Help Doug

August 28, 2017

Happy Tuesday Kathy,

It's the end of summer, kids going back to school, crazy cool August, and an eclipse not had here since 1442. Below, I share some news about a car crash settlement and a scuba diving trip I did with my brother to Cozumel, Mexico. But first, let me share a story and ask for some help.

HELP

If you, or anyone you know, have any info about a hit and run incident on May 18, 2017 at New Hampshire and Heege Road in Affton, MO, please call us at [dynamic-phone-number] or contact CRIMESTOPPERS.

We represent Doug Hindle in his Workers' Compensation claim. Doug is a long time road safety worker who was terribly injured in a hit and run accident while on the job. The driver of the white pickup crashed into Doug, veered towards other road workers and continued driving.

Some of Doug's coworkers tried to chase down the truck but were not successful. Others saved Doug's life. But the battle is not over and Doug fights every day to overcome his terrible injuries. (If you have any work comp questions see if my free book answers them.) Please share this story – let's get this criminal.

$100,000 Auto Crash Settlement and Still Going

We settled another auto crash last week for our client Tony Webb. Just like the one we discussed in our last email, we continue to make claims against Tony's med pay and underinsured motorist policies to make sure we fully compensate him for his injuries.

Tony had $26,000 in billed medical with much paid by his health insurance. We think this a great settlement. Often we have to file suit to get this type of result. But – we are also pursuing his med pay benefits and making an underinsured claim as well.

We get an affidavit from the insured that they have no other insurance before we settle the case so we make sure we can make the underinsured claim. We will keep you posted.

The challenge in the case was in persuading the insurance companies to pay for a future surgery that has not occurred yet. Spine surgery is usually optional and patients only elect to have it when their pain is intolerable.

Tony and his wife are about the hardest working, nicest people you'll ever meet. So proud to help them.

Cozumel

My brother, Eric, and I went on a scuba diving trip to Cozumel, Mexico last weekend. First dive trip we have taken together and it was a blast. Eric took two courses and got his advanced diving and nitrox certifications. 12 dives in three days were amazing.

Some dive sites in Cozumel have this incredible reef structure where pillar-like reefs grow together forming crazy tunnel structures. As a trained cave diver (don't try this at home) I was able to go through these twisting tunnels through the reefs.

I would go through these and find my way out over on another part of the reef to rejoin the dive group. (Again – don't leave your dive buddy unless you're appropriately trained – or don't leave your dive buddy ever because it is unsafe, adds my wife who is editing this email). When asked by the dive master, I say the 'sea is my buddy,' to quote a friend of mine.

Gorgeous sea life.

Headache

Insurance adjusters and defense lawyers try to downplay headaches from head or neck trauma. We work hard (and successfully) to let the jury empathize with headache pain and suffering. We have had numerous large settlements for headache symptoms recently – whiplash causes different types of headaches. So, I wrote a blog about it.

Safe Eclipse

There are lots of knock off Solar Eclipse glasses being sold. Make sure yours are compliant with the ISO 12312-2 safety standards. Stay safe.

Responses:

“Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is so nice of you to put that out there...I am so grateful. I also wanted to let you know that yesterday Doug was released by Barnes and sent to the Rehabilitation Institute of St. Louis. He will get all the rehab he needs and now is one step closer to hopefully coming home I am so thankful to Barnes for saving his life...but we have been there for 3 months and we are both ready for him to get to rehab...get strong and walk again. Thank you again for your visit, and for being so good to us and helping us try and get this person.”

--Kathy

End of Busy Summer

August 28, 2017

Good Morning Jake,

Thanks so much for the great response to my last email about Doug Hindle and trying to find the car that crashed into him.

My family is getting into the school groove and our kids are in 2nd, 7th and 10th grades. At work, our summer was filled with depositions, resolving cases and fighting for our clients. We have had an amazingly busy end of summer.

We just settled a hotel assault case for $675,000, have a new page on our website for sexual assault claims and have a new lawyer with us. More on this (and personal stuff) below.

