Archive for the ‘ Wrongful Death ’ Category

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17
Apr

St. Louis Tow Truck Driver Killed In I-70 Hit-And-Run Accident

April 17, 2012

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, traffic accidents accounted for two out of every five fatal work injuries in 2010. Most of these accidents occurred within the transportation industry, which had a two percent overall increase in injury accidents in 2010, making driving a commercial vehicle one of the most dangerous jobs in the United States.

These numbers resonated across St. Louis, Missouri, earlier this week when a tow truck driver was killed in a hit-and-run accident. KSDK  5 News says the accident occurred in the eastbound lanes of I-70 near Grand Boulevard around 9:00 p.m. Reports say that the tow truck driver was laying cones and flares out to block off an area surrounding a stranded vehicle when a white sedan veered off the highway and struck him. The vehicle then left the scene, but was eventually stopped and the driver arrested a short distance away.

The driver of the car is being held until detectives are able to complete their investigation into the crash, at which point charges may be filed.

The accident was close to the site where another worker was injured after being hit earlier in the week.

The St. Louis Wrongful Death Lawyers with Cofman Townsley Attorneys At Law would like to send their thoughts and condolences to the family of the worker who tragically lost his life as a result of this accident.

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13
Mar

St. Louis Man Charged With DUI In Connection To Fatal Car Crash

March 13, 2012

A 32-year-old St. Louis, Missouri, man was arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter after being involved in a fatal accident with another vehicle Sunday. According to reports from KSDK 5 News, the accident happened around 1:00 a.m. at the intersection of South Lindbergh Boulevard and East Concord Road.

Officers with the St. Louis Police Department say the man was driving on South Lindbergh when he ran a red light and collided with a vehicle driven by a 58-year-old woman. The woman was taken by ambulance to St. Anthony’s Medical Center where she later died.

Police were able to determine that the driver who ran the red light was under the influence of alcohol at the time after he failed field sobriety tests. The man was arrested at the scene and taken to St. Louis County Jail. He was released Monday morning after posting $50,000 bond.

According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), a national non-profit organization aimed at eliminating drunk driving, 10,839 people will die in drunk driving crashes this year—or one every 50 minutes. At this rate, one in three Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related crash at some point in their life.

The Missouri DUI Accident Attorneys with Cofman Townsley Injury Lawyers would like to remind citizens just how dangerous drinking and driving is. Do your part to eliminate the problem by always utilizing a designated driver when drinking.

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14
Feb

Indiana Truck Driver Killed In Missouri Highway Crash

February 14, 2012

A 57-year-old truck driver from Vincennes, Indiana, was killed yesterday morning in a tragic, two-vehicle accident. According to KSDK 5 News, the crash happened at approximately 7:30 AM on Lake St. Louis Boulevard, near O’Fallon, Missouri.

Reports filed by troopers with the Missouri state police department say that the tractor-trailer was behind and a lane over from a 2001 Chevrolet Malibu while driving down the four-lane highway. They say that the driver of the Malibu was driving too fast for the slick conditions and lost control of the vehicle when he hit an icy patch in the road.

The Malibu then slid in front of the tractor-trailer, which then hit the Malibu from behind and caused the trucker to lose control of the big rig. The Malibu slid off the side of the road and got stuck in a drainage ditch, and the tractor-trailer slammed into a guardrail before hitting a bridge pillar head-on. The driver of the truck was declared dead at the scene, while the driver of the Malibu was uninjured.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, truckers have the second most dangerous job in the nation, accounting for 631 work-related deaths in 2010. This number was up by four percent over 2009.

The Missouri truck accident attorneys with Cofman Townsley Injury Lawyers would like to send their condolences to the family of the truck driver who was killed in this unfortunate accident.

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7
Feb

$5 Million Settlement For Wrongful Death Of Missouri Teen

February 7, 2012

A settlement has been reached in the wrongful death lawsuit surrounding the death of a 16-year-old St. Joseph, Missouri, boy who was run over by a bus while on his way to school. According to reports from KSDK 5 News, the bus company has agreed to pay the boy’s family $5 million in settlement.

