Attorney Blog

Phil Tatlow takes on State Legislator who struck pedestrian and left scene

jsb@bollwerkryan.com (Blog Author)26407 — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:00:00 EST

Phil Tatlow filed suit last week in St. Francois County Circuit Court against ex-state legislator Brad Robinson, who struck a pedestrian on New Years Eve and attempted to cover up his involvement in the accident by switching seats with his wife and telling the police that his wife was driving. Click on the title above to read the article published in The Daily Journal about this fascinating case.

Accidental Death Benefits Denied by Insurance Company

jsb@bollwerkryan.com (Blog Author)24061 — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST

Many people purchase accidental death insurance in addition to traditional life insurance. The reason most people purchase such insurance is so that their loved ones who depend on them financially will be able to replace their income in the event that they die suddenly in an accident. Insurance companies often deny claims made for accidental death benefits, stating that the insurance company has found that the cause of death was not the accident but some other reason. They, too, deny claims because they assert that some policy provision excluded the circumstances of the accident. For example, claims are often denied because the carrier feels that the deceased person contributed to cause his death by drinking or taking drugs. Furthermore, claims are often denied if the person has an accident, but doesn't die immediately. Many times, these "excuses" given by the insurance company are not legitimate.

We at Bollwerk & Ryan handle accidental death claims. Many of these accidental death policies are governed by federal ERISA law, while some are governed by state law. If you made a claim for accidental death benefits because your spouse or loved one died in an accident, and the insurance company denied your claim, it is imperative that you speak to an attorney who handles accidental death claims immediately. If the policy is one governed by ERISA law, certain procedures must be followed very strictly, and you must exhaust your administrative remedies before you can take your case to court. Accidental death claims can be lost simply by not following the procedures set forth in the insurance policy, so you should at least consult with an attorney once your claim is initially denied.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch discusses both sides of the medical malpractice caps debate

jsb@bollwerkryan.com (Blog Author)22959 — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST

Our good friends, Dave Zevan and Kevin Davidson, told the Post Dispatch about a family they represented at trial that was greatly affected by the current state of medical malpractice caps in Missouri. It is a compelling read. Rarely is the malpractice victim's side of the story told. Until now. Please read this story and decide for yourself whether medical malpratice caps are a good thing. Click on the title of this article above to read the entire story.

Welcome to Phil Tatlow!

jsb@bollwerkryan.com (Blog Author)21638 — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:00:00 EST

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.

Florida Employer charged with First Degree Felony for Workers' Compensation Fraud

jsb@bollwerkryan.com (Blog Author)18943 — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 08:00:00 EST

Employers in Florida--it is not a good idea to try to save a few bucks on your workers' compensation premiums by fudging the numbers. Mauricio Soto faces up to 30 years in prison and a $10,000 fine for trying to save money on his workers' compensation insurance premiums by underreporting the number of people he employed. Our penalties in Missouri aren't quite so harsh---the crime of workers' compensation fraud is a Class D felony, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years. However, the potential punishment is still harsh enough to make both employers and employees alike think twice before committing workers' compensation fraud here in Missouri.

Justice John Paul Stevens Hires Only One Clerk for 2010-11 Term...does this mean retirement?

jlt@bollwerkryan.com (Blog Author)18063 — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 08:00:00 EST

Supreme Court Justices are allowed to hire four law clerks to assist them each term. Retired Justices are allowed only one. The fact that Justice Stevens (the oldest Justice on the Court) has only hired one clerk thus far for the 2010-2011 term, leaves some people to question whether President Obama will get another chance to fill an empty seat on the highest court in the nation.

Although the hiring of the clerks is kept confidential until right before the beginning of the new term, it is common for the Justices to have confirmed hiring all of their clerks long in advance of the next term. As of now, Justice Stevens has only confirmed one hiring for the 2010-11 session. In the past this has been a sign of a pending retirement on the part of the Justice. Justice Souter held off on hiring any clerks at all just prior to his announcement of retirement.

Justice Stevens is the head of the liberal wing of the Court. He has supported such causes as abortion rights, affirmative action and protections for accused criminals since his appointment to the Court in 1975.

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

jsb@bollwerkryan.com (Blog Author)17819 — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 08:00:00 EST

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

jlt@bollwerkryan.com (Blog Author)17226 — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 08:00:00 EST

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.

US Supreme Court Denies Inmate DNA Test

jlt@bollwerkryan.com (Blog Author)14178 — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 08:00:00 EST

The United State Supreme Court has ruled that William Osborne, an Alaskan inmate, does not have the right to receive a more accurate DNA test in his 1993 case. The test could help reverse his conviction in a rape and attempted murder case from 1993 when DNA testing was in its infancy. The Court justifies their decision by stating that they should not constitutionalize the issue, but instead, leave it to the individual States. However, Alaska has not granted any of their inmates post-conviction DNA requests even though such testing has freed several inmates nationwide who were wrongly convicted.

