the young student, he suffered only minor injuries and left the ER that night. Sadly though, the whole thing could have been prevented if the student were to have utilized the underground crosswalk that had been built in the wake of a tragedy on the same stretch of road 20 years prior.

Infrastructure evolves around us. It is constantly adapted to suit our safety and function. Many times crosswalks and pedestrian tunnels have sprung up as a result of tragedy. It would be a shame if that tragedy were to occur again when remedies have been put in place to prevent it.

So, like Mom always said, "Look both ways before you cross."-- with the added amendment: "…and if you see a crosswalk use it."