Car Accidents

Decline politely and get advice first. You generally have a contractual duty to cooperate with your own insurer. You have no such obligation to the other driver’s carrier, and their adjuster is not neutral — they work for the company that will be writing the check.

The statement is not taken to understand what happened. It is taken to lock in a version of events before you know the extent of your injuries, and to capture answers that limit the claim later. “I’m okay,” said two days after a crash and before a disc herniation is diagnosed, gets quoted back for the life of the file. So does a guess about speed, distance, or timing that the physical evidence later contradicts.

The same caution applies to a blanket medical authorization, which lets the insurer pull your entire history looking for a pre-existing condition to blame, and to an early check with a release attached.

Reporting the crash and giving basic facts — where, when, who — is fine. A recorded interview about fault and injuries is a different thing, and there is no penalty for saying you will get back to them.

In Missouri, most personal injury claims must be filed within five years under RSMo § 516.120. A wrongful death claim is different and shorter — three years under RSMo § 537.100.

Shorter deadlines can override those. A claim involving a public entity — a city vehicle, a transit bus, a road-condition or signal-failure claim — can carry a notice requirement measured in days or months, and missing it can end the claim entirely regardless of the five-year period. Your own policy also imposes contractual deadlines for uninsured and underinsured motorist claims and for giving notice at all, and those are frequently much shorter than the statute.

The statute is rarely the real constraint, though. Evidence disappears in weeks, witnesses become unreachable in months, and a case filed inside the deadline but built after the proof is gone is a much weaker case than the same facts worked promptly.

Yes. Missouri applies pure comparative fault. Under RSMo § 537.765, a claimant’s fault “shall diminish proportionately the amount awarded as compensatory damages but shall not bar recovery.” Being 40 percent at fault reduces the award by 40 percent; it does not eliminate it. Unlike many states, Missouri has no threshold above which recovery is barred.

Insurers use this aggressively — assigning a percentage early, stating it as though it were established, and negotiating from there. It is not established. Fault allocation is a question of fact, and the initial narrative in a crash report is frequently revised once the physical evidence and any electronic data are examined. An officer who arrived after the fact recorded what people told them at the roadside; that is a starting point, not a finding.

One Missouri rule is worth knowing specifically. Under RSMo § 307.178, failure to wear a seat belt is not evidence of comparative negligence, and even where expert testimony establishes that it contributed to the injuries, damages may be reduced “by an amount not to exceed one percent” of the award. Adjusters sometimes imply the discount is much larger.

The claim moves to your own policy. Missouri requires every auto liability policy to include uninsured motorist coverage at the state’s minimum limits — RSMo § 379.203 — and that coverage also reaches hit-and-run situations where the driver cannot be identified.

Underinsured motorist coverage is a different thing, and Missouri does not require it. Whether you have it depends on what you bought. It is the coverage that matters most in a serious collision, because a catastrophic injury caused by a driver carrying Missouri’s minimum leaves exactly the gap UIM is designed to fill. It is also usually inexpensive — worth checking before your next renewal, whatever happens with this claim.

Two practical points. Coverage sometimes stacks across household vehicles and policies depending on the language, so more may be available than the declarations page suggests. And the moment you claim against your own insurer, its financial interests are adverse to yours. The relationship changes, and people are consistently surprised by it.

Often far less than people assume. Missouri’s minimum financial responsibility is $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident for bodily injury, plus $25,000 for property damage — RSMo § 303.190. A great many drivers carry exactly that.

That number is frequently the ceiling on what an ordinary claim can produce, which is why the coverage investigation matters more than the size of the injury. A broken leg and a permanent disability against the same $25,000 policy are worth the same thing from that policy.

So the work is finding everything else. Was the driver working at the time, putting an employer’s commercial policy in play? Was the vehicle owned by someone else, whose policy may also respond? Is there an umbrella policy above the auto policy? Is there a rideshare or delivery platform’s commercial layer? And what does your own uninsured and underinsured coverage add? In serious cases, what is recoverable is decided by that search rather than by the medical records.

Nobody who has not seen the medical records can tell you, and anyone who gives you a number on the first phone call is selling something. What can be described honestly is what drives it.

