Ochs & Klein Attorneys, P.C.

About Us

Ochs & Klein Attorneys, P.C.
“Bearing your legal burdens”

With Ochs & Klein on your side, you can have confidence that your legal team is representing you with the knowledge and experience to champion your case. Our practice areas range from personal injury and vehicle accidents to medical malpractice, business litigation and workers’ compensation law. With over 45 years combined experience in Missouri and Illinois, our team has consistently taken on our clients’ legal burdens, representing them with integrity and strength during some of their lives’ most trying times.

When you need a team of lawyers who are more than on your side, who bring skill, experience, and strength as they represent you during some of the most emotionally trying times of your life, contact the attorneys at Ochs & Klein.

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Affiliations & Accreditations:
?Missouri Associations of Trial Attorneys
?Illinois Trial Lawyers Association
?The Missouri Bar
?The Illinois Bar
?American Association for Justice
?Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis
?Martindale Hubbell AV Rated Law Firm

What is “Great Insurance?”

It is important to have great auto insurance, especially “UM” and “UIM” with $500,000 limits on each vehicle and have all vehicles on one policy. Even if the other driver had little or no insurance, if you have two vehicles, you will have at least $500,000 to $1,000,000 of coverage available. Great auto insurance costs just a little more relative to standard insurance, but the benefits can be 20 to 40+ times better.

UM: Uninsured Motorist Coverage

Applies when the other driver is at fault and has no insurance. Most auto policies have the $25,000 minimum UM coverage required by Missouri law. If you or a family member is disabled or dies in a car wreck, the minimum $25,000 UM coverage is not enough to cover the financial damages.

UIM: Under-Insured Motorist Coverage

Applies when the other driver’s insurance is not enough to cover the damages. If you or your family member is severely injured, disabled, or dies in a car wreck, and the other driver only has $25,000 limits of coverage and your policy has no UIM, only $25,000 would be available. If you have two vehicles and $500,000 UIM limits on each vehicle on one policy, you will have $500,000.00 to $1,000,000.00 available. See Stacking Auto Insurance Proceeds below.

Med-Pay: Medical Payments Coverage on Auto Policy.

Med-Pay covers healthcare costs that health insurance does not pay. Limits of $20,000 are available. This money is available quickly when injured, so you can use the funds to obtain necessary treatment.

Stacking Auto Insurance Proceeds

Stacking is a way to double your money in the event of an auto accident. Ask your insurance broker/agent for UM and UIM coverage with $500,000 limits of coverage, as well as Med-Pay coverage, for each car/truck/motorcycle, and have all vehicles insured on one policy. Missouri law allows intra-policy stacking of coverage, meaning that if two vehicles are insured on the same policy and each has $500,000 UM and/or UIM coverage, the available coverage could be $1,000,000 or more.

Anti-stacking provisions in the policy language that are clear and unambiguous are valid for Med-Pay or UIM provisions but are invalid as against Missouri public policy for UM coverage.

Health Insurance

Without health insurance, or Med-Pay insurance (described above) many doctors will not treat you.

Homeowners Insurance

Home insurance covers general liability, not most auto accidents. However, it is needed to obtain excess liability/umbrella coverage and protection. See excess liability/umbrella coverage below.

Excess Liability/Umbrella Policy

Provides you coverage of $500,000-$1,000,000 or more in excess of the coverage from your homeowners and auto policies. Most insurers require $300,000-$500,000 limits of liability on the homeowners policy as well as $500,000 limits of liability for each vehicle, in order to provide excess liability coverage of another $1,000,000. Excess Liability Coverage will protect your family’s financial stability in the event that you are sued for a severe injury or death.

Personal Injury – Law
When you are in an auto, tractor-trailer, motorcycle, boating, or aircraft accident, your life is disrupted – financially, physically, and emotionally – especially if you are severely injured. Ochs & Klein bears your legal burdens, so you can overcome your injuries while we support you in obtaining justice, including:

?Medical treatment of your injuries.
?Payment for your medical treatment.
?Lost income for your time off work.
?Funds to repair scarring and disfigurement in cases where your health insurance does not cover “cosmetic surgery.”
?Handling insurance issues and disputes, which often arise if the accident occurred while working.
?Payment for property damage and a rental car; often obtaining a rental car with little to no out of pocket expense. Additionally, we assist you in seeking reimbursement for auto repairs, either through your insurance company or the other driver’s, and outline the pros and cons of your options.
?Assistance in obtaining all available insurance proceeds and the possibility of other available assets when the other driver has no/not enough insurance coverage.

