WE REPRESENT CLIENTS AGAINST INSURANCE COMPANIES

We represent individuals and businesses against insurance companies.  Examples of these types of claims are when a business or person sustain property damage and the insurance company delays too long in paying for a claim and/or offers to pay too little in a claim.  We aggressively represent individuals and businesses, file lawsuits, and have a great track record.  We just settled a case for a local physician against subcontractors in her homeowner’s insurance for negligent home improvements; we represent a local business for hail damage, water damage and other damages sustained in his business both to its structure, and its inventory; and we represent a local company who sustained fire damage that is going uncompensated by their landlord or their insurance company.

Another insurance claim in which we have had success is claims by individuals to get their short term and long term disability.  We have taken claims and been successful from anywhere from laborers to lawyers to doctors to succeed in getting recovery against their short term and long term disability insurers.  Many times an insurance company will seek to avoid paying disability, by relying on tricky language in policies saying that the person could still get another wage or saying that the medical documentation is insufficient to warrant finding the disability.  We get the documentation, and are able to read the policies ourselves to show the insurance company how their policy doesn’t quite say what they think it says.  We have been creative in finding in other loopholes and other provisions in insurance policies which enable our clients to recover.

Another type of claim is straight against the insurance company for an automobile accident against injury victims own auto insurance policy for uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage.  We have successfully resolved these claims, litigated and tried these claims as well.  I think Gary Burger’s most recent trial and such claim was a $500,000 verdict.  So, as always, call Gary or Mark at 314-542-9999 for help against big bad insurance companies.

Workers’ Compensation Success – Case where Going to Trial More than Doubled Settlement Offer

Mark Cantor tries workers’ compensation case with $4,000.00 offer. He won Eric Moore $14,000.00 plus medical care, paid time off for his injury, and a future surgery. This is why it’s important to choose a personal injury lawyer who is willing to try cases. The lawyers at Cantor & Burger have 40 years combined experience trying case and fighting for their clients.

Call Cantor & Burger at (314) 542-9999 today to maximize the recovery for your workers’ compensation and personal injuries.

Today’s serious work injury mediation

Today I mediated a case for a man whose hand was crushed by a crane at work. We did not settle and the case will be tried.  As a result of the injury, my client fractured both main bones in his wrist, the radius and the ulnar, as well as had significant nerve injuries.  Eventually he had an ulnar shortening procedure as well as metal plates and screws installed in his wrist.  Later, because of the serious fractures, he developed nerve problems and required a carpal tunnel surgery, which basically is a surgery that allows the median nerve to have more space as it runs through the carpal canal in the wrist.

The defense sent my client with multiple surgeries and plates to a doctor, Evan Crandall, who is notoriously biased for the defense in my opinion.  Dr. Crandall evaluated the disability after having performed two or the three surgeries and determined that my client had a 20% disability to the wrist.  I believe this is far too low as did the adjuster whose first offer in the case following that report agreed and offered us 30% of the wrist.

I sent my client to a hand and plastic surgeon who evaluated the disability at 60% of the wrist, which is high but honest. Workers’ Compensation is cheap and we went before a conservative judge whose recommendation was too low.  As a result, I set the case for trial (which in workers’ compensation is a hearing.)  At hearing, the mediating judge will not be able to be the trial judge and I think we will achieve a better result for my client.

At hearing, I will have additional evidence for future medical requirements as our surgeon believes that a future fusion may be required.  To give you an idea of the seriousness of the injury, attached is a photo of my client’s hand, an x-ray.  Look at all the plates and screws.

Although my client has given me permission to use this, I have chosen not to reveal his name as the case is still going to hearing.

At Cantor & Burger, we represent the seriously injured.  In this case, the injury is a serious hand and arm issue and it will go to trial.  I will personally handle the case as I do with all of my files and not pass it along to a less experienced and less knowledgeable attorney.  I fully expect an excellent outcome for my client and if you need legal representation, my partner Gary Burger and I are happy to represent you.  Please call us at 314-542-9999.


 

JEFFERSON COUNTY LEGAL REPRESENTATION

Since its inception, Cantor & Burger has had a law office in Jefferson County as well as our main location in St. Louis County.  We shared offices with Mark Cantor’s friend Ernie Abramsom, DDS .  We represent a lot of folks in Jefferson County,  both residents and people who are injured there.  Highway 21 used to be called Blood Alley or the Bloody Highway and was the site of many terrible accidents.  Thank god they have improved those roads.  Still,
Jeffco people need good legal representation like anybody anywhere.  We have represented injury victims in workers compensation, automobile accidents, truck and motorcycle accidents, medical malpractice and premises liability cases.  We have tried two trials in Jefferson County this year along with trials in other locations.  We get great success in Jefferson County and appreciate the good solid wisdom that the jury members bring to deciding cases there.  The judges in Jefferson County are superb, bringing the highest level of legal knowledge and acumen to every case they handle.  If you have an injury case in Jefferson County call us at 636-296-9990.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Why does everyone call Facebook social media?  Facebook certainly is the 800 lb. gorilla in the room and has had amazing success with a billion subscribers.  There’s not many movies that are made about corporate CEOs and business successes, but Facebook certainly got some good free media attention with the movie “The Social Network”.  As with most folks, Cantor & Burger has a page on Facebook and Mark and Gary are Facebook friends with many of their clients.  We provide regular updates and interesting news articles and information through Facebook.  We also regularly tweet and post on Linked In and other sites.  If you would like to follow us on Facebook click here      http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1112282558

or http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cantor-and-Burger/123193217711998

If you would like to follow us on Twitter click here http://twitter.com/

If you would like to rate us on Google click here http://maps.google.com/maps/place?hl=en&sugexp=kjrmc&cp=11&gs_id=1v&xhr=t&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=1440&bih=754&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=cantor+and+burger&fb=1&gl=us&hq=cantor+and+burger&hnear=0x87d8b4a9faed8ef9:0xbe39eaca22bbe05b,St.+Louis,+MO&cid=3373370178354629801&ei=u1axTvbRLpTksQKRpqGSCA&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=placepage-link&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CDcQ4gkwAA

If you are client and a supporter of ours we do specifically request you like our page on Facebook and rate us on Google.  Thanks for all your continuing help and support.

Million dollar settlement and other recent cases

These verdicts and settlements are reported in the October 31, 2011 addition of the Missouri Lawyers Weekly, a weekly newspaper that the law firm of Cantor & Burger regularly reviews and studies.  It is important for attorneys to know the value of other cases throughout the state to effectively value our own client’s injury cases.

The family of a police officer that was killed in a training exercise by a co-worker while training in an abandoned school building in St. Joseph’s Missouri received $376,328.00.  The shooter forgot that he had a real round in his gun and the co-worker (deceased) asked to see what it felt like to be shot with the fake round, and he was.  Unfortunately, he was immediately killed with the live round and left a six year old daughter.  In addition to this civil case the victim’s family will received workers’ compensation benefits.

A woman crashed on ice as a result of St. Louis City failing to properly maintain its streets after a broken water main received $106,000.00 from a verdict in the City.  The jurors felt that the Plaintiff was at fault and reduced the total amount that she received to $63,600.00.  In the lawsuit the Plaintiff states that she broke her neck and injured her thigh bone and knee cap along with permanent scaring to her face.  She was found 40% at fault which is why the jury amount of $106,000.00 was reduced to $63,600.00.

In another automobile collision, the Plaintiff was injured at an intersection.  As with all automobile accident claims, it is the Plaintiff’s burden to prove both liability and damages.  In this case, the Plaintiff alleged that he had “severe painful injuries to his head, neck, back, pelvis and body as a whole and thought that he would need a tremendous amount of future medical care.  The Plaintiff asked for $50,000.00 and the defense offered $10,000.00.  The jury in Laclede County awarded a verdict of only $2,774.00. I always say pigs go to feed and hogs get slaughtered and it is clear that this client for that law firm should have accepted the offer of judgment of $10,000.00.  I bet that after attorneys’ fees and expenses that the Plaintiff will receive no money at all.  It seems that the jury didn’t believe the Plaintiff or his experts and the jury punished them for that.  The demand had been the policy limits and the lesson here needs to be to evaluate both liability and damages very carefully when choosing to reject an offer and proceed to trial.

Some other lawyers published a settlement of $20,000.00 for slip and fall.  They have published a case where they did not even file a lawsuit and some lawyers use the Lawyers Weekly to attempt to brag about their results.  At Cantor & Burger, we do not believe a $20,000.00 settlement in a case that did not require a lawsuit should be published in the legal journal.  Slip and fall cases are difficult ones and a settlement in slip and fall is generally a good idea because it can be easily lost at trial, my point is simply that it should not have been published.

In another case a police chief entered into a home after hearing yelling between the folks that live there.  One of the persons in the home ran into a back room and attempted to slam the door but caught the police chief’s foot.  The slamming of the door fractured the foot and later caused an amputation of the small toe, likely because he also has diabetes.  The case settled for $257,500.00.