Economic damages are the documented losses — medical expenses incurred and reasonably expected in future, lost wages, and lost earning capacity. Non-economic damages cover pain, suffering, disfigurement, and the loss of things you used to be able to do. Punitive damages are possible but rare and demanding: under RSMo § 510.261 they require clear and convincing evidence of deliberate or flagrant disregard for the safety of others, may not be pleaded in an initial filing, and require a motion filed at least 120 days before the final pretrial conference. Drunk driving is the recurring example.

Missouri also has a statute that materially affects the medical-expense figure. Under RSMo § 490.715, the recoverable value of medical care is framed around the “actual cost” — the amounts paid on your behalf plus any remaining obligation after contractual discounts and write-offs — rather than simply the sticker price on the bill. The gap between billed and paid is often very large, and it is contested in most cases.

And the number is capped by available insurance. A perfectly documented claim against a $25,000 policy is worth $25,000 plus whatever your own coverage adds.

The obligations do not pause, and how the bills are handled meanwhile affects what you keep at the end.

Use your health insurance if you have it. People sometimes avoid it, thinking the at-fault driver should pay, but a health plan’s negotiated rate is far below billed charges, and running the treatment through the plan generally leaves more in your pocket after the case than letting balances accrue at full price. If you carry medical payments coverage on your auto policy, it applies regardless of fault, typically in the $1,000–$10,000 range, and it is worth using early rather than saving.

Expect liens and reimbursement claims at the end. Health insurers, ERISA plans, Medicare and Medicaid frequently have a right to be repaid out of a settlement, and an ERISA plan’s rights can be particularly strong. Negotiating those down is unglamorous work that routinely changes the net figure more than the final rounds of settlement negotiation do.

Where treatment is genuinely unaffordable and no coverage exists, some providers will treat on a lien against the case. That is a case-by-case discussion, not a default, and it has real costs worth understanding first.

It is a separate claim, and it usually moves much faster. Property damage is generally resolved with the insurer well before the injury claim is anywhere near ready, and settling the vehicle claim does not settle the injury claim — provided the release you sign is limited to property damage. Read it, or have someone read it, because a broadly worded release can sweep in more than intended.

“Total loss” means the insurer values repair above a percentage of the vehicle’s actual cash value. That value is negotiable. The initial figure comes from a valuation service and frequently misses trim level, options, condition, low mileage, or recent major work. Comparable local listings are the usual way to move it.

Two things people miss. If you owe more than the car is worth, gap coverage — if you have it — covers the shortfall. And diminished value, the loss in resale value of a repaired vehicle that now carries an accident history, is a recognized element of damage that insurers do not volunteer.

One caution specific to this page: if the event data recorder in your vehicle matters to the liability dispute, do not let the car be released for salvage before that data is preserved.

Missouri’s wrongful death statute sets a specific order of who may sue, and it is not simply “the family.” Under RSMo § 537.080, the first class is the spouse, children (including adopted children and the descendants of any deceased child), and the parents of the deceased. Only if no one in that class exists does the right pass to a sibling or a sibling’s descendants, and then to a plaintiff ad litem appointed by the court.

The claim belongs to the class rather than to one person: a single action is brought, and the court apportions any recovery among those entitled according to the losses each suffered. That can be its own difficult conversation within a family, and it is better had early than at the end.

The deadline is three years under RSMo § 537.100 — shorter than the five-year injury period, and the difference catches families who assume they have longer.

These cases are handled at the family’s pace. Nothing about the legal process needs to intrude on the first weeks, and we will say plainly if the honest answer is that there is no claim worth pursuing.

It changes the case in two ways. It makes liability much harder to contest, and it can open the door to punitive damages, which are otherwise rare in an ordinary collision. The standard is demanding — clear and convincing evidence of deliberate or flagrant disregard for the safety of others — and Missouri’s procedure under RSMo § 510.261 requires the claim to be added by motion rather than pleaded at the outset.

There is also a criminal case running in parallel, and it is genuinely useful. A conviction or plea is powerful evidence, and the investigative file often contains far more than the civil claim would ever have gathered on its own. Timing matters, though: the criminal case usually has to run its course first, which can extend the civil timeline.