The accident happened in November of 2010, at around 7:30 in the morning near the intersection of St. Joseph Avenue and Grand Avenue. The bus driver had failed to remove frost from the windows of the bus, giving her poor visibility.

It was because of the frost that the driver did not see the boy in a crosswalk on Grand Avenue when she struck him. He died at Heartland Regional Medical Center shortly afterwards.

The driver was subsequently charged with careless and imprudent driving. The 23-year-old woman was sentenced to two years of probation, 15 days of detention, and 200 hours of community service.

The family of the victim says the $5 million will be used to fund a bus driver-training program, as well as a scholarship and baseball field dedicated to the boy’s memory.

The Missouri Wrongful Death Attorneys with Cofman Townsley handles all kinds of personal injury cases all over the state of Missouri. If you have questions regarding your injury or death of a loved one, contact us today for a free initial consultation.

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24
Jan

Speed, Intoxication, and Distractions To Blame In Missouri Wrongful Death Case

January 24, 2012

A combination of distracted and intoxicated driving is to blame for the death of a 38-year-old mother and wife who was hit and killed in September of 2010. According to stltoday.com, the accident happened at around 5:00 PM on Gravois Avenue in St. Louis, Missouri.

Toxicology reports from samples taken after the accident show that the 28-year-old driver of the 2004 Mazda Tribute responsible for the accident had Freon, oxycodone, and marijuana in his system when he plowed through a gas station and hit the woman. Witnesses said the man was also on his cell phone at the time of the accident.

Police executed a search warrant in November 2010 to obtain the man’s phone records to determine if he was using the phone at the time of the crash. While no comment was made on the subject by police, they did charge the man this past Saturday with first-degree involuntary manslaughter.

The woman’s husband also filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the driver this past April, seeking damages of more than $25,000 for the family’s loss, claiming the driver’s speed, intoxication, and carelessness in using a phone while driving is responsible for the woman’s death. The driver responsible for the accident settled out of court with two individuals in 2000 after a similar accident.

The Missouri wrongful death attorneys with Cofman Townsley Injury Lawyers may be able to help you if you have lost a loved one in an accident caused by another person’s negligence.

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17
Jan

Taking Two Or More Medications Increase Chances Of Falling

January 17, 2012

New data from a study conducted in New Zealand shows that taking two or more prescription medications increases the risks of being a victim of slip and fall accidents for working-age adults. According to an article by MedPage Today, use of hypertensives and cholesterol-lowering drugs presented the highest risks of falls to users.

The study examined 335 patients, between the ages of 25 and 60, who either died or were seriously injured and hospitalized following an unintentional fall while at home. Researchers also took into account some 352-control subjects whose records were randomly selected. Nurses then interviewed theses patients with a questionnaire and gathered information from records to collect data for the study.

They concluded that patients using two or more prescription medications had an increased risk of suffering from a serious fall of more than 10 percent. While numerous types of medications were examined, including: bronchodilators, anti-inflammatories, corticosteroids, and psychotropics; hypertensives and lipid-lowering medications were the only two types to show any connection to falls in this particular study.

Although researchers recognize the study has it’s limitations, they also say the research warrants a closer examination, “…that can disaggregate the effect of drugs relative to underlying conditions, as well as examine the effects of specific drugs, dosages, and their possible interactions.”

The Indiana slip and fall accident attorneys with Cofman Townsley Injury Lawyers urge patients taking several medications at one time to be fully aware of the side effects each medication has and also be cautious of dangerous drug interactions.

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27
Dec

Accidents Across Missouri Leave A Teen Dead And Others Injured

December 27, 2011

A 13-year-old girl died as a result of a car crash early Tuesday morning in St. Louis, Missouri. According to KSDK 5 News, the accident occurred at approximately 12:30 AM along the northbound lanes of Interstate-55.

Police are saying that weather conditions on area roads may have played a part in the crash that killed the teen from Maryland Heights, Missouri. They believe that the 28-year-old male driver of the vehicle she was riding in lost control of the vehicle on the wet, slick asphalt just before hitting a bridge support beam. The driver, along with several other passengers ranging in age from 11 to 30-years-old, were all taken to area hospitals to be treated for serious injuries.

Similar conditions were attributed to another set of accidents in the state along I-70. Police stated the accident occurred when a refrigerated box truck traveling westbound on the highway crashed through a median and collided with two vehicles after crossing the eastbound lanes. Two individuals were taken to a local hospital to be treated for what was described as “minor injuries.”

The Missouri auto accident attorneys with Cofman Townsley Injury Lawyers believe that taking immediate action after a car accident is the best way to ensure that the insurance companies give you the compensation you need. As stated in a recent ad, you may not be able to change what happened, but you can change what happens next. Contact an experienced lawyer today.

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20
Dec

Missouri Baby Dies From Rare Infection Found In Milk Formula

December 20, 2011

According to KY 3 News, the infection has been linked with a bacterium that has been found in some commercial milk formulas in the past, which led to the death of an infant.

The baby boy was born earlier this month and everything seemed normal until he became ill when he was a week old. The couple rushed the infant to the Hospital in Springfield, Missouri, where he died of complications two days later. It was determined that the child died from an infection of a bacterium known as cronobacter sakazakii. The infection is known to cause meningitis, and in extreme cases, death.

An Administrator of the Laclede County Health Department, Charla Baker, told the parents that the infection has been linked to formula powders in the past. They have since sent two samples of the formula along with the water used to prepare it to be tested.

In the meantime, the Food and Drug Administration, along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are working on the case to determine the source of the bacteria.

The Missouri Defective Product Attorneys with Cofman Townsley Injury Lawyers encourage you to contact them today if you or a loved one has been caused harm by a faulty or unsafe product.

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13
Dec

Distracted Driving The Cause Of Missouri Bus Crash Last Year

December 13, 2011

The dangers of distracted driving were made clear by the case of a Missouri teen who was killed in an car accident last year. KSDK 5 News reported that the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) accident investigation determined the 19-year-old driver was distracted by 11 text messages in the 11 minutes prior to causing a crash that killed him and another student, and left 38 others injured.

Deborah Hersman, Chairman of the NTSB, stated yesterday that phone records made it clear that the young man driving the pickup was manually, cognitively, and visually distracted at the time of the accident due to the fact he had sent six text messages in received five messages in the moments before he rear-ended a tractor-trailer. The crash set off a chain reaction of events, in which, a school bus rear-ended the pickup truck and another school bus smashed into the first one.

The American Journal of Public Health mentioned in a recent article that studies show a dramatic rise in the danger texting poses behind the wheel. In fact, there has been a 28 percent increase in fatalities that stem from texting while driving from 2005 to 2008.

The Missouri Auto Accident Attorneys with Cofman Townsley advise drivers not use their cell phones at all while behind the wheel. This is the best way to ensure that you are not a hazard to yourself or others on the road.

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22
Nov

FDA Revokes Approval Of Avastin For Treatment Of Breast Cancer

November 22, 2011

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner, Margaret Hamburg, announced last Friday that the agency has revoked its approval of the drug Avastin for treatment of breast cancer patients. KSDK 5 News reported last week that Hamburg confirmed the decision was made based on a lack of evidence that the drug improves patient survival rates on top of the serious side effects the drug may have.

Avastin received “accelerated approval” in 2008 for the treatment of breast cancer after the drug’s manufacturer, Genentech, Inc., cited promising results found in a 2005 early clinical study of the drug. The FDA required that Genentech to provide a double blind study with results showing improved survival rates of patients. Unfortunately, the results of the study found patients taking the drug had lower survival rates. Patients treated with placebo and Taxotere, another cancer drug, lived for 31.9 months on average; whereas patients treated with Avastin and Taxotere lived for 30.8 months at a low Avastin dose and 30.2 months at a high Avastin dose.

The drug is also known to have a serious side effect known as Gastrointestinal (GI) perforation, a condition in which a hole develops in the stomach, small intestine, or large intestine. Symptoms include pain, nausea, vomiting, and could result in death.

The Missouri Drug Injury Lawyers with Cofman Townsley encourage patients to research any drugs their doctor recommends them to take before starting a regimen of medication. If you have suffered from a drug injury, contact a lawyer immediately to evaluate your case.

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