Erin Vorhees Passes Arkansas Bar Exam

Children’s Jewelry

Children’s jewelry is more likely to contain lead or other toxic metals than many other toys. Even after 18 million pieces of children’s jewelry were recalled between 2005 and 2007, CPSC tests still found that 20 percent of children’s jewelry contained unsafe levels of lead. Even after manufacturers stopped using lead, the danger was not over, as many began to use the carcinogenic metal cadmium as a replacement. What’s more, the vast majority of recalled items were never actually returned, meaning toxic jewelry remains on children’s dressers.

The Unexpected

Nearly a quarter of a million children are treated at U.S. emergency rooms for toy-related injuries every year. Injuriesfrom scooters, choking hazards, and lead-contamination are always in the news, but beyond the headlines lie a myriadof dangers: beads that contain date rape drugs, asbestos and other exotic toxins, baby boats that drop their infantoccupants under water, toy helicopters that catch fire, or aromatherapy kits that detonate with acid. Every year bringsnew hazards to confound even the most cautious parent.

Magnets

Over the last several years, toy manufacturers have increasingly used small, powerful magnets, creating a newcategory of deadly toys. These magnets can come loose and be swallowed by small children. Unlike other small objects,which are often passed through the body, magnets pose a unique risk. If two or more magnets are swallowed, they canattract to each other through intestinal walls. This can result in pinched, blocked or twisted intestines. The effect is fastand devastating. Magnets quickly erode through the intestinal wall, spilling bacteria into the body. Serious infections, blood poisoning, and even death may result.

Lead

The danger most frequently encountered with toys is invisible to even the most watchful parent’s eye: leadcontamination. Lead is the second most deadly household toxin in existence, after arsenic, and nolevel of exposure is safe. Yet every holiday season is marked by incidences of children being sickened bylead-tainted toys. One study found a third of all tested toys contained lead. Most were still on store shelvesand allegedly passed toy manufacturers’ internal tests.

Choking Hazards

The choking hazards of small toy parts, small balls, and balloons have long been one of the leading causesof toy-related fatalities. At least 196 children died from choking on such items between 1990 and 2007, andchoking hazards were the leading cause of CPSC toy recalls in 2009. Yet the millions of recalled toys mayjust be the tip of the iceberg. Many toys still on shelves barely meet the CPSC standard for small pieces.Of particular danger are objects that are narrow in shape, such as toy nails or darts, because they can moreeasily cause suffocation. In 2007, at least two boys died after asphyxiating on soft darts from Chinesemadetoy guns. The toy’s importer refused to recall the gun. At least one other child died under the samecircumstances before a civil action by one of the families persuaded the retailer to pull it off shelves.

Scooters

Scooters account for approximately a quarter of all toy-related emergency room visits. Most of the more than220,000 incidents each year comprise falls or accidents involving motor vehicles. But defective scooters have alsobeen blamed for amputated fingers, lacerations, broken arms, wrists, and teeth.

What if a car crash is the fault of a driver who doesn’t stop and is not known by name?  Many times when there is no contact between the vehicles the injured person may feel that he or she cannot get any help with medical bills etc.

The truth is that every insurance policy in Missouri (and in most other states also) require Uninsured Motorist coverage.  So if you are hurt by another motorist who does not have coverage, you can recover on your own insurance policy for your injuries.  What many people do not know is that this same coverage will also pay even if you cannot identify the other driver or if there is no contact between the two cars.   Sometimes this is called a phantom vehicle.  The vehicle is real - we just do not know who it belongs to or who the driver is.

A phantom vehicle is a vehicle that causes a traffic accident, with or without contact, and flees the scene of the accident, whose driver is not identified.  Phantom vehicles are almost always considered uninsured vehicles in insurance policies.

Evidence of the phantom vehicle is often limited in phantom vehicle cases, and insurance companies can make it difficult to collect on the policy.  Sometimes the only witness will be the injured insured driver.  Insurance companies sometimes claim evidence in addition to the driver’s statements that a phantom vehicle caused the accident is required for coverage to kick in.  However, the law in Missouri is that insurance policies that exclude uninsured motorist coverage for injuries caused by a phantom vehicle without contact if the facts are not backed up by evidence other than just the testimony of the driver are void.  In other words, your word alone may be enough to make the claim for coverage.

While we hope you are never injured at all - if it is a phantom vehicle that caused the crash - you can still make a claim under your own policy.

Joe Weidhaas
Joe@4stateslaw.com

Johnson, Vorhees & Martucci
510 West 6th Street
Joplin, Missouri 64801

417-206-0100 office
417-206-0110 fax
866-836-0100 toll free

www.4stateslaw.com

I recently met with a jewel of a lady.  She has lived 80 years on this Earth, and she had a large part of her charming home devastated by the Joplin tornado.   She came to see me with a story that outraged me.

