September 1, 2019

Award Winning Kansas City Car Accident Lawyer – James R. Shetlar

Car accidents can only take seconds to happen, but they can affect your life for years to come if you suffer serious injuries in an accident.  The purpose of car accident injury lawsuits is to help restore the injured person’s wellbeing to the way it was before the accident, or as close as possible. 

Presenting Concrete Evidence of Missouri Emotional Distress Damages:

It is quite simple for your auto accident attorney, James R. Shetlar, to document your physical injuries.  If you go to the emergency room to be examined immediately after a car accident, you have covered your bases in case you begin to suffer pain later because of the accident.  The report from the hospital provides evidence of what a physical examination or an X-ray taken immediately after the accident showed. Likewise, the best way to show evidence that you have suffered emotional distress because of an auto accident is to let your medical records do the talking, just like you would with physical injuries. 

How to Help Prove Your Missouri Emotional Distress Damages:

Make an appointment with a mental health therapist shortly after the accident or as soon as you begin to feel prolonged emotional distress because of an accident. If possible, see a therapist whose expertise includes helping patients cope mentally with serious physical injuries. If a physician who treats you for your physical injuries refers you to a psychologist or other mental health professional, even better, because it will be clear from your medical records that your emotional distress is obvious even to people outside the mental health profession.

Kansas City Auto Accident Attorney:

Mr. Shetlar is just the award winning and experienced greater Kansas City auto accident attorney that you need.  Give him a call today to see if you have an auto accident claim and what damages you may be able to prove. 

Kansas City Auto Accident Consultations are Free of Charge:

You will never pay a fee unless we win money for you. 

Call Mr. Shetlar today. 

Missouri Phone:  816-842-1195

Kansas Phone: 913-648-3220 Ext 3033 

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June 1, 2019

Kansas City Automobile Accident Lawyer, James R. Shetlar, with Award Winning Experience…

Car Accident Statute of Limitations:

One of the most critical elements of a car accident claim is the statute of limitations.  If you have been injured, you only have so long to file your lawsuit.  Once that time expires, you no longer can bring a lawsuit in court.  It is critical that you contact a Kansas City automobile accident lawyer to make sure that you do not miss your chance to file your car accident lawsuit.

Missouri Statute of Limitations Law:

In Missouri, the law clearly lays out when a car accident case must be filed in court: 

“Mo. Stat. Ann. Section 516.120.  What actions within five years. — Within five years:

  (1)  All actions upon contracts, obligations or liabilities, express or implied, except those mentioned in section 516.110, and except upon judgments or decrees of a court of record, and except where a different time is herein limited;

  (2)  An action upon a liability created by a statute other than a penalty or forfeiture;

  (3)  An action for trespass on real estate;

  (4)  An action for taking, detaining or injuring any goods or chattels, including actions for the recovery of specific personal property, or for any other injury to the person or rights of another, not arising on contract and not herein otherwise enumerated;

  (5)  An action for relief on the ground of fraud, the cause of action in such case to be deemed not to have accrued until the discovery by the aggrieved party, at any time within ten years, of the facts constituting the fraud.”

In Missouri, if you have been injured, you must file your car accident lawsuit within 5 years “for any other injury to the person”.

Missouri Car Accident Statute of Limitations Exception:

The Discovery Rule sets out an exception to the five year statute of limitation for auto accidents.  In some cases, the injured person cannot have been aware of the injury and, as such, the Discovery Rule allows for the clock to begin either when the injured person became aware of the injury or should have become aware of the injury.  Whether this applies to your case should be discussed with your Kansas City auto accident attorney because it depends on the facts and circumstances of your claim.   

Kansas City Car Accident Attorney, James R. Shetlar:

If you have been injured in a car accident, the best thing to do is to call Mr. Shetlar right away so there is no chance that you would miss the statute of limitations.  Mr. Shetlar can sort through whether you may have a claim against the other driver after he obtains more information.  Call today and schedule a free consultation to discuss your auto accident claim.    

Missouri Phone:  816-842-1195

Kansas Phone: 913-648-3220 Ext. 3033

Toll Free: 888-361-0054

 

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May 1. 2019

Kansas City Automobile Accident Lawyer, James R. Shetlar, with Award Winning Experience…

Have You Been the Victim of Reckless Driving?

The following are some examples of reckless driving:

• Excessive Speed:  If you are struck by a driver that is traveling 61 miles per hour in a 30 mile per hour speed limit, the other driving could be determined to be driving in a reckless manner. 

• Intersections – Failing to Follow Traffic Signals:  Have you been t-boned or had a head on car accident at an intersection?  If the other driver ran a red light quickly going through the intersection, he or she could be determined to be driving in a reckless manner.  

• Weaving In and Out of Traffic:  Have you been you been the victim of a reckless driver who has caused a multiple car pile-up or struck you because he or she was weaving in and out of traffic?  The other driver could be determined to be driving recklessly.

Elements of Reckless Driving in Court:

In Missouri, a car accident lawsuit based on reckless driving must claim:

• An intentional doing of an act;

• In circumstances that would cause a reasonable person to know or should know that the act created an unreasonable risk of physical injury; and

• Involves a high degree of probability that substantial harm will result.

Additional Money for Reckless Driving: 

In some cases, punitive damages can be awarded to you for the at-fault driver recklessly driving.  Punitive damages are additional money given to you to punish the at-fault driver.  In Missouri, punitive damages are only awarded by the jury if there is clear and convincing evidence that the at-fault driver acted with conscious disregard or complete indifference for the wellbeing and safety of others.  Juries can only consider awarding punitive damages if the judge decides to allow them to do so.

Kansas City Car Accident Attorney, James R. Shetlar:

If you have been injured in a car accident, call Mr. Shetlar to see what claims can be made against the driver who hit you.  Call Mr. Shetlar today and schedule a free consultation to discuss your auto accident claim.    

