Springfield Injury Law Blog : Springfield Injury Lawyer & Attorney : Jason Krebs Law Firm : Branson, Tri-Lakes, Missouri: car accident, personal injury, food poisoning, medical malpractice, wrongful death

In Part One of this series about how a lawyer can help after a car accident,  I covered one concern people have--that it may look like they are not knowledgeable enough or basically, the "How hard can it be" mindset.   I countered that an accident attorney can navigate the insurance company roadblocks for you and possibly increase the compensation you could receive for your injuries. 

Now I want to cover another reason I hear from people as to why they are apprehensive about contacting a personal injury lawyer--They don't want to look like they are chasing money or are greedy.  To this I say, that is definitely NOT what hiring a lawyer after an accident is all about.

First, if you are hurt in a car accident, the other driver who may have caused the accident is likely not going to have to write you a check for any damages.  Don't feel bad for that poor high school kid or sweet old lady who was so upset after hitting your car.  Who pays in an accident is the insurance company. Think AIG, Shelter Insurance, Allstate, and Progressive and not the sweet old lady.  This is why Missouri law requires drivers to carry auto insurance and this is the purpose for having auto insurance.  

After you are hurt in a car accident, you can have a lot of new expenses.  We all know health care is very costly.  Even if you are fortunate to have health insurance, there are deductibles and uncovered procedures. You will certainly have repairs to your car and maybe even a temporary rental car while yours is in the shop.  You may have missed work while in the hospital without sick days or vacation days (or after you used those) and you had no income.  Extra therapy may be required for your recovery that your health insurance won't cover, or you have to take unpaid time off work for therapy since you may have used all your sick days and vacation time.  Additionally, you may be injured so that you cannot work the same job or enjoy the same activities.  Lastly, there may be future medical expenses do to the long term effects of your injuries.  These are all costs that you are now paying as the result of a car accident that was not your fault (or at least not 100% your fault).

It is not definitely not selfish to ask that the responsible party's insurance company pay for these unexpected expenses and even for your related pain and suffering.  No sane person would willing choose to be involved in a serious car accident just for the money. It is too disruptive to your life, your family, your goals and causes too much uncertainty for your future.

As a car accident lawyer, I turn down clients every day who are just trying to make a claim for the money.  They usually don't have a case and even if they do, it certainly isn't a case I want.  If you are hurt from a car accident, call an experienced lawyer for help. Get an expert to do the work for you and help you maximize your claim.  Don't worry about looking like you can't do it yourself or looking like a a gold digger.  Instead, worry about getting your life back.

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People often tell me that contacting a lawyer after an accident can be intimidating.  Many people either don't want to look like they lack knowledge and need help, or they don't want to appear to be trying to sue just for the money. Neither reason should prohibit an injured person from contacting an accident attorney and I'll cover why that is so in this two part series.

A Car Accident is Not a Do-It-Yourself Project
Calling an experienced car accident lawyer to represent you after an accident is like calling in a licensed electrician to do major wiring in your house.  Sure, you can swap out a light fixture, but adding wiring to a new wing of your house is completely different. You not only want it done so it works, but beyond that, you also you want it to be safe.  

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Annual reports can be long and boring and are often a waste of the paper they are printed on, but for persevering readers buried deep in the pages there is sometimes an interesting kernel of information to be found. On page 243 of the Bayer 2009 Annual Report  there is such a detail.  

Bayer, makers of the popular, but problematic birth control drug Yaz and Yasmin wrote that there were,

about 1,100 lawsuits pending in the United States served on Bayer on behalf of persons alleged to have suffered personal injuries, some of them fatal, from the use of Bayer’s oral contraceptive products Yasmin®, yaz® and / or Ocella, a generic version of Yasmin® distributed by Barr Laboratories, Inc. in the u.s. market.  Plaintiffs seek compensatory and punitive damages, claiming, in particular, that Bayer knew or should have known the alleged risks and should be held liable for having failed to disclose them or adequately warn users of Yasmin® and yaz®. 

Yaz and Yasmin are listed as Bayer's Best Selling Pharmaceutical Product on page 60, with sales of US$1.7 billion which is a 4.7% increase from 2008.  You can bet that Bayer isn't going to back down quietly from this fight and in fact they state, "Additional lawsuits are anticipated. Bayer believes that it has meritorious defenses and intends to defend itself vigorously."

If you have suffered gall bladder disease, blood clots or pulmonary embolisms, stroke, deep vein thrombosis or other injury that you think is a side effect related to taking the birth control Yaz or Yasmin, please contact a Yaz lawyer for help in representing your case. You cannot take on Bayer by yourself and need an attorney who can help get your voice heard.  

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If you have been hurt in a car accident and have hired a personal injury lawyer to help with your case, you've already taken the first step to securing a more successful outcome.  Below are eight simple things you can do to positively influence your personal injury case. Certainly there are other things your lawyer will request of you, but this list covers the basics of helping your lawyer, help you.

1.  Give your lawyer the whole story

The conversations you have with your personal injury lawyer are confidential and protected by attorney-client privilege so you can tell the truth without fear of others finding out.  Your lawyer must keep what you say in strict confidence.  Don't omit details about the events in an accident just because they may be embarrassing or you think make you look like you did something wrong.  A good injury attorney will take all the facts of your case and know how to present less flattering elements in the best possible light and keep the impact to a minimum.  If  your lawyer first hears about an important detail that you omitted from the lawyer on the other side, it can have devastating effects on your personal injury case.  Caught unprepared, he/she is at a disadvantage in keeping potentially unfavorable facts from hurting your case and it can make it impossible to disprove negative accusations if there is not time to investigate. Be sure to tell your lawyer everything and answer all questions truthfully.