But first, We Filed LOTS of Lawsuits Last Week

Effective today, laws on personal injury and employment cases are changing. The changes include: restricting plaintiff's evidence of medical expenses to only what was paid to satisfy those bills, raising the standard to prove employment discrimination and retaliation claims, and erecting roadblocks to expert testimony at trial.

$675,000 Settlement

I have represented victims of assault before, but our recent settlement was a real vindication for our client and a strong message that hotels have to protect innocent people from criminal acts. We represent a woman who was sexually assaulted by the night manager of a hotel. Our client felt abandoned by our criminal justice system and mistreated by the defendants.

My client returned late at night to a hotel and was escorted into a different room by the perpetrator. After she was assaulted, she went to the hospital the next day and complained about what happened. But the police and prosecutor did not feel they would be successful in the prosecution for various reasons. But my client did not give up. She retained a few different lawyers and eventually came to me.

We filed suit and aggressively pursued the case. I deposed the managers who hired and retained this employee - and won the case. The hotel did not do background checks on employees and let a sexual predator attack their guest. They did a shoddy investigation and tried to cover the incident up. At mediation I did a detailed presentation with video clips of the managers proving how strong our case was. (I always video defendants’ depositions).

We took the case from a nothing offer for a long time to a $675,000 settlement. This will enable my client to have the financial security to accomplish a lot of things in life that were on hold while this case was progressing. It is gratifying to know our civil justice system worked in this case.

In addition and more importantly, my client used this incident to transform her life and better herself. She worked on herself for her and her family. She turned herself from victim to fighter.

Victims of sexual assault often feel powerless, that they have no control and experience a trauma that never goes away. I got more from my client than she got from me in this case. Working with her enabled me to sit here and understand my client’s damages.

New Sexual Assault web page

At BurgerLaw.com we have a new webpage with information and resources for victims of sexual assault – and how to pursue a claim – here.

We have clients who contact us directly about these types of claims.

We also have lawyers who refer these cases to us with whom we co-counsel. We want to make sure their clients have a great team to get the best possible result.

From our site:

"We have extensive experience in working with survivors of sexual assault in order to help them to navigate through the difficult, emotional experience. We have attorneys who are specifically trained in a victim-centered approach to litigation. We work to ensure that the legal process is not re-victimizing and that survivors are empowered throughout the process."

Welcome Nicole Gorovsky

I am pleased to announce that attorney Nicole Gorovsky has joined Burger Law. Niki has 16 years of fantastic legal experience as a federal and state prosecutor, assistant attorney general, and civil trial lawyer. Niki has prosecuted claims for sexual assault and many other lawsuits. She has had many successes and many trials.

I am excited to work with her to help our clients. If you have any legal questions, you can call us right away at [dynamic-phone-number].

Hamilton

Kristen and I got excited about the Hamilton musical about a year ago. We have been listening to music and reading the book, Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow.

We were excited to go and see the show in Chicago last weekend. It was amazing. If you get a chance to do it, I highly recommend it. If you cannot get up to Chicago, it is coming to Fox. It is well worth the price.

Pedal the Cause

I am riding in Pedal the Cause again this year and raising money to help find a cure for cancer. This is an amazing event attracting hundreds of cyclists and raising millions of dollars.

Art of Paws

Lastly, we went to a great Art of Paws event Saturday night. This benefits the St. Louis Effort for Aids. It helps sick people keep their dogs or provides assistance when they cannot care for their pets.

Responses:

“Thank you Gary!!! That was a real nice read this morning! Happy to say, things are still going well and I feel like my life can move forward! Thank you for ALL your help.”

--Carolyn

Opioid Epidemic

September 12, 2017

Good Morning Larry,

I thought I would tell a couple stories about clients in this email.

We represent Nathan Hughes’ family for his death from accidental opiate intoxication. Nathan’s story is unfortunately too familiar. He was injured at work in 2013, including a herniated disk in his low back. His doctor prescribed him pain medication. His doctor increased it over time and did not give him other alternatives.

Nathan was not consulted about the addictive nature of the drugs. Instead, he was prescribed more and different drugs with higher dosages. Nathan became addicted. His doctor ignored that.