Distraction is provable but perishable. Phone records showing use at the moment of impact typically require a preserved claim and a subpoena, not a request made a year later. If you believe the other driver was on a phone, say so at the very first conversation.

Where alcohol was served commercially before the crash, Missouri does have a narrow dram shop statute, though its requirements are strict and it does not apply to most cases.

Then you may have two separate claims, and they interact.

Workers’ compensation covers a work injury regardless of fault and is generally the exclusive remedy against your employer. It is also limited — it does not compensate pain and suffering. We do not handle workers’ compensation claims and will refer you to someone who does.

The second claim is the important one here. If a third party caused the crash — another motorist, a vehicle owner, a maintenance contractor — you can pursue an ordinary injury claim against them alongside the comp claim, and that claim does reach the full range of damages.

Coordination matters, because the comp carrier will typically assert a lien against any third-party recovery for what it paid. Handling the two together, with the lien negotiated as part of the resolution, produces a materially better net result than treating them as unrelated matters.

Most cases settle. That is not a promise about yours, and a case worked as though it will certainly settle is the case that settles badly — the file that plainly supports a trial is the file that gets a serious offer.

Timing depends mostly on the medicine. A claim should not be valued until treatment has stabilized enough for the physicians to describe the outcome, because settling before that means guessing about future care and living with the guess. For a straightforward soft-tissue injury that can be a few months; for a surgical case it can be a year or more before a demand is even appropriate.

If suit is filed, add the court’s schedule — discovery, depositions, expert disclosure, and mediation, which many courts require before trial. A filed case in Missouri commonly takes a year to two years to reach trial depending on the county and the complexity of the injuries.

What you will get from us is a straight answer about which phase you are in and what is actually causing any delay. Most of the frustration in these cases comes from silence rather than from time.

These cases are handled on contingency — a percentage of the recovery, with no fee if there is no recovery. The initial consultation is free.

Missouri requires the arrangement to be in writing. Under Rule 4-1.5(c), a contingent fee agreement must be in a writing signed by the client, stating the method by which the fee is determined, including the percentage that accrues to the lawyer, and the litigation and other expenses to be deducted — and whether expenses come out before or after the fee is calculated. That last detail changes what you actually receive, and it is worth reading carefully in any firm’s agreement, not only ours.

Case expenses are separate from the fee: filing fees, medical records, depositions, and any accident reconstruction or expert work. In a straightforward car case those are modest; in a contested-liability or serious-injury case they are not, and we will tell you what the case is likely to require before it is incurred.

You will also get an honest answer about whether the case is worth bringing at all. Some are not — the coverage is too small, the liability too poor, or the injury too minor to justify what pursuit would cost you in time and stress. Saying so at the consultation is more useful than an engagement letter.

Often, no — and we will tell you so. If you were not injured, or you were seen once and released with no ongoing symptoms, and the property damage claim is being handled reasonably, a lawyer’s involvement can cost you more than it adds. There is no reason to pay a percentage of a claim you can settle yourself.

The picture changes when any of these are present: injuries that required more than a single visit, or that are not resolving; a liability dispute, or a police report you believe is wrong; a driver with minimum or no coverage; a commercial vehicle, a rideshare, or a government vehicle; a fatality or a serious permanent injury; an insurer disputing that the crash caused the injury; or an offer that arrives fast with a release attached.

The consultation is free and is genuinely diagnostic rather than a sales call. Twenty minutes to be told your claim does not need a lawyer is twenty minutes well spent.

If a tractor-trailer or commercial truck was involved, that is a different kind of case on a much shorter evidence clock — see Tractor Trailer Accidents. For other injury claims — premises liability, dog bites, product defects — see Personal Injury.

Throughout Missouri. Principal office at 401 Pine Street, Suite 950, St. Louis, MO 63102, with offices in Wildwood and St. Louis by appointment.

Most of the work is done by phone, video, and secure document exchange, which is genuinely better when you are injured — there is no reason to drive across town to sign something or get an update. Where a case requires meeting in person we arrange it, and where someone cannot travel, we come to them.

Venue is usually straightforward in a car case, but not always: where the defendant lives, where the crash happened, and where a corporate defendant does business can each supply an option, and the choice can matter to the value of the case.