The Secrist Law Firm is dedicated to helping accident victims with their personal injury claims. 

THE NATURE OF PERSONAL INJURY CASES

You invest a significant amount of time, money and effort maintaining your health and well being.  Then, in the blink of an eye, it all changes due to someone's carelessness or negligence.  The cost of resulting medical care and treatment can be overwhelming.  Medical care providers want paid.  You can't return to work as you concentrate on recovering.  Income is lost.  Your vehicle or other property is damaged.  Pain and suffering resulting temporary and permanent disability impact your quality of life and jeopardize the security of those who depend upon you.  Stress mounts.

You also come to the realization that your personal injuries were caused by a large business or someone insured by a large insurance company.  Both have the resources to mount a formidable defense.  It is not their job to make sure your rights are protected.  In fact, they will avoid compensating you at all if possible or will compensate you only on their terms.  Having someone in your corner to fully and aggressively represent your interests is critical.  You need someone to level the playing field.  I take pride in representing those injured by the carelessness or negligence of others.  Your job is to get better.  It is my job to see that the system works for you.

TORTS

An accident victim's right to be compensated is based in tort law.  There are two fundamental issues present in every tort case.  First, is anyone legally responsible for the injuries caused to the accident victim?  Second, what is reasonable compensation for the resulting injuries?  

The tree kinds of Torts are:

• Unintentional Tort or Negligence
• Intentional Tort
• Strict Liability

Unintentional Torts or Negligence. 

The law imposes on all persons the duty to act reasonably.  Whether you are driving a car, mowing your yard or building a house, you have a duty to act in a reasonable manner.  In addition to this requirement of reasonableness, there may also be laws which specifically define how one is to act in a given situation.  A speed limit would be an example of a law which specifically defines how one is to act.  Without a speed limit we would be left to drive at a "reasonable" speed.

Negligence is the most common tort and therefore the most common basis for an accident victim's right to compensation.  Typical negligence based cases are motor vehicle accidents and slip and fall actions.  A less common negligence case might be a food borne illness situation.  In these busy times we regularly rely on others to prepare our meals.  Contaminated food or beverages is the cause of some 250 food borne illnesses which have been identified.  What we often blame on the flu can actually be illness from contaminated food.  Establishing the causal connection between your illness and your local restaurant can be challenging.  Tracing the source of the contamination can be equally problematic.  Early recognition and investigation is the key to a successful action. Visit the Center for Disease Control for additional information.

     Auto Accidents

No one begins their day planning on being involved in an auto accident either as a driver, passenger or pedestrian.  It is the last thing on your mind.  The longer you drive without an auto accident the less you think about having one.  Research suggests however that an auto accident takes place somewhere about every one second.  Visit Arrive Alive, the website of the Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety for safety tips and programs.

The number one priority following any accident is the safety of yourself and the others involved in the accident.  You have a personal and legal obligation to have your personal injuries treated.  Do not hesitate to contact the Secrist Law Firm early in the process in order to avoid doing something that may compromise the legal rights you have which flow from that accident.  Statements should never be given to the defendant, insurance representatives or others without first seeking legal advice.

Navigating the maze of legal issues presented by automobile liability insurance is no small task.  Which company has coverage?  What are the policy limits?  Can policies be stacked to increase coverage limits?  Does more than one company have responsibility?  Is a company providing medical pay coverage entitled to be reimbursed from settlement proceeds?  What may appear to be a relatively straight forward accident situation can become quite complicated when it comes to the applicability and extent of insurance coverage.  Don't rely on the insurance company to sort these issues out for you.

     Truck Accidents

Southwest Missouri has become a major hub for large truck and tractor trailer activity.  Accidents with these large trucks can be catastrophic.  A fully loaded tractor trailer can weigh twenty times that of an ordinary passenger vehicle.  Size and speed of the truck along with driver fatigue are the primary causes of large truck accidents.

     Motorcycle Accidents

Motorcycles, mopeds and similar types of small motorized vehicles have become increasingly popular in recent years and are sharing the road with vehicles many times their size.  Motorcycle crash fatalities have increased every year for the past nine years.  While roughly only 3% of all vehicles on the road are motorcycles, the year 2006 saw nearly 5,000 motorcycle fatalities and 88,000 injuries.  Gas prices suggest that we may see more and more motorcycles on the road in the future.

