Every year in St. Louis and throughout Missouri, car accidents injure thousands of people. Among the most devastating injuries people can suffer in car accidents are crush injuries. These horrible injuries can lead to severe complications, including the potential need for amputating an arm or leg. Crush injuries can also easily kill you, depending on where and how the injury occurs.

If you live in St. Louis or the surrounding areas and you suffered crush injuries in a car accident caused by someone else, you can reach out to the St. Louis car accident attorneys of OnderLaw for help.

You can rely on us to listen to the details of your accident and carefully explain all of your rights with regard to receiving compensation. Honest and professional, we will give you the information you need to make well-informed decisions, and you can trust that the advice we provide will always be in your best interests.

Over the course of our practice, we have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars in total compensation for our injury clients, including numerous multi-million-dollar awards for victims of car accidents. Contact us today by calling our law office or by filling out our contact form for a free evaluation of your crush injury claim.

What Are Crush Injuries?

According to MedlinePlus, “a crush injury occurs when force or pressure is put on a body part.” This can include the torso as well as any of the limbs and extremities. Crush injuries can happen when body parts are squeezed between two heavy objects or when a heavy object lands on a body part and crushes the victim on the ground or some other hard, immovable surface.

The resulting damage to bones, skin, tissue, and organs can be very severe, and some of the most common types of crush injuries include the following:

  • Fractured bones
  • Heavy bruising
  • Internal and external bleeding
  • Irreparable nerve damage
  • Cut and abrasions
  • Amputation

Crush injuries can also cause a condition known as compartment syndrome. This is where the pressures that build up during the crushing event are so strong that they damage the surrounding muscles, nerves, and blood vessels. This, in turn, leads to problems with blood flow, which can lead to the formation of blood clots as well as tissue death that may require amputation surgery.

Of course, if a torso is crushed during an accident, the resulting injuries to internal organs can be immediately fatal or require emergency medical treatment and ongoing intensive care. Any of the body’s major organ systems can be easily affected in crushing injuries to the torso, including:

  • The heart
  • The liver
  • The lungs
  • The kidneys
  • The spleen and pancreas

In car accidents, crush injuries can occur for a variety of reasons, including any of the following:

  • Someone’s arm, leg, or body was ejected from the car, and the car rolled on top of them.
  • Someone was crushed inside the wreckage, such as between the seat and the steering wheel/dashboard.
  • The car rolled over, and the roof collapsed.
  • Some part of a person’s body got caught between the seat and the door or center console, etc.
  • Someone’s legs, arms, or body were crushed due to the front or rear impact of the collision.

If the injured person was rushed to the hospital right after the accident with severe bone fractures and internal bleeding and organ damage from the crushing injuries they suffered, they would get the necessary life-saving medical treatment. However, afterward, there will be overwhelming details to manage in the aftermath.

The Types of Compensation You Can Receive

Under Missouri law, victims of another person’s negligence, recklessness, or wrongdoing have the right to seek damages for their injuries and financial losses, as well as for other reasons, depending on the nature of the incident.

Unlike some other states, Missouri does not impose a cap or limit on the amount of compensation a victim may receive. However, like most other states, Missouri places a limit on the amount of time a victim has to pursue compensation. The stature of limitations in Missouri allows five years for an injured party to file a lawsuit to pursue compensation.

As the victim of someone else’s negligence or egregiously wrongful actions, you are entitled to pursue financial compensation for all the following economic losses:

Economic losses are typically easy to document since there is usually a paper trail associated with them, such as receipts, invoices and estimates, paystubs, etc.

You are also allowed to pursue non-economic losses as part of your claim. This is compensation for the intangible effects the accident had on your life, such as:

If you take your case to court, you might also be eligible for an award of punitive damages. An award of this type is intended to punish the wrongdoer for their actions and prevent them from repeating the behavior in the future.

Here at OnderLaw, we will carefully and completely review all aspects of your claim and advise you of your options for pursuing compensation. You can then count on us to fight aggressively at all turns to assert your rights and strongly advocate on your behalf.

When you didn’t cause the accident that caused your injuries, you shouldn’t have to bear the financial costs to heal your injuries. Here at OnderLaw, we want to help you move on from your crush injuries caused by a car accident, and we will fight hard you help you get the maximum award possible for the financial, mental, and emotional losses the wreck has caused you and your family.

Contact Us Today for St. Louis Car Crush Injuries

Our nationally ranked attorneys at OnderLaw are here for you and your family to help you through this troubling time and set you on a path to recovery. You can call our law office to request a free consultation, or you can fill out our contact form to have an attorney get in touch with you. If you suffered crush injuries caused by a car accident in St. Louis, reach out to us today.