Car, Truck, Motorcycle Accidents

If injured by a car, truck, or motorcycle you have a legal claim action against the driver and/or his insurance company to recover all the damages you sustained.  When you are involved in an auto accident your damages include medical expenses, wage loss damages, pain and suffering, and disability/disfigurement damages.  If the other driver does not have enough insurance, you may have an uninsured or under insured motorist claim.  How much money you’ll get depends on the facts of the accident, how bad your injuries are, and the amount of insurance coverage.  Call us at any stage of your auto accident claim - whether the accident was recent, old, or even if you tried to handle it yourself but have been unable to or the insurance company won’t be fair to you.  Once hired to pursue your claim, we aggressively investigate the facts, take statements/pictures, or hire experts if needed.  We do try to resolve/settle these claims quickly, but also file suit and try these cases before a jury should the other side’s insurance company refuse to pay you what is fair.  Car accidents, truck accidents and motorcycle accidents are our specialties.

At Cantor and Burger, Mark Cantor and Gary Burger routinely win auto accident cases.  We file lawsuits and aggressively pursue the insurance companies and defendants until they have no choice but to pay our clients what they are owed for their injuries.  We handle the cases ourselves and Mark Cantor or Gary Burger, or both of us, will represent you.

If you are injured in an accident, you should immediately take steps to protect your rights.  You can call our firm at any time and our phones are answered 24/7 and we can assist you in the event of a crisis.

The following is a list of things you should do when you’re involved in an automobile accident:

1.  Ensure your vehicle is in a safe place after the accident.  If it’s not in a safe place  for you and your family, move it to a safe place.

2.  Check everybody in the car for injuries and ask if everybody’s doing okay.  Call 911  for emergency medical and police assistance.

3.  If you are able, exit the vehicle and talk to the other driver.  You will want to get the essential information from the driver such as name, address, phone number, driver’s license number, name of insurance  company and policy number.

  • You will want to personally and visually look at other driver’s license and insurance card.  We have had cases where people lie about this information.
  • Write the information down yourself personally and put it in your pocket.
  • Talk to the other driver about their conduct prior to the accident.
  • If it is the other driver’s fault, get them to say it’s their fault for the accident and see if they apologize to you.  It’s good evidence later that they told you were at fault and they apologized.
  • Inquire with them a little: “didn’t you see that light?” “Why were you going to fast?”, “Why did you pull out in front of me?” “How come you didn’t stop before you rear ended me?”  They may say things to you like “I was on my phone”, “I wasn’t paying attention,” “I’m sorry” or a variety of other things.  You never know what you can get for what someone will spontaneously say.

4.  Call the police and  get a police report for almost every auto accident.  Even if it’s a relatively minor automobile accident, you don’t want to have neck pain five    days later , need neck surgery and not have a police report of the accident.  A police report ensures that an independent person is taking  down all the information, identifies any witnesses, evaluates the crash.       Policeman are trained to measure skid distances, check out timing of lights  and various other activities to investigate auto accidents  and make conclusions thereon.  Tell the officer your name, address, insurance company and all that essential information.  Give the police officer a short clear statement  of how the accident happened.  Get from the police officer the police officer’s full name, badge number and where he/she is from (State Highway Patrol, St. Louis County, Ballwin, Jefferson County     Sheriff, etc.).  Make sure to get  the police report number that will be made with  his/her notes.  Reports are generally not available for seven days, but thereafter you can get a copy or we can get a copy for you.

5.  If you have a phone with a camera or camera on you, take pictures of the accident scene and the property damage to both vehicles.  This can be great evidence later.

6.         Get any medical attention you need promptly.  If you have an emergent medical condition at the scene, take an ambulance to the hospital.  If you’re not really sure and you don’t take an ambulance from the scene but you need medical later, drive yourself to an emergency room or an urgent care or have a friend or family member do so.  Often, someone can  feel fine at an auto accident scene but gets pain and symptoms a few hours after  a car accident when the shock wears off and some of the real damage sets   in. If this happens, go to an emergency room, urgent care or your     primary care doctor and get medical attention.  If you’re hurting the next  morning after an auto accident go get medical attention.  Sometimes,  people who think they’re tough (mostly men) won’t get medical attention for a couple of days because they think it’s just bumps and bruises from a car   accident.  But then, after the bumps and bruises should have gone away  they’re still in pain or the pain gets worse.  If this happens, go get medical care.

7.  Document everything and all the matters relating to your claim.  After the accident and the dust has settled, you will want to keep the notes of the  claim so that you can resolve both your property damage and your personal injury component of your auto accident claim.

8.  Call 314-542-9999 and ask to speak to Gary or Mark about your case and  we will help.  We will meet with you for free.  If you decide to hire us, we charge a reasonable contingency fee and get paid nothing unless we get money for you.  We will also help you with your medical care, answer any questions you have regarding    property damage, and try to resolve any liens (claims against your personal  injury settlement).  We work hard and fight to get the money you deserve.

Call or email us if you have any questions.  We can be reached by email at gary (@) cantorburger.com or mark (@) cantorburger.com.  If you would like to speak to someone directly, Gary’s cell phone number is (314) 799-4848  and Mark’s cell phone number is (314) 640-1701.  If your injuries prevent you from coming to us, we can come to you.