Motorcycles are less crash worth, less visible, less stable and more vulnerable to weather and road conditions than automobiles.  There is little margin for error.  The failure of automobile drivers to see motorcycles in traffic is the most common cause of motorcycle accidents.  No matter how careful the cyclist, the negligence of others is the most common cause of motorcycle accidents.  Approximately three-fourths of motorcycle accidents involve other vehicles and only one-fourth are single vehicle accidents.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration keeps a close eye on the safety of our highways.  The Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety offers information and programs to promote motorcycle safety.

     Defective Products

We have become a country of products.  Millions of products are designed, manufactured, sold and used everyday by consumers, employees and businesses.  Products are everything manufactured including motor vehicles, medication, toys, firearms, clothing, electronics, etc.  Unfortunately, a certain number of those products will be dangerous resulting in injury to the user. 

The danger may sometimes be so obvious that the government will force a recall.  The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission provides recall and product safety information.  Most defective or dangerous or defective products do not get recalled before they cause injury.  Manufacturers and sellers of dangerous products aggressively defend the good name of their products and company.  Retaining counsel early in the claim process is critical.

     Premises Liability

While property owners are not guarantors of the safety of visitors, all property owners owe a duty to act reasonably in maintaining their property and not allow unsafe conditions to exist.  "Slip and fall" is one example of a dangerous premises case.  Defective and poorly maintained or designed steps or walkways as well as foreign substances on walkways are common causes of "slip and fall" accidents.

Intentional Torts. 

An intentional tort is based upon someone's intentional actions to hurt someone.  Fortunately, most people do not set out to intentionally injure others.  When they do, the criminal law will apply as well as tort law.  While the mugger who knocks you down and takes your purse has committed a crime and will have to answer to the criminal courts, he has also subjected himself to a civil lawsuit by his victim based upon intentional tort. 

Strict Liability. 

Both negligence and intentional torts include the element of fault.  Strict liability is a unique cause of action based upon other considerations besides fault.  Dangerous product actions and Workers' Compensation are examples of strict liability.  The injured party does not have to prove fault or wrong behavior in order to recover damages.  To illustrate, if you are hurt while at work you can recover under workers' compensation even if your employer did nothing wrong.

Damages. 

Damages or injuries from the actions of others can be minor to catastrophic.  Catastrophic injuries are by definition extreme in nature and can result from motor vehicle accidents, dangerous products, dangerous premises, etc.  Catastrophic injuries include limb amputations, brain and spinal cord injures, paraplegia and quadriplegia.  The permanency of these types of injuries and the likelihood of continuing medical care create issues not present in other cases.

While not all accident cases result in catastrophic injures, we recognize that all injuries are significant and in some ways catastrophic to each individual client.  Damages can be caused by minor as well as major collisions.  While race cares are designed to explode upon collision to reduce the trauma on the driver, passenger cars are built to withstand collisions transferring more force to the occupants.  Do not discount the effect of the impact from a minor collision.

The Importance Of Timely Action.   

The first order of business after an accident is to seek medical attention.  Step number two is to make sure your legal interests are protected.  Delay in seeking legal counsel can result in losing your right to recover damages, lost evidence, failing memory of events, misstatements to insurance investigators or other witnesses and delay in securing recovery for your damages.  You can be assured that the defendant and his/her insurance company will begin to prepare their defense shortly after the accident.  Don't give them an advantage by allowing them a head start.

A statute of limitation places a time requirement on an accident victim.  A suit must be filed in a timely manner or you can lose your right to sue.  Once you lose your right to sue you have lost your right to demand compensation.  Extended delay can bar your right to recovery.

If you are a tort victim we will review your case without cost.  If I determine that your case has merit, I will represent you without the payment of a fee unless there is monetary recover.  I look forward to hearing from you.

The Creekside Building II, 2650 E. 32nd Street, Ste 201, Joplin, Missouri 64804