Lawsuit alleges police officer was drinking at a bar prior to fatal crash

jsb@bollwerkryan.com (Blog Author)13773 — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 08:00:00 EST

A lawsuit has been filed by the families of the four people killed by an off-duty police officer in March, who was driving home from an evening where she had allegedly been drinking at a local bar and grill. The lawsuit also names the bar as a defendant, alleging that the bar served the officer after she was obviously intoxicated. These cases against bars are tough to prove, but kudos to the families' attorneys for taking on the issue. Click on the title above to read the entire St. Louis Post Dispatch article.

St. Louis County Judge Throws the Book at Drunk Driver

jap@bollwerkryan.com (Blog Author)12003 — Thu, 14 May 2009 08:00:00 EST

On May 13, Judge Colleen Dolan sentenced a drunk driver to 10 years in prison for killing a construction worker on Highway 40 in 2006. Edward Snodgrass, 27, killed Michael Poahway, an employee for a paving contractor, when Mr. Snodgrass sped through a construction zone.

Phil Tatlow sues local hospital for malpractice due to decubitus ulcer

blog@www.bollwerkryan.com (News Author)15681 — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 08:00:00 EST

Phil Tatlow has filed a negligence action against a local hospital after his client developed huge decubitus ulcers on his coccyx while his client was at the hospital for surgery for a pseudocyst. Tatlow and his client allege that the hospital knew that the client was at great risk for a skin breakdown and for development of an infection at the site of his surgical wound or another area and that the hospital failed to take reasonable preventive measures to protect him from infection and skin breakdown. His client alleges that the hospital took no skin assessment on Plaintiff and did not monitor his skin integrity or implement any preventive nursing measures from January 28, 2008 to January 31, 2009. By that time, the client maintains that he had already developed a huge decubitus ulcer on his backside that was bleeding and grew black due to death of the skin. Tatlow maintains that the nursing staff did not even look at his backside and do an assessment until he went to the bathroom and asked the nursing staff why there was a trail of blood from the bed to the bathroom. At that time, his client was evaluated and he had a condition that required several surgeries due to the skin breakdown and extensive medical treatment including debridement of the wound and an effort to surgically correct the hole left in his coccyx. He is in need of further medical treatment. Tatlow and his client sued the hospital in St. Louis County and are seeking damages for his medical treatment, his future care, his pain and suffering and damages for the troubles his wife went through while he has suffered from the injury. Discovery in the case is ongoing and a trial date has not yet been reached.

Insurance Company Pays Record Settlement

blog@www.bollwerkryan.com (News Author)15559 — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 08:00:00 EST

Mega Life and Health allegedly misled consumers into buying low-cost insurance policies, then denying coverage when the insured fell ill. The State of Massachusetts sued the insurer and resolved the case last fall for $17 million, most of which went to consumers. If you have a health insurance policy that denies coverage to you when you get injured or sick, then you should talk to a lawyer to see if you have a legal action available to you. Read the attached article from The Boston Globe.

St. Louis County Judge Finally Calls Portion of Tort Reform law what it is--UNCONSTITUTIONAL

blog@www.bollwerkryan.com (News Author)10259 — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 08:00:00 EST

On August 13, 2009, St. Louis County Circuit Judge Stephen Goldman ruled that 490.715 RSMo. is unconstitutional and ordered that the plaintiff, who lost the underlying lawsuit, should get a new trial. He determined that the law allows for too many different interpretations, and thus, different plaintiffs are receiving different results from different judges. Although Judge Goldman declared the statute unconstitutional, the statute can only be stricken as unconstitutional by the Missouri Supreme Court. Therefore, the statute still stands, but the debate will continue until the Missouri Supreme Court finally decides the issue.

Section 490.715 RSMo. allows a judge to determine the reasonable value of the medical services received by a plaintiff, after a hearing on the matter. The amount that the judge rules is the reasonable value of the medical expenses is the amount that the plaintiff can submit to the jury. The law creates a presumption that the value of the medical services is the amount that was paid by health insurance or by the injured person. That presumption can be overcome if the plaintiff shows that the value is actually the amount that the doctor or hospital billed, rather than what insurance paid that doctor or hospital. Some judges rule that the reasonable value of the medical bills is always the amount paid; others rule that the reasonable value of the medical bills is the total amount billed by the doctor or hospital. As a result, injured people are receiving different results based upon which judge is hearing their case. This is the type of law that cries out for the Missouri Supreme Court to get involved. Hopefully, a case will come before them in the very near future, so that injured people may eventually be treated equally under this law.

Accident today on I-70 Causes Major Breakdown

blog@www.bollwerkryan.com (News Author)8453 — Mon, 11 May 2009 08:00:00 EST