- Toddler’s Death Prompts Another Recall of Window Blinds Posing Strangulation Hazard
Posted December 1, 2009, 2:27 pm
As a St. Louis miniblinds injury attorney, I was disappointed to see that a child's death has prompted yet another recall of a brand of window blinds. According to a Nov. 30 article in USA Today, two-year-old Thapelo Kwofe died in Maryland after he got tangled up in window cords. The newspaper said the incident prompted a safety alert by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the federal agency responsible for the safety of most consumer products. In the November alert, the CPSC...
- Missouri Circuit Courts are the proper place for the Missouri Work Comp Second Injury Fund to bring a Subrogation Case
Posted December 1, 2009, 1:59 pm by Benjamin J. Sansone
Recently, the Missouri Supreme Court, in the case of Joseph Banks v. Clint Zweifel, Treasurer of the State of Missouri, SC90131, determined that the Missouri Workers Compensation second injury fund can pursue subrogation actions in the circuit courts of Missouri. Prior to this ruling the issue was whether or not the second injury fund subrogation case needs to be heard in the Work Comp courts or the State Circuit Courts. The Missouri Supreme Court's ruling was based on the premise that "the...
- Did you know construction company employer health plans must notify affected idnividuals and the Department of Health of breaches of privacy requirements?
Posted December 1, 2009, 3:30 am by Dave Seitter
HHS Posts Online Breach Notification Form As explained in our March 2009 and September 2009articles, employer health plans and other "covered entities" are required to notify affected individuals and the Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS") when they breach certain of the privacy requirements imposed by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ("HIPAA"). HHS has now posted on its website an online form by which such breaches may be reported to HHS. The online form...
- ï»௼rash Investigation Vital in Motor Vehicle Accident Claims
Posted November 30, 2009, 12:13 pm by Douglas R. Horn
If you have been injured in a car, truck, or motorcycle accident, a thorough accident investigation can make the difference between an average settlement & a recovery that fully compensates you for medical expenses, income loss, and other personal loss. In fact, photographs and other accident evidence are so important that our law firm offers free investigations. We do not want anything left to chance or to be delayed because I know through experience how significant a comprehensive...
- Construction companies should know unleave can be converted to retirement plan contributions
Posted November 30, 2009, 3:26 am by Dave Seitter
In September of this year, the IRS issued official guidanceon how employers may convert unused leave under a bona fide sick leave, vacation leave, or paid-time-off ("PTO") program into contributions to a qualified, defined contribution plan (such as a profit sharing or 401(k) plan). Revenue Rulings 2009-31 and 2009-32 provide a virtual "roadmap" for how the value of unused leave (that might otherwise be forfeited each year or paid out in cash on termination of employment) may be used as a basis...
- Rural roads produce the most fatalities
Posted November 27, 2009, 2:34 pm by Ryan Bradley
In a report published by NPR using NHTSA data, rural roads are shown to have the highest number of fatal car and truck crashes despite the fact that less people live in rural areas. In 2008, 56 percent of fatal crashes happened on rural roads despite only 23 percent of the country's population living in rural areas. The report goes on to say that the numbers vary by state and in some areas over 90 percent of highway fatalities are on rural roads. Urban areas have more people and their residents...
- St. Louis Car Accident Lawyer Settles Uninsured Motorist Claim for $150,000.00 Policy Limits
Posted November 27, 2009, 12:39 pm by Josh Myers
Recently, we were able to settle one of our client's Missouri car accident cases for the complete $150,000.00 policy limit. More important for our client, we were able to achieve this settlement without even having to file the lawsuit. Our client was injured when she swerved to avoid an unidentified driver who had crossed into her lane. In doing so, she lost control of her car and went off the side of the road striking a tree. She then went to the hospital and followed up with her family...
- Federal Safety Board Says Cities May Not Make Rules About Hazmat Trucking Routes
Posted November 27, 2009, 10:25 am
As a St. Louis tanker truck accident lawyer, I was disappointed to read about a recent federal ruling that takes away local municipalities' ability to control how trucks use their roads. According to a Nov. 16 article from the Boston Globe, the National Transportation Safety Board ruled that the City of Boston was not legally entitled to order trucks carrying hazardous materials to use a route well outside of the city during daytime. That prompted a lawsuit from the American Trucking...
- Well, maybe the Feds are catching up to the issues involving service disable veteran businesses?
Posted November 27, 2009, 3:50 am by Dave Seitter
A recent investigation by the GAO foun fraud and abuse, including: misrepresentations by a firm whose owner was not a service-disabled veteran; a serviced-disabled veteran who did not control the firm's day-to-day operations; a service-disabled veteran who was a full-time contract federal employee at a military base; and firms that served as a pass-through for large and sometimes foreign-based corporations.
- Hit and run accident injures four in Missouri
Posted November 25, 2009, 10:31 am
Four people were injured, one seriously, by a Missouri car accident on I-70 in which one driver fled the scene. The hit-and-run injury accident occurred in Lafayette County at around 1:15 Wednesday afternoon. Kenneth Dusch, 42, was driving eastbound in a 1995 Chevrolet with a boat trailer. Behind Dusch was 27 year old Erik Myhill who was driving a 2007 Toyota. According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Myhill overtook Dusch's vehicle and crashed into the boat trailer. The impact caused...