There was a million dollar settlement for a seven year old that was killed in Kansas City.  Apparently the seven year old was walking home when a fire truck went through a school zone and struck the child.  In addition to the City of Kansas City being named as the defendant, a moving company was also involved in the accident which apparently blocked the sight of the child from the fire engine.  From the way it was reported it seems that they contributed to the settlement of one million dollars.

A medical doctor was injured in a case and won a $90,000.00 verdict after being involved in a car accident with little or no property damage.  Apparently in that case that doctor argued about future medical needs and the jury agreed.

There was another car accident with a defense verdict.  The last offer by the insurance company for the dairy company was $35,000.00 and the last demand was $50,000.00.  A Texas County Circuit Court jury awarded no damages at all.  The accident occurred as the driver had a heart attack and died.  After the heart attack the vehicle ran into a guard shack and caused injuries.  The defense argues that it was an act of God and even though there were injuries here it seems that the case should have settled.  The lesson here is don’t expect a jury to award damages if they believe nothing could have been done to prevent them, in other words that there was no negligence.

If you have need aggressive representation, call us at 314 542-9999.

 

Leg Injuries

At Cantor & Burger we represent clients with serious leg injuries.  Just this last year, I represented a person with lower leg fractures as well as muscle ruptures as a result of a work related injury.  As a result of Gary’s and mine over 40 years of combined experience, we have seen nearly every type of leg injury possible from the minor bruises and contusions to the serious compound fractures, dislocations and muscle tears. These injuries commonly arise from auto and motorcycle accidents, falls, work injuries, trampoline accidents, and an array of other causes.   If you have a serious leg injury, please call us at 314-542-9999 so we can help.  We do not charge a fee unless we win and then we only take a percentage of the amount recovered and our expenses.

There are many muscles and tendons in the leg, but the most frequent tendon that we see injured is the Achilles.  We have seen clients with both complete tears of the Achilles tendon which is also called a rupture and we have seen partial tears.  The partial tears generally occur over a period of time, but can be caused by work from overuse and repetitive motion.  We have also seen many fractured bones.  The primary bones of the leg are the femur which is in your upper leg or thigh, the patella which basically is your knee, the tibia which is the large bone in your lower leg and the fibula which is the smaller bone in your leg. I once represented an older man who fell and severely fractured his hip while walking his small dog on a leash.  Another dog ran to attack my client’s dog,  and the little dog ran around my client and the leash caught my clients’ leg causing him to fall.  We deserved to win and did because the other dog was in violation of the local leash law, and had the dog been restrained the accident would not have occurred.

Years ago I fractured my fibula while sparring and had a hairline fracture of my fibula, so I personally have experience the pain of a leg fracture – even though the doctors told me that is a non weight bearing bone it was painful and took a long time to heal.  I had to walk in one of those moon boots for a period of weeks and eventually the leg healed, but enough about me, the point is that in order to win these cases you need to know the anatomy and you need to have a lawyer that has the resources, knowledge and ability to handle them.  Obviously, there are many more types of a leg injuries than I have described here including frequent knee problems, including ACL tears and PCL tears which we see commonly, medial meniscus injuries, ect…  (By the way a medial meniscus is never surgically repaired; they simply go in and carve it out.  The medial meniscus is the pad between your knee, it is a thin piece of material that when it tears they simply go in and carve out the torn section.  It is never replaced and it forever causes disability despite what the doctors say.)

If you have a leg injury, call us so we can help at 314-542-9999.  We will likely be familiar with your type of injury and if we are not, we will immediately educate ourselves so that we can best represent you in securing the maximum recoverable amount under the law.

Spine and Spinal Cord Injuries

Gary Burger and I are experienced in representing those with spinal cord injuries as well as their families.  These injuries can arise because of a work injury, car accident, medical malpractice and other causes.  We have represented those with mild sprain/strain type injuries to the back to the very severe injuries including paralysis. Call us at 314 542-9999 if we can help you.

In order to successfully recover the full amount of your damages, an injury victim needs competent representation.  At Cantor & Burger we have the knowledge, experience and financial resources to aggressively pursue your spinal injury case.  We have represented thousands of Plaintiff’s in civil lawsuits and workers’ compensation claims as a result of spinal injuries.  This year alone, we have represented clients with significant injuries to their spine.   Unfortunately, I have also represented a child with spinal injuries including a one year old paralyzed in a car vs. truck accident.   In that case, both parents were in the front seat and killed, leaving a quadriplegic child to be raised by others.  It was an extremely sad set of facts. The case settled confidentially before trial in the city of St. Louis.

Any damage to the spinal cord – whether it be a ruptured disc, stenosis, or “pinched nerve” – will have serious and long term effects.   The spinal cord extends from the base of the brain down the neck and through the back and carries the neurons, which are basically the “phone lines” that gives information to the body to function.  The medical term for this is motor neurons.  When the spinal cord is injured, these neurons do not function as well and create significant pain.  The spinal cord is surrounded by bone which is called vertebrae.  At Cantor & Burger, we frequently see fractured vertebrae that cause damage to both the bone as well as to the spinal cord.  As a general rule, the higher the spinal injury the more dysfunction a person will have because more neurons are affected.  This is why when someone fractures their neck they may be paralyzed from the neck down as opposed to the mid-back which usually will not affect the arms, but is the lower body.

The spine is composed of four main components.  The cervical spine is the neck which is C1- C8.  Injuries to the cervical spine where the spine is severed result in quadriplegia.  If the injury is above the C-4 level (which is the cervical fourth disc) it usually results in a ventilator for the person to breathe.  At C-5 the injury severed spinal cord results in some shoulder and bicep control, but no control at the wrist or hand and C-6 the person will usually have wrist control, but not hand function.  As you can see the injuries progressively become less severe the further down the spine the injury occurs.

The next level after the cervical spine is the thoracic spine which is T1- T12.  The thoracic nerves generally control the chest muscles and the abdominal muscles.  Next, is a lumbar vertebrae which is L1 – L5.  The lumbar spine controls the leg muscles.  Lastly, there is the sacral, the lowest part of the back and is commonly referred to as the tail bone.  The sacral portion of the spine controls the valve of the bladder and sexual function.  There are generally five levels of the sacral which are S1 – S5.  (Although I recently represented a person who has a sixth level.  In that case, the defense argued that the fall at work did not cause the injury, but it was a congenital meaning birth defect.  I won the case.)

Gary and I have been practicing law now for a very long time.  As a result of limiting our practice to significant injuries we have handled many, many spine cases.  We have recovered literally millions of dollars for people with spinal injuries and we know the anatomy well.  There are a lot of areas of law out in our society and there are a lot of things to know, but Cantor & Burger knows how to handle injury cases and we can win your case.  In order to win these cases, you must be educated medically.  We surround ourselves with smart people to assist us in the case and retain the best experts in the world.  We have attended medical seminars and I even went to one where we performed a surgery on a cadaver.  (Think about that, a medical doctor teaching a lawyer how to do a surgery on a cadaver so that we would know the medical science better.)  We also share an office with a neurologist, my father, who is available regularly to consult with us for free on our cases.

 

If you have a serious spinal injury from a car accident, a work injury, medical malpractice, or other cause, please call us at 314-542-9999 and we can help.

JURY DUTY

An article in the St. Louis Post Dispatch by Pat Gauen gave me the idea to blog a little about jury duty.  Every United States Citizen is guaranteed the right to a jury trial pursuant to the 7th Amendment to the United States Constitution.  This system was first guaranteed by the Magna Carta in England hundreds and hundreds of years ago.  It’s an amazing system that provides our peers the ability to resolve disputes between citizens of the United States and to decide criminal to conviction under criminal laws.  Such an important part of our system, but people take it for granted.  People many times don’t look forward to jury duty and its obligations.  It sure beats the alternative of having government officials come in as bureaucrats or royalty to decide our claims and crimes like in other countries.

And people can complain about jury duty, but within a bureaucratic, there’s going to be delays and inefficiencies.  I certainly wish when I pick a jury that they hadn’t been sitting there for three hours super bored and wondering why their time is being wasted.  When we pick juries as lawyers we should (and I endeavor to) get to the point, ask the pertinent questions and not silly ones, and try our cases as expeditiously as possible.  I am sometimes called upon to try relatively small cases when insurance companies refuse to pay what’s reasonable or when the client has a challenging case.  In those times, and at all times, I really try to put the evidence before the jury (the trier affect) as quickly as possible and get the case to the jury for their decision as quickly as possible.  This enables them to go home to their friends, family and loved ones.   I could not be more proud of America’s jury system.  It has righted tremendous wrongs in our country and provided justice to people without power.

Cantor & Burger Now Accepting Nationwide Cases Against Sanford Brown

Sanford Brown is a proprietary education corporation operating in locations throughout the country.  They advertise their programs heavily on television promising dreams of better lives with their degree programs.  Cantor & Burger is currently filing lawsuits for fraud against Sanford Brown College and accepts clients nationally from all locations.  The following video discusses the aggressive sales tactics for profit universities use, specifically in the recruitment of military Veterans with access to the GI Bill:

Watch Educating Sergeant Pantzke on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

Military Veterans are attractive targets for these for profit institutions because the GI Bill provides soldiers with money for their education. Gibbs College is now known as Sanford Brown College.
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