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Highway V is typical of the roads in rural southwestern Missouri.
West of Diamond, the road is one lane in each direction, has no
shoulders and, like the surrounding countryside, moves up and
down on rolling hills which obscure the view of traffic coming
from the opposite direction. Early on the morning of May 16, 1997,
Andrea Buening, a teacher at Diamond Middle School, and her nine-year-old
son Sam, were eastbound on Highway V, going to school. Jerry McHugh
was also on the road early that morning, headed westbound on Highway
V in an oversized pickup-type tire truck owned by his employer,
Grande Tire Company. As Andrea and Sam approached the crest of
a rolling hill, McHugh, coming from the opposite direction,
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Shamberg, Johnson & Bergman
John E. Shamberg
Lynn R. Johnson
Victor A. Bergman
John M. Parisi
Steven G. Brown
Stephen N. Six
Stephen R. Bough
Ann E. Agnew
4551 West 107th Street, Suite 355
Overland Park, KS 66207
913-642-0600
One Security Plaza
Suite M Ð 4
Kansas City, KS 66101
Scarritt Arcade Building
819 Walnut Street, Suite 205
Kansas City, MO 64106
www.sjblaw.com
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began passing another vehicle in a no passing zone, marked by
solid double yellow lines in both directions. At the hill crest
they collided violently, with a closing speed in excess of 100
miles per hour.
When the vehicles finally came to a rest in the roadside
ditch, the service truck had destroyed the front of the 1984 Plymouth
Reliant, pinning Sam's legs between the collapsed engine compartment
and the front seat, and trapping him in the vehicle. Andrea was
partially ejected from the car, semi-conscious, laying halfway
out of the driver side door. Unable to free Sam from the car,
the rescue personnel called in the "Jaws-of-Life" team. After
a ninety minute extrication procedure, Sam was freed and transported
to a nearby hospital with multiple fractures to his right leg
and hip.
Tragically, Andrea Buening will never teach students
again. The force of the collision inflicted a severe and permanent
head injury, reducing her intelligence and her ability to concentrate
and handle the multiple demands of her profession.
Andrea spent one year away from her family in intensive
care and then rehabilitation, relearning basics such as how to
eat, regain continence, get dressed, cook, read and care for herself.
She is now able to live alone in her own home
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with the help of a network of friends and family
who look after her. A break in the case came when the Missouri
Court of Appeals decided Rinehart v. Anderson (see
Practice Tips, page 6), expanding the definition of
a covered occurrence under a garage liability policy, creating
an argument for coverage under a garage liability policy, which
was previously thought not to apply to an accident away from the
tire store. Although the garage liability insurer denied coverage,
the day before trial the full policy limits of $300,000 were tendered.
Due to the miraculous ability of a nine-year-old's body to heal,
Sam's case was settled for the policy limits of the garage liability
policy and another automobile policy which covered the truck.
Continued
onPage 3
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