Car Accident Lawyer in Missouri

Who pays after a car accident in Missouri?

The driver who caused the crash pays, through that driver's liability insurance. Missouri is an at fault state with no personal injury protection layer, so your claim for medical bills, lost income and pain and suffering goes straight to the at fault driver's insurer in one package. If the driver was working at the time, the employer's policy is on the line as well.

While the claim is pending, your health insurance covers treatment, and the settlement reimburses what it paid along with everything else. Some Missouri policies carry optional medical payments coverage, which pays some bills regardless of fault; we check your declarations page for it. If you have no health coverage, many providers in the Kansas City and St. Louis areas will treat under an agreement to be paid from the recovery, and we arrange that.

RSMo 303.025 requires every Missouri driver to carry liability insurance, and every policy sold in the state must include uninsured motorist coverage. It responds when the driver who hit you had no insurance or was never found. Underinsured motorist coverage, which pays when the other driver's limits are too low for your injuries, is optional in Missouri. A household relative's policy can sometimes respond too. We review every policy in your home before we tell you what the case is worth.

Missouri has no public fund for a victim whose household carries no coverage at all. In that situation the claim rests on finding the driver and every policy behind that driver, which is why identifying the vehicle and its owner is the first job on a hit and run. Leaving the scene of a crash is a crime under RSMo 577.060, and once the driver is found a conviction is strong evidence in the civil case.

How much is a Missouri car accident claim worth?

A claim is worth what the crash took from you, added up one category at a time. Economic damages are the measurable losses: hospital and doctor bills, future treatment your physicians expect, lost wages and overtime, lost benefits, the drop in what you can earn if you cannot go back to your old work, and out of pocket costs like rides to therapy and help at home. Non economic damages cover pain, scarring, the activities you have lost and the strain a serious injury puts on a marriage.

How badly you were hurt, and whether it is permanent, moves the number more than anything else. A strain that resolves with a few months of physical therapy sits at the low end. A herniated disc with injections and a lasting restriction sits well above it. Surgery puts a claim in a different tier. A brain injury, a spinal cord injury or a death is valued in a category of its own, against every policy that can be found.

Two things set the practical ceiling. The first is your own share of fault, because a claim paid at 80 percent after a 20 percent finding is a real reduction even though it is not a bar. The second is insurance. A state minimum policy pays its limit no matter how badly you were hurt, so we look for every additional source: the vehicle owner, an employer, a rideshare company's commercial policy while a trip was active, and your own underinsured coverage if you bought it.

Where the case would be tried matters as well. Venue is generally the county where you were hurt, and adjusters value a case headed for the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis or the Circuit Court of Jackson County differently from one headed for a rural county, because of how juries in each place have decided injury cases in the past. We tell you which court your case belongs in during the first conversation.

We do not quote a number on the first call. A figure given before your doctors know how you will heal is a guess, and a guess helps the insurer more than it helps you. We explain the categories, gather the records and, when the medical picture is clear, put a demand on paper backed by evidence. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is decided on its own facts.

What if the insurance company denies or lowballs your Missouri claim?

Expect it. A denial or a low first offer is where the insurer starts, not where it ends. Missouri adjusters lean on three arguments: that you share a large part of the fault, that your injuries came from something other than the crash, and that your treatment went on longer than it needed to. Each one has an answer, and the answer is evidence.

On fault, the adjuster's goal is a percentage. Because RSMo 537.765 reduces your recovery by your share, an insurer that cannot deny the claim will try to inflate your share instead, and the recorded statement it asks for in the first days is where that percentage is built. A sentence like "I looked down for a second" becomes a 30 percent argument that follows the file for years. Do not give that statement.

On causation, the insurer will point to age related findings on your MRI, an old back complaint in your records or a gap between the crash and your first doctor visit. We answer with your treating physicians, objective imaging, and, where needed, a narrative report tying the injury to the crash. A causation argument is a medical question, and we make sure the medical record answers it.

