Rear End Collision
$2,300,000
Insurer offered$85,000
Spinal cord injury after a rear end crash. The insurer offered $85,000.
Serving Missouri
Partly at Fault in a Missouri Car Accident: Can You Still Recover?
Hurt in a crash? The insurance company already has a team working on your claim. You should too. A free call tells you where you stand.
- No Fee Unless We Win (Costs May Apply)
- Se Habla Español
- Available 24/7
Your attorneyAndranik "Andy" Boyadzhyan, Esq.Founding Attorney. Licensed in Missouri.Attorney advertising. Services are not available in all states.
Free consultationNo cost to ask. No obligation.
No fee unless we winCosts may apply. Explained in writing.
Available 24/7Calls answered day and night.
Se habla españolEvery step in English or Spanish.
Licensed attorneysA licensed attorney on every file.
By Andranik "Andy" Boyadzhyan, Attorney at Law. Meet the team
In Missouri, being partly at fault for a car accident does not end your claim. Your recovery is reduced by your percentage of blame and nothing more, so a driver assigned a quarter of the fault still collects three quarters. Top USA Law keeps that percentage small with evidence gathered before the insurer sets it.
What is Missouri's rule on shared fault?
Missouri follows pure comparative fault. In plain terms, the jury or the adjuster assigns each person involved a percentage of responsibility for the crash, the percentages add up to one hundred, and your recovery is cut by your own share. There is no cutoff. A person who bears most of the blame still recovers the remaining fraction from the person who bears the rest.
The rule comes from the Missouri Supreme Court's decision in Gustafson v. Benda, which replaced the old all or nothing contributory negligence rule, and it is now reflected in RSMo 537.765. The statute directs that the fault of every person involved, including the injured person, be compared, and that damages be reduced in proportion.
Because the rule never bars a claim, insurers in Missouri fight over the percentage instead. An adjuster who cannot deny that the other driver ran the light will argue you were speeding, distracted or slow to brake, because every point of fault shifted to you is a point off the payout. The claim is won or lost on how that percentage is built, and it is built from evidence that exists only in the first days after the crash.
How is your share of fault decided, and how do you keep it small?
Where the percentage comes from
No instrument measures fault. It is argued from the police report, the physical evidence, the statements each driver gave and whatever footage and witnesses can be found. Consider a driver making a left turn across traffic on Kingshighway who is struck by an oncoming car traveling above the limit. The turning driver failed to yield; the oncoming driver was speeding. Where the split lands depends on who can prove speed, sight lines and timing, which is why footage from a nearby storefront and data from both vehicles matter more than either driver's memory.
A second example: a driver stopped at a red light on Glenstone Avenue is rear ended by a driver looking at a phone. The stopped car's brake lights were out. The insurer will argue the dead lights contributed. The answer is that a driver watching the road would have seen a stopped vehicle in daylight regardless, so the defect played no real part, and a share of fault that did not cause the collision should not reduce the recovery.
What Top USA Law does about it
We start with the evidence that disappears first: camera footage from businesses, traffic signals and transit buses, often gone within days, and the contact details of witnesses who stopped. We request the crash report from the Missouri State Highway Patrol or the local department and correct factual errors through the agency's process when the report is wrong. We decline the other insurer's recorded statement on your behalf, because the sentence that becomes your fault percentage is usually spoken in that call. Where speed or braking is disputed, we preserve the event data from both vehicles. And we treat shared fault as a defense the insurer must prove, not a fact to be accepted.
A claim under your own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage pays what you would have been entitled to recover from the driver, so the same percentage applies there. A fault dispute never extends the five year deadline to file under RSMo 516.120.
See if you have a case
Three answers and a phone number. An attorney reviews your situation and calls you back, free.
Results in cases like this
T Bone Accident
$1,800,000
Insurer offered$120,000
Broken pelvis and internal bleeding at an intersection. The insurer offered $120,000.
Drunk Driver Victim
$1,500,000
Insurer offered$50,000
Traumatic brain injury caused by an impaired driver. The insurer offered $50,000.
Every case is different. Past results do not guarantee, warrant, or predict a similar outcome.
Where we help in Missouri
How Top USA Law handles fault disputes in Missouri
Fault in a Missouri crash is decided by a jury in the circuit court for the county where the crash happened: the Circuit Court of Jackson County, the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis or the Greene County Circuit Court in Springfield. We prepare every fault dispute as if that jury will hear it, and we pull records from the Level I trauma centers that treated you, from University Health Truman Medical Center to Barnes-Jewish Hospital. Missouri matters are handled by Andranik "Andy" Boyadzhyan, who is licensed in the state. Read the Missouri car accident lawyer page or call (877) 411-5291 to talk through your crash.
We serve Missouri clients by phone, video and in person appointments arranged case by case.
Hurt in a crash? Talk it through for free.
Missouri filing deadlines and insurance notice rules can be short. A free call tells you where your clock stands.
Frequently Asked Questions
If I was 30 percent at fault in Missouri, what do I recover?
Seventy percent of your total damages. Missouri applies pure comparative fault under RSMo 537.765, so the reduction equals your percentage and nothing else. There is no threshold that ends the claim, which is why the fight in a Missouri case is over the size of the percentage rather than whether you can recover.
Can I recover if I was more at fault than the other driver?
Yes. Under Missouri's pure comparative fault rule a person assigned sixty percent of the blame still recovers forty percent of their damages from the other driver. The other driver has a mirror image claim against you for their own losses, which is why your own liability insurer will be involved.
Who decides my percentage of fault?
During the claim, the adjusters negotiate it from the report, the statements and the physical evidence. If the case is filed, the jury in the circuit court decides it after hearing all of the proof. Nothing in the police report binds either one. Evidence gathered early is what shifts the number.
Can a passenger be assigned fault in Missouri?
Rarely, and only for the passenger's own conduct, such as knowingly riding with a visibly intoxicated driver. A passenger who simply sat in the car is not charged with the driver's fault, and when both drivers share the blame the passenger has a claim against each in proportion to that driver's share.
Will my recorded statement raise my share of fault?
Yes. A remark such as admitting you glanced at the radio becomes a percentage argument that stays in the file. You must cooperate with your own insurer under your policy, but you owe the other driver's insurer no recorded statement, and Top USA Law declines it for every client.
Does a fault dispute change the deadline to sue in Missouri?
No. The petition must be filed within five years of the crash under RSMo 516.120, and a wrongful death claim within three years of the death under RSMo 537.100, whatever the state of the fault argument. Claims against public entities carry sovereign immunity rules and, in some cities, short notice requirements.
Last reviewed by Andranik "Andy" Boyadzhyan, Esq., September 2026.
Get your free case evaluation
Three fields. We respond fast, day or night.
My wife was killed by a drunk driver. Top USA Law handled our wrongful death case with such compassion. They got us $1.2 million.
Client testimonials. Testimonials are not a guarantee, warranty, or prediction of the outcome of your case.
Talk to an Accident Attorney
Top USA Law. Services are not available in all states.
Takes 30 seconds. No obligation.