Missouri Phone:  816-842-1195

Kansas Phone: 913-648-3220 Ext. 3033

Toll Free: 888-361-0054

 

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April 1, 2019

Kansas City Auto Accident Lawyer, James R. Shetlar, with Award Winning Experience…

Missouri's Comparative Fault Rules:

If more than one person or entity caused your car accident, Missouri has a law called “pure comparative fault” that governs this situation.  “Pure comparative fault” governs what percentage of your damages will be paid by each person or entity.

If you were speeding through an intersection and another driver ran a red light at the controlled intersection that resulted in hitting your car and injuring you, the jury would have to decide how much fault each of you were in causing the accident.  In this example, the jury decided that your overall damages were $40,000.  And the jury also decided that the driver who ran the red light was 80% at fault for the accident and finds you 20% at fault.  This means instead of you receiving the full $40,000 you will receive 80% of it or $32,000 from the other driver who ran the red light.  This number represents the total amount of your damages, multiplied by the percentage of fault the driver who ran the red light was found to have. You can also think of it as the total amount of damages minus the percentage of fault you were found to have.  Since Missouri is a "pure comparative fault” state, this formula remains the same regardless of the amount of fault you are found to have. You can always recover some amount of damages from the other at-fault person or entity so long as you are not 100 percent at fault.  This means that even if you are mostly responsible for a car accident, even 99 percent, you can still be paid 1 percent of the damages the jury decided to give you. 

The At Fault Driver Will Use Comparative Fault:

In Missouri, a person or entity who is partially at fault for a car accident will always try to show at trial that the injured person who is suing or another person or entity is partially or fully at fault for the accident.  If the driver who ran the red light in the example above could have shown that the injured driver who was speeding was more at fault, then that is less that the red light driver will have to pay.  The red light driver will point the finger at you, as the injured person, trying to prove the accident is more of your fault.  The more the red light driver convinces the jury of your fault, the amount of money you receive for your injuries goes down. 

Kansas City Car Accident Lawyers Must Be Experienced:

Determining whether someone is “negligent” or has “pure comparative fault” in an auto accident is complicated.  You need an attorney with award winning experience, Mr. Shetlar, to decide if you potentially have a case and if you or another driver will be assigned “pure comparative fault”.  Give Mr. Shetlar a call today for a free case evaluation. 

Kansas City Auto Accident Consultations are Free of Charge:

You will never pay a fee unless Mr. Shetlar wins money for you. 

Call Mr. Shetlar today. 

Toll Free: 888-361-0054

Missouri Phone: 816-842-1195

Kansas Phone: 913-648-3220 Ext 3033

 

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March 1, 2019

Kansas City Automobile Accident Attorney, James R. Shetlar, with Award Winning Experience…

Car Accident Cases - What You Must Prove in Missouri: 

In our blog on January 1, 2019, we discussed what your attorney must prove in an auto accident negligence case:

• Duty:  In order to prove that the other driver was at fault, you must first prove that he or she had a duty to exercise some level of care with respect to you and your motor vehicle.  Anyone who operates a motor vehicle upon roadways in Missouri has this “duty”.

• Standard of Care:  The operator of a motor vehicle is held to the highest degree of care.  The Missouri Approved Instructions (MAI), which are the instructions a judge would give to a jury about the law, define “standard of care” as “that degree of care that a very careful person would use under the same or similar circumstances.”

• Breach:  The injured person must prove also that there has been a breach, which has been defined in Missouri as the act or omission that is below the “standard of care” established by law for the protection of others.

• Causation:  In order for the other driver to be found a fault, the injured person must prove that the “negligent” act was the cause in fact and the proximate cause of the injury.  To establish cause in fact, an injured person must prove that “but for” the breach of duty, the event would not have happened.             

• Damages:  In order to win your car accident lawsuit, you must have been injured and/or your car must have been damaged.  You must have suffered actual damages, such as lost wages, medical expenses, pain and suffering, loss of consortium (damage to a marital relationship) and property damage.

In this blog, we want to discuss Missouri’s “Proximate Cause” law in more detail:

The person who you claim to be at fault for your injury, must have been the proximate cause of your injury and your lawyer must prove the following:

• That the injury would not have occurred in the absence of the claimed at fault person’s actions, and

• That an injury of some type, not necessarily the injury that actually occurred, was a reasonably forseeable result of the claimed at fault person’s actions.

There are cases where an auto accident is not reasonably forseeable consequence of the claimed negligence. 

For example in one Missouri case,

An injured person claimed that an electric utility had caused a power outage which subsequently caused a traffic light at an intersection not to work correctly.  The injured person claimed that the negligence of the electric utility was the proximate cause of the auto accident between the injured person and another driver.  The Missouri court decided that the auto accident was too remote to be a reasonably foreseeable consequence. 

However, the proximate cause does not mean the claimed at fault person’s actions have to be the sole cause.  The at fault person’s negligence can be the proximate cause of an injury if it directly contributed to cause the injury, in combination with other causes.

For example in another Missouri case,

• Driver #1 was in an accident and left debris on the roadway, and

• Driver #2 came along and hit driver #1 as a result of the debris,

• A jury determined that Driver #1 was partially at fault for the second accident as a result of Driver #1’s negligence in causing the first accident, which contributed to the cause of the second accident with Driver #2.  

Kansas City Car Accident Lawyer, James R. Shetlar:

Call Mr. Shetlar today and schedule a free consultation to discuss your auto accident claim and determine if you can meet the legal requirements for such a lawsuit.    

Missouri Phone:  816-842-1195

Kansas Phone: 913-648-3220 Ext. 3033

Toll Free: 888-361-0054

 

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