Accidental Death Benefits Denied by Insurance Company

What should you do if your spouse dies in an accident but his accidental death insurance carrier denies your claim for benefits?

Welcome to Phil Tatlow!

We are pleased to announce that Phillip A. Tatlow joined our firm effective October, 2009.  Phil was a partner in a prominent St. Louis law firm for 18 years before joining us.  Phil was born and raised in Moberly, Missouri.  The son of well-known plaintiffs trial attorney, Gary Tatlow, Phil was destined to become an attorney representing injury victims and their families. His mother, Marilyn Tatlow, also served on the Appellate Judicial Selection Committee, so Phil comes from a family dedicated to serve.  His sister, Rebecca, is also an attorney in Springfield, Missouri. 

Phil attended law school at St. Louis University and was a classmate of Jill Bollwerk, Dan Ryan and Frank Carretero.  He practices in the areas of automobile and trucking accidents, workers' compensation, nursing home negligence, ERISA and disability law, and the appeal of the denial of insurance benefits.

Dan Ryan featured in "St. Louis Magazine" article about Tort Reform.

Pick up the September, 2009 issue of "St. Louis Magazine." Journalist Ray Hartmann wrote an article entitled, " STL Confidential:  A Quiet Case Study that Might Make You Think Twice about Tort Reform."  In that article, Mr. Hartmann features a case handled here at Bollwerk & Ryan.  Mr. Hartmann talks to our very own Dan Ryan about that case.  Dan discusses how this very significant case would have been handled differently if ithe lawsuit had been filed after the tort reform laws were passed here in Missouri in 2005.  He also discusses how the result could have been drastically different as well.  The article is not available on-line at this time, so go pick up a copy at your newsstand.  It might just change your mind about the tort reform debate!

Texas Judge on Trial for Closing Clerk's Office on Time

Judge Sharon Keller, the presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, is on trial before the State Judicial Commission for misconduct after she refused to allow the clerk's office to stay open after 5:00 p.m. on September 25, 2007.  That day death-row inmate Michael Wayne Richard was scheduled to be executed for sexually assaulting and killing a woman in 1986.  His attorneys wanted to file an appeal on Richard's case after the Supreme Court announced that day that they would hear verbal arguments as to the humanity of lethal injection as a means to execute prisoners.  However, Richard's attorneys had computer problems about 20 minutes prior to 5:00 p.m. that were not going to allow them to file their paperwork with the court until after closing.  They contacted the clerk's office who then contacted Judge Keller at home (she had left early that day to meet a repairman at her home).  Judge Keller instructed the clerk's office to close at their usual time. Just over three and a half hours later, Richards was put to death.

The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (the organization that filed the complaint against Judge Keller) say she violated the State's execution day guidelines which allow death-row inmates access to the courts to file appeal documents after closing time.  One of Keller's points of defense is that she was merely asked if the clerk's office could stay open late and she responded "no" because Texas law states that state employees' office hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.  Also as part of her defense, Keller recalls Richards' case which involved several appeals and two trials that led to repeated convictions of Richard.  If found guilty of misconduct, Judge Keller could be removed from the bench.