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With the large scale of the recent Toyota recalls, I have had several people call my office with questions related to their involvement in car crashes with a Toyota prior to the recall.  So how does a recall impact an accident that has happened in the past?

A recall is a response by a manufacturer to collect products for repair, replacement or destruction in order to avoid any more people being hurt by a design flaw, manufacturing mistake or contamination.  By law, during a recall the manufacturer is given a chance to fix the problem and the product owners are expected to cooperate.  In the case of Toyota, if you choose not to repair your car as advised and your recalled but unmodified Toyota later causes a car accident, it will be much more difficult to recover damages claiming it was the fault of the car.

A recall is also an admission by a manufacturer of the existence of a problem and thereby helpful in providing a reason or contributing factor as to why an accident, or in this case, a car crash, may have occurred.  The Toyota recall could shift the cause of a car accident from "The driver was going to fast" to "The accelerator on the Toyota was stuck" or from "The driver didn't allow enough time to brake" to "The brakes on the Toyota did not respond".  You will need a lawyer to help prove there was faulty performance of the car, but how damages and medical bills are awarded can change dramatically if the proof does indicate the cause of the car crash was the car and not the driver.

Since Toyota's announcement of the recall, if you have been fortunate enough to avoid having a related car crash follow the instructions promptly to have your car repaired.  If you own a Toyota, start with a visit to http://www.toyota.com/recall and perhaps a call to your dealer.  However, if you were in a car crash caused by a Toyota prior to the recalls, contact a car accident attorney to be sure your case is properly investigated and handled in light of the details of the recall.  

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You may have noticed Yaz birth control commercials containing two interesting lines from the actress. 

1. “You may have seen some Yaz commercials recently that were not clear.”
2. "The FDA wants us to correct a few points in those ads.”  

Actually, it wasn't that the ads were "not clear" in the sense that they left one confused, but that the commercials overstated the range and severity of symptoms that the drug Yaz (also called Yasmin or if generic, Ocella) could treat and was approved to treat.  So the FDA, in February 2009, required Bayer AG, the makers of Yaz and Yasmin, to spend $20 million to make new ads correcting the overstatements and to submit all future Yaz commercials for FDA prior to airing for the next six years.

But, Bayer's real problems may lie ahead.  

There are several cases of dangerous side effects from Yaz related to pulmonary embolisms (blood clot in the lung), deep vein thrombosis (blood clots in the leg), heart arrhythmias (irregular heartbeat), cardiac arrest (heart attack), stroke, and even gallbladder problems. These health issues seem to be caused from a unique ingredient in Yaz called drospirenone that can increase blood potassium to dangerous levels creating a condition called hyperkalemia which can lead to serious health issues for Yaz users of all ages.  

Yaz and Yasmin are the number-one selling birth control pills in the United States accounting for about a third of all oral contraceptives sold here.  That translates to a lot of money going to Bayer AG and a lot of incentive for them to keep Yaz as a viable drug through marketing and/or misleading claims.  

Don't ignore any Yaz side effects you may be feeling. Go to your doctor.  If your symptoms are related to using Yaz or Yasmin, call a lawyer who knows about Yaz side effects to help with your case. 

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A new Toyota recall was announced today, this one involving the brakes in 2010 Prius and Lexus hybrids covering almost 450,000 vehicles worldwide.  When combined with the previous major recall for certain Toyota models with accelerator pedal issues with and without floor mat complications, a total of around 8 million vehicles are impacted.  Both recalls involve vital functions of a car that when malfunctioning have the potential to cause a serious car crash.  If you drive a Toyota being aware of how to handle either case can help you remain safe while on the road until you can get to your dealer for the required repairs.

Unresponsive Brakes

If you own a Toyota hybrid that is named in the latest recall and experience a delayed braking response, Toyota says to continue to depress the brake until it engages appropriately. Hopefully that will be before your Toyota causes a crash, so to be safe, you may also want to drive a bit more cautiously (i.e. slowly) and leave extra room between you and the car in front of you until you have the necessary repairs completed.

Stuck Gas Pedal

It is reported that the Toyota accelerator issue gets worse over time and thus, drivers should be mindful of how their car is behaving and get to the Toyota dealer immediately at the first whiff of a problem.  

But if it is too late for that, Consumer Reports tested what to do to avoid a car crash if your gas pedal is already stuck--regardless of the brand of car you are driving. 

1. Brake hard, but do not pump the brakes.
2. Put car in neutral
3. After stopping, turn off the engine. Without the engine, you will lose power steering and power braking and may have difficulty controlling the car so if possible, wait to do this last.

If the above driving tips come too late and you have already been involved in a car crash with a Toyota, please call an attorney experienced in handling car crashes to ensure your case is handled appropriately and professionally.

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I was happy to see that Queen Midas herself--Oprah Winfrey--has taken up the cause of spreading awareness about the dangers of distracted driving.  She recently hosted a show dedicated to the topic of cell phone use and texting while driving and has invited people to pledge to make their cars a No Phone Zone. 

While I am not sure how effective making a pledge to Oprah is to keeping someone from using their cell phone while driving, I am nonetheless thrilled to have such an influential person spreading word about how using a cell phone or texting while driving can contribute to car accidents.  More effective than a pledge as a deterrant seems to be hearing the stories of those who lost a family member to someone who was talking or texting while driving.  How would it feel if that conversation you were having about the shoes you just bought, the movie you just saw or that sale you just made result in the injury or death of someone else?  

Don't think it can't happen to you.  Don't think just because your eyes are on the road and your hands are on the wheel that your head is in the game.  Your car or SUV is very large and very heavy and can be very dangerous at any speed even when you aren't distracted.  Play it safe and stay off the phone.  If you have been injured by someone using a cell phone or texting while driving please call an experienced car accident attorney for help with your case.

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