Her home dangerous and unlivable,  it had been evaluated by two separate adjusters from her insurance company and two separate independent Joplin contractors.  She was initially told her home was a total loss.  Then some ‘forensics’ joker from the northeast comes in at the beckoning of her insurance company, goes through each square foot of the home, concludes that it can be repaired at about 30% of the total value - and by the way he was going to depreciate that another 25%, despite her having purchased a replacement policy.

She could not understand how her insurance company  — who she and her recently deceased husband had paid premiums to for over 30 years - could do this to her.   They were putting her in an impossible predicament.  How could she live in a home that local adjusters with the same company had said was unlivable and that two contractors had told her needed to be bulldozed?

I was struck by that bull-dogged determined optimism that characterizes so many in our Joplin community.   This is not a lady who gives up.  Perhaps her insurance company and its supposed forensic expert thought she was easy pickings, given that she was a recent widow and in her 80s.    She wanted nothing other than what she had bargained and paid for - insurance against the sudden loss of her home.  The insurance company wants instead to save a few bucks on someone who needs it the most.

It sometimes takes a tragedy for someone to read their insurance policy for the first time.  Insurance policies can seem like they are written in a foreign language.   The insurance company commonly lists more exclusions from coverage in the policy than what it describes as being covered.  Sometimes the promises of coverage are contradicted by other parts that deny coverage.  When the policy is so confusing that it seems to take away in one part what it gives in another, this is called an ‘ambiguity’.   The Courts in Missouri interpret these ambiguities against the insurance company to require that it provide the insurance for which one has paid.

Insurance company greed is a sad symptom of the times.  AIG gets bailed out.  Wall Street execs continue to receive their golden parachutes.  Too many politicians cater to lobbies whose idea of ‘doing the right thing’ ignores real world survivors in favor of keeping rich insurance CEOs wealthy.

But this behavior won’t stand in Joplin, Missouri.   This lady will have to fight for it, but her insurance company won’t get away with taking away the life savings that she had in the equity in her home and the belongings she and her husband worked so hard to secure.

Roger Johnson - Personal Injury Trial Attorney

Roger@4stateslaw.com

Johnson, Vorhees & Martucci
510 West 6th
Joplin, Missouri 64801
417-206-0100
417-206-0110 fax
866-836-0100

If you are planning on hunting this season please be mindful of certain basic safety rules that will reduce the likelihood of you being involved in a hunting accident: 1) always assume your firearm is loaded and never point a firearm at anyone; 2) always make sure the muzzle of the gun is pointing down until you are ready to shoot; 3) always keep the safety on at all times until you are ready to shoot;  4) never put your finger on the trigger until you are ready to shoot; 5) wear bright colors so you can be seen by other hunters; 5) always be sure of your target and what is beyond.

I hope to never again read a story about a person being injured or killed as a result of a hunter not following basic safety rules.  Knowledge equals safety.  With the proper commitment to safety education and common sense safety practices, everyone should enjoy a safe and successful hunting season.

Good luck on the hunt!

Brian Johnston
brian@4stateslaw.com

Johnson, Vorhees & Martucci
301 W. Pacific St, Suite B
Branson, MO 65616

Local 417-336-8684
Toll free 888-424-7282
www.4stateslaws.com

Branson Injury Attorney

• Wear a life jacket. Especially kids!
• Watch your kids. Kids can go under or be swept out of your reach very quickly.  Keep a careful watch and keep your kids close by.
• Designate a driver if you are drinking.  Do not operate a boat or a car if you have been drinking.
• Swimming or diving after drinking is also very dangerous.
• Look before you leap.  Never, ever, jump off anything unless you have tested the depth of the water and made certain there are no obstructions.

Summertime with creeks and waterways should be fun.  However, every year people drown in Missouri’s lakes and streams, and too often, the victims of drowning are children or teenagers.  If you are going to the creek or lake with a child, please make sure that you take along a lifejacket or rent one.  It is too easy for little ones to slip under the current.  Many lakes and some rivers can have rapid depth changes due to dredging of the banks, which is where they obtain sand and soil from the bottom of the lake/stream resulting in a quick drop.  Also, please be mindful that a child can drown in the time it takes to answer a phone call.

Never swim alone.  Even strong swimmers can be caught in a strong current or get snagged on debris.  Make sure you have someone there if you need help.

Likewise, if you are having fun and drinking, please make sure that you drink responsibly and do not put yourself in harm’s way by drinking too much and then getting in the water.

If there are thunderstorms with lightning, please be careful.  Many people do not think about the risk of electrocution while in the creek or on a lake, but it can happen and has recently happened here in Missouri, so please be careful.

Labor Day is often the last day of Summer fun on the water.  Please make it a safe one!

Scott Vorhees
scott@4stateslaw.com
Johnson, Vorhees & Martucci
510 West 6th Street
Joplin, Missouri 64801
417-206-0100 office
417-206-0110 fax
866-836-0100 toll free
www.4stateslaw.com

Trial Attorney

• Never approach an unfamiliar dog.
• Never run from a dog and scream.
• Stay still when an unfamiliar dog comes up to you (”be still like a tree”).
• If knocked over by a dog, roll into a ball and lie still (”be like a log”).
• Do not look a dog in the eye.
• Do not disturb a dog that is sleeping, eating, or caring for puppies.
• Do not pet a dog without letting it see and sniff you first.
• Never play with a dog unless supervised by an adult.
• Never leave an infant or child alone with any dog.
• Teach your dog submissive behaviors, like rolling over to show its stomach.
• Do not play aggressive games with your dog, such as wrestling.
• Seek medical care for any serious dog bite and report all dog attacks.
• Support animal-control programs in your community and the enforcement of local laws regulating dangerous or vicious dogs.
• Support dog bite prevention educational programs in schools.
• Get the advice of a veterinarian about the right breed of dog if you are thinking about getting a family dog.
• Spay or neuter your dog, this often reduces its aggressive tendencies.
• Be sure all pets are properly immunized.
• Seek a veterinarian’s advice quickly if your dog becomes aggressive.

View and download the publication, “A Community Approach to Dog Bite Prevention,” which is intended to help local and state leaders develop comprehensive dog bite prevention programs that can effectively reduce dog bite injuries in their communities.

Sadly, many accidents involving motorcycles result in an injury.  The vast majority of motorcycle crashes will result in death or serious injury for the motorcyclist.  Out of 2,428 crashes involving motorcycles in 2009, 1,843 involved a personal injury, and 83 involved fatalities.

The most dangerous places for motorcyclists are intersections and lane changes, especially when the motorcyclist is turning left, or when a vehicle is changing lanes.  When you are in a car or truck, please make sure to watch the blind spot when you are changing lanes.  It is very difficult to see motorcycles.  Many times, drivers simply look for another full-size vehicle and do not see the motorcyclist.  During the summer months, with high gas prices, you will see more and more motorcyclists on our Arkansas and Missouri roads.  Please look out for motorcyclists.

Also, please note that sometimes, motorcycles look further away than they are, so do not pull out in front of motorcycles.  Please wait until the motorcyclist passes you before pulling out.  This will only cost you a few seconds, but may save the life of the motorcyclist.

Another item of note is that some motorcyclists will slow down by downshifting, and this will cause their bike to slow without triggering their tail light.  Give motorcycles just a little more following distance than you would a passenger vehicle.

Taking a few more seconds, giving a little more following distance, and looking out for motorcyclists may save the life of one of your friends or family.  Please be courteous, watch out for motorcyclists.

Scott Vorhees

Scott@4stateslaw.com

Johnson, Vorhees & Martucci
510 West 6th Street
Joplin, Missouri 64801
417-206-0100 office
417-206-0110 fax
866-836-0100 toll free
www.4stateslaw.com

Injury Trial Attorney

Simply training office staff to notice a dangerous condition when it is present and remedy the situation is one way to avoid harming others.  Many slip and fall injuries are the result of employees not inspecting the flooring of the place of business.  Often, many businesses have no training or protocol in place for the inspection and maintenance of its floors.   This is a terrible mistake that can lead to the personal injury of its customers.  For example, I am currently representing a client who slipped on water that had leaked from an ice machine.  The water had been on the tile floor for a considerable amount of time.  Had a routine inspection taken place, the water would have been cleaned up and the dangerous condition removed.  Instead, my client slipped in the water and fell suffering a fractured ankle that resulted in surgery.    She now must deal with the pain and physical limitation caused by that easily preventable injury.  It has affected every aspect of her life.

I have also represented a client who slipped and fell on the decking of an indoor pool at a local resort.  At first blush a person might think that obviously a pool deck may be wet and slick and that would be accurate.  However, this resort constructed the pool deck with stone that was very pretty but not safe.  The problem was that the stone was not level preventing proper draining of the water from the pool deck.  This combined with the humidity from the indoor pool caused water to “pool” and fungus to grow on the stone causing the decking to become extremely slick and dangerous.  My client slipped on this fungus and fell breaking his neck.

There are many different scenarios where dangerous conditions on property can lead to personal injury or death.  This is why a business must ensure that all safety measures be explored when designing and/or maintaining its business so that the public can be protected from needless harm.

Brian Johnston

Branson Missouri Injury Trial Attorney

301 W. Pacific St, Suite B
Branson, MO 65616

Local 417-336-8684
Toll free 888-424-7282

Brian@4stateslaw.com

www.4stateslaws.com