So, Nathan switched doctors and began outpatient rehabilitation for his opioid addiction. He tried hard and it was tough. He received counseling and a methadone prescription to wean him off the opiates. On July 9, 2016, he died with lethal amounts of prescription drugs in his system. It was accidental.

Burger Law recently filed suit for Nathan’s death. We are suing his former physician, Dr. Creighton, and numerous drug companies including: Mallinckrodt, KVK-Tech, Impax Laboratories, Actavis Generics, Amneal Pharmaceuticals, West-Ward Pharmaceuticals, and Par Pharmaceuticals. They acted together to get Nathan addicted then killed him.

We have also made class action allegations and hope to help other Missourians whose loved ones have been wrongfully treated by these Opioid companies and prescribers.

A third of Americans suffer from chronic pain. Between 26.4 and 36 million people abuse opioids and over 2 million are addicted to them. 75% of those addicted to opioids first took opioids pursuant to a prescription.

Further, 92% of people who die due to opioid overdose had been receiving legitimate opioid prescriptions from a health care provider for chronic pain. The number of opioids prescribed in the United States has skyrocketed in the past 25 years, and the number of prescriptions for opioids (like hydrocodone and oxycodone products) have risen from an estimated 76 million in 1991 to nearly 207 million in 2013.

The U.S. consumes the most medication globally, accounting for nearly the entirety of the world’s total for hydrocodone (e.g., Vicodin) and 81 percent for oxycodone (e.g., Percocet). By 2002, death certificates listed opioid analgesic poisoning as a cause of death more commonly than heroin or cocaine.

Rut in Road Injures Motorcyclist

We represented Dennis against the Missouri Highway and Transportation Department. This case goes way back to 2011 (we were referred to this case by another lawyer). Our client was a medical doctor out for a Saturday motorcycle ride when he encountered a gap in the pavement between two slabs of concrete.

This caused his motorcycle to behave erratically and him to fall off the back of the motorcycle sustaining rib, neck, and head injuries. Dr. Colbert went to the hospital right away but his diagnosis was not too serious.

He then did not get further significant medical care for about 6 months. At that point, he started having arm weakness, continued neck pain, and headaches. He underwent MRI’s and further testing along with rounds of physical therapy to deal with that weakness. His medical care was spaced out over years, which became a challenge.

Many defendants and juries believe that if medical is not obtained within a relatively short period of time following an incident, that medical can be unrelated to the incident at issue. This is particularly true when the initial medical does not have diagnostic tests or diagnosis of significant medical problems and if the Plaintiff is an older person in which degenerative changes are noted in the spine and other parts of the body. These could be symptom-producing in and above themselves.

Regardless, the Missouri Highway Transportation Department must safely maintain their roads for all vehicles, including motorcycles. That this was an unwitnessed motorcycle crash also challenged liability. We were very pleased to settle the case for $165,000 – his medical bills were pretty low.

We currently are helping other folks in cases against the Highway and Transportation Department. We tend to file lawsuits and litigate these cases, conduct discovery, and take depositions where we show the dangerous condition of the MODOT should use to correct those conditions (or the absence of such systems) as well as violations of State and Federal highway safety guidelines.

We filed suit in court in Missouri, but in Illinois we have to file it in a special Court of Claims court. In waiving its sovereign immunity, Illinois requires claims in this administrative tribunal. While Missouri lets a regular civil claim, it only waives its immunity for dangerous property conditions, motor vehicle negligence claims and insurance claims.

Pedal the Cause

I am riding in Pedal the Cause again this year and raising money to help find a cure for cancer. This is an amazing event attracting hundreds of cyclists and raises millions of dollars.

LouFest

LouFest is always a great time. Many bands, a great atmosphere. Huey Lewis and Missourian Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats rocked.

Responses:

“I could use a hungry team. Lots of issues. I have filed a complaint against provider and facility with the state. I offer up 70% of any damages that are recovered.

--Larry

“Thank you for sharing these situations. Too often the public hears that someone died due to a drug overdose or situation. However, no one talks or explains about the medical field’s part that they played in the situation. These situations provided insight that the public should be given more often. That might help others to be aware and not become a participant of those kinds of circumstances. Thanks again.”

--Susan