- Missouri personal injury verdict arising from drunk driving wrongful death case
Posted November 25, 2009, 7:29 am by Benjamin J. Sansone
Record Missouri Verdict - Drunk Driving Accident in Franklin County Recently a Franklin County jury returned a massive Missouri wrongful death verdict stemming from a death resulting from a drunk driving collision. Sansone Law has handled multiple drunk driving personal injury cases and often the likelihood of these massive verdicts facilitates very favorable settlements in favor of our clients. Our prior Missouri and Illinois drunk driving personal injury settlements and ongoing cases:...
- THE SEC AND CFTC ISSUE TWO JOINT ORDERS
Posted November 25, 2009, 12:00 am by Richard D. Worth
The SEC and CFTC recently issued two joint orders related to securities-based futures contracts which went into effect on November 17 and November 19, 2009, respectively. As the recent SEC press release explains, "[t]he first joint order excludes certain foreign and domestic volatility indexes that are based on broad-based security indexes from the definition of "narrow-based security index". As a result of the joint order, futures on foreign and domestic volatility indexes that meet the...
- Charity to animals is basis for property tax exemption
Posted November 24, 2009, 8:02 pm by Harry Styron
Property taxes in Missouri and most states apply to all property that isn't exempted by a provision of the state constitution or statutes. The exemptions from Missouri real estate taxes are listed in section 137.100 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri, which includes government property and All property, real and personal, actually and regularly used exclusively [...]
- Prepare Your Home and Cars for Winter
Posted November 24, 2009, 12:06 pm by Tatlow, Gump, Faiella & Wheelan LLC
It is that time of year again--time for the weather here in Missouri to turn off cold and when the driving conditions are often hazardous. Even if you're a very careful driver, wintertime accidents cannot always be avoided. Here are a few of the winter safety tips from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. PREPARE YOUR HOME: 1. It's possible that due to a winter storm, you may find yourself stuck at home without power for a few days. Try to keep fuel for an alternate heat source on hand,...
- Nursing Home Resident Abuse Leads to Termination of Facility Top Officials
Posted November 24, 2009, 11:17 am by David W. Terry
Top officials at Regency at the Park, a skilled nursing facility located in College Place, Washington, have been terminated after the state Department of Social and Health Services determined that the facility caused a resident harm. Reportedly, the resident suffered mental and physical abuse in the summer of 2009. The resident was admitted to the facility in 2000 and suffered from short and long-term memory impairments, poor decision-making abilities, and was resistant to care. In early June...
- Family of Woman Killed in Drunk Driving Crash Wins Half Million in Court
Posted November 24, 2009, 7:24 am
As a southern Illinois traffic accident attorney, I was pleased to see that an Illinois jury brought back a large verdict in a drunk driving lawsuit that killed a woman from Batchtown. The Belleville News-Democrat reported Nov. 23 that Jerica Klocke, 19, died as a passenger on the back of a motorcycle driven by Donald Adcock, 24, of Carrollton. Adcock also died in the September 2007 crash. He had been drinking at a bar in Eldred before the crash, and Klocke's family brought the suit against the...
- MoDOT loses $1.3 million dollar judgment stemming from tractor trailer crash
Posted November 24, 2009, 5:52 am by Ryan Bradley
A $1.3 million dollar ruling against the Missouri Department of Transportation was just handed down by a arbitration panel that decided the department could have done more to prevent a Missouri tractor trailer accident in 2005. The accident in question was a December 6, 2005 crash that killed Jemma Dant, 28. Her car was stopped on I-44 when a semitrailer crashed into the back of her car and sent it into another truck. Her car was in a line of traffic which was backed up unusually far from the...
- SEC's Office of Inspector General Issues Recommendations for Selection of Investment Advisors and Investment Companies for Examination
Posted November 24, 2009, 12:52 am by Kurt J. Schafers
The SEC's Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a report making recommendations to improve the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations' (OCIE) process for selecting investment advisers and investment companies for examination. The report focused on the reasons OCIE did not perform an examination of Bernard Madoff Investment Securities, LLC's (BMIS) investment advisory business soon after the firm registered as an investment adviser in 2006. The OIG noted that OCIE's practice is to...
- Jury in Prempro Trial Awards Illinois Woman $6.3 Million for Link to Breast Cancer
Posted November 23, 2009, 6:23 pm by Jeff Lowe
As a dangerous medication lawyer, I was gratified to read that a woman from Peoria, Ill. was awarded $6.3 million in damages after a finding that her breast cancer was caused by hormone replacement therapies. Reuters reported Nov. 20 on the largest Prempro award to date, handed down to Donna Kendall of Decatur, Ill. Kendall, 66, sued pharmaceutical company Pfizer after spending 11 years taking the hormone replacement drugs Prempro and Provera, products of Pfizer corporate units. She was...
- Crash in Clarence Results in Serious Injuries for One Man
Posted November 23, 2009, 9:35 am by Tatlow, Gump, Faiella & Wheelan LLC
Kristopher Mitchell, 33 of Columbia, Missouri was seriously injured in a crash in Clarence, Missouri on November 21, 2009. At 6:45 a.m. at the intersection of US 36 and BUS 36 in Clarence, Mitchell was driving a 2004 Dodge northbound on BUS 36 when he failed to yield at the stop sign, and pulled into the path of an eastbound vehicle, a 2007 Volvo driven by William Steinkamp, 48 of Golden, Illinois. Mitchell sustained serious injuries and was taken by Salt River Amulance to Samaritan Hospital....