On treatment, expect a request that you see a doctor the insurer chooses. Missouri has no no fault arbitration system for fighting bill denials, so the dispute over what care was reasonable happens inside the injury claim itself, and it is won with your doctors' notes explaining why each step was ordered. Keep going to your appointments. A gap in care is the insurer's favorite exhibit.

If the insurer will not pay a fair number once treatment is complete, we file suit in the circuit court for the county where you were hurt and use discovery to put the other driver, the footage and the medical experts on the record. Most Missouri cases still settle before trial. They settle for more when the insurer knows a jury is the alternative.

How long do you have to file a car accident claim in Missouri?

Five years from the date of the crash, under RSMo 516.120. That is a long deadline, and it is also the most common reason Missouri crash victims wait too long. Five years to file a lawsuit is not five years to gather evidence. Camera footage is overwritten in days, witnesses move, vehicles are repaired or scrapped, and phone records are purged. The deadline protects the right to sue; it does nothing to protect the proof.

A wrongful death claim runs on a shorter clock: three years from the date of death under RSMo 537.100. When a family member survives the crash for weeks and then passes, the two dates differ and we calendar both. Missouri lets the spouse, children or parents bring the claim directly, and it allows recovery for the loss of the person's companionship, comfort, guidance and support, for the pain the person suffered before death, and for funeral costs and lost financial support.

Claims against a public entity do not run on the five year clock alone. If a RideKC or Metro Transit bus, a city police car, a county truck or a state highway crew was involved, the claim is subject to Missouri's sovereign immunity rules and their exceptions for the operation of motor vehicles and dangerous conditions of public property, and some cities impose their own short written notice requirements. We identify every government defendant at intake so no notice is missed.

Insurance deadlines run separately and sooner. Every policy requires prompt notice of a crash. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage usually requires that you notify your own carrier and get its consent before you settle with the other driver, and settling without that consent can forfeit the coverage. Waiting to see how you feel is how people lose money they already paid for.

What should you do in the first 72 hours after a Missouri crash?

See a doctor the same day, even if you feel more shaken than hurt. Adrenaline hides injuries, and a gap between the crash and your first medical visit is the first thing an adjuster will use to argue your pain came from somewhere else. University Health Truman Medical Center and Research Medical Center in Kansas City, Barnes-Jewish Hospital and SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital in St. Louis, Mercy Hospital Springfield and CoxHealth in Springfield, and University of Missouri Health Care in Columbia are the state's Level I trauma centers. Tell every provider the injury came from a car accident so the records say so.

Make sure a police report exists and get the report number. The Missouri State Highway Patrol investigates most crashes on I-70, I-44, I-64, I-435, I-35 and I-29, and its reports can be requested online. Inside the cities, the Kansas City Police Department and the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department write the report. Photograph both vehicles, the road, the signals, the weather, skid marks, debris and any visible injuries. Get the other driver's name, license, plate and insurance card, and the names and numbers of everyone who stopped.

Look for cameras before you leave. Gas stations, storefronts, apartment lobbies, doorbells, traffic signals and RideKC and Metro Transit buses record the road, and most of that footage is gone within days. Tell us where the crash happened so we can send preservation letters immediately. If the other driver seemed impaired, say so to the officer. Driving while intoxicated is a crime under RSMo 577.010, and a conviction can be used in your civil case.

Notify your own insurer that a crash happened and that you were hurt. Do not give a recorded statement to the other driver's insurer, and do not sign anything from them. Do not post about the crash or your recovery on social media. Then keep a simple file: every bill, every appointment, every missed day of work and a short daily note about pain and what you could not do. Months later, that file is the backbone of the claim.

What Your Claim Can Cover

• Medical bills and future treatment
• Lost wages and reduced earning capacity
• Pain and suffering when the law allows it
• Vehicle damage and out of pocket costs
• Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage