Missouri Accident Lawyer Blog

An inattentive driver caused a Saint Charles Missouri rear end car accident on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2011. The Saint Charles distracted driving accident happened on I-70, 1.2 miles east of Lake St. Louis Boulevard.

Timothy L. Byrd, 23, of St. Louis, Missouri caused the accident when he reached for his cellphone while driving on westbound I-70. Byrd reached for his cellphone while changing lanes, causing his 2001 Oldsmobile Alero to crash into the rear of a 2010 Ford Focus. The force of the impact forced both vehicles off the north side of the interstate highway.

Nona F. Buchanan-Pelzer, 44, of St. Louis, Missouri suffered the only reported physical injuries in the accident. Buchanan-Pelzer was an occupant in the Ford Focus that was struck in the St. Charles Missouri rear end car accident. She was transported by St. Charles County Ambulance to St. Joseph West Hospital for medical treatment. The Ford Focus, which was owned by driver Verse E. Buchanan of Tennessee, sustained extensive damage.

A car accident may harm different accident victims in different ways. In the above accident, one accident victim suffered physical injury while the other sustained property damage. Each accident victim may bring a lawsuit against the defendant driver for the harm caused by the accident. However, the accident victims may want to bring their lawsuits together.

Missouri statute §507.040 allows plaintiffs to join their lawsuits together if their claims are “arising out of the same transaction, occurrence…and if any question of law or fact common to all of them will arise” in the lawsuit. Accident victims harmed by the same St. Charles distracted driving accident are allowed to join together their claims under the statute. The accident constitutes a single “occurrence” out of which the lawsuits arise. The lawsuits of the accident victims will have common questions of law or fact, since the same conduct and events led to the harm suffered by the accident victims.