Truck Accidents
When you are in an auto, tractor-trailer, motorcycle, boating, or aircraft accident, your life is disrupted – financially, physically, and emotionally – especially if you are severely injured. Ochs & Klein bears your legal burdens, so you can overcome your injuries while we support you in obtaining justice, including:

?Medical treatment of your injuries.
?Payment for your medical treatment.
?Lost income for your time off work.
?Funds to repair scarring and disfigurement in cases where your health insurance does not cover “cosmetic surgery.”
?Handling insurance issues and disputes, which often arise if the accident occurred while working.
?Payment for property damage and a rental car; often obtaining a rental car with little to no out of pocket expense. Additionally, we assist you in seeking reimbursement for auto repairs, either through your insurance company or the other driver’s, and outline the pros and cons of your options.
?Assistance in obtaining all available insurance proceeds and the possibility of other available assets when the other driver has no/not enough insurance coverage.

Family Law
Ochs & Klein can represent you in any family law matter. We assess each client’s goals and budget when determining litigation strategy, and stay within the client’s budget to achieve the necessary, realistic goals. Many family law cases involve a great deal of emotion that can cloud your better judgment. Seek advice from your lawyer early to protect yourself and your children, and obtain marital counseling early.

Our practice areas include:

?Divorce/Dissolution
?Paternity Cases
?Child Custody and Support
?Property Division
?Qualified Domestic Relations Orders (Q.D.R.O.)
?Temporary Restraining Orders (T.R.O.)
?Pendente Lite Motions (P.D.L.)
?Motions to Modify
?Ex Parte Orders of Protection – Adult Abuse
?Ex Parte Orders of Child Protection
?Full Orders and Extensions of Full Orders of Protection – Adult Abuse
?Full Orders and Extensions of Full Orders of Child Protection
?Motions for Supervised Visitation
?Motions for Unsupervised Visitation
?Motions to Terminate Child Support
?Motions to Emancipate
?Motions for Psychiatric Examination
?Motions to Appoint Guardian Ad Litem (GAL)
?Adoptions
?Adult Adoptions
?Motions for Court Ordered Sale of Real Property
?Prenuptial (Antenuptial) Agreements
?Postnuptial Agreements
?Life Insurance Disputes

Workers’ Compensation
Many people worry needlessly that the Missouri Tort Reform law of 2006 will prevent them from being able to pursue a Workers’ Compensation Claim. The most practical change due to the new tort reform law is that the workplace accident must have been the “prevailing factor” in causing the injuries, and with repetitive motion injuries, the repetitive motion at work must been the prevailing factor/primary factor in causing the underlying condition, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, and the disability.

The best benefit in a Workers’ Compensation case is that 100% of the medical/healthcare treatment is to be paid for by the employer and/or workers’ compensation insurance carrier. Often, the company’s workers’ compensation doctors will tell injured employees that they do not need any further treatment. However, if you believe you need further treatment, your attorney can hire an expert witness doctor to review your records and examine you and provide an opinion on whether you need further medical treatment for your workplace injury and what additional treatment you need.

Such an opinion from the “employee’s” physician will help get you the treatment you need. Usually the workers’ compensation insurance company finally authorizes further treatment when this is done, requiring very few cases to actually go to trial on a medical hardship basis.

Ochs & Klein can help you to obtain all the medical treatment you need because of work-related injuries, as well as obtain the most compensation you are entitled to pursuant to the law. Missouri’s workers’ compensation laws provide for three major benefits to injured employees:

?Medical Treatment: 100% paid for by the employer/workers’ compensation insurance carrier, with no co-pays or deductibles to be paid by the employee.
?Temporary Total Disability (TTD): Payments for time off work because of work-related injuries.
?Permanent Partial Disability (PPD) or Permanent Total Disability (PTD): Benefits that entitle the injured employee to money benefits from the employer/workers’ compensation insurance carrier to compensate the injured employee for any permanent disability caused by the work injury. Also, the employee may be entitled to additional benefits from the Second Injury Fund (SIF), if there are one or more significant prior disabilities that affected the employee’s ability to work before the time of the new work injury, and the new work injury also caused a significant disability

Wrongful Death
If your loved one is killed as a result of another’s intentional or unintentional action, you may be entitled to monetary damages. In addition to the grief of a loved one’s death, you and your family may also suffer monetary damages, making a terrible situation even worse. Ochs & Klein seeks to help families maintain their standard of living when a love one passes because of another’s negligence. Our attorneys are aware of the pain and suffering families go through and take care to firmly represent our clients, while being conscious of only requiring the involvement of family members when necessary in order to avoid causing greater pain and grief.

Photos

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