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
RSMo 516.120: The Five Year Deadline to File a Missouri Car Accident Lawsuit
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In Missouri, you have five years from the date of a car accident to file a personal injury lawsuit. A wrongful death claim gets three years from the death, and a crash with a city bus or state vehicle brings shorter notice rules. Top USA Law tracks every date from the first call.
What does RSMo 516.120 say?
Five years. That is how long a person injured in a Missouri car accident has to file a lawsuit against the driver who caused it. The count begins on the day of the crash and ends on the fifth anniversary. A lawsuit means a petition filed with the circuit court, not an insurance claim and not a demand letter sent to an adjuster.
The statute itself, RSMo 516.120, is a general limitations section covering actions for an injury to the person, and a negligence claim arising from a crash falls inside it. The length of the deadline is a trap of its own. Missouri gives more time than most places, and adjusters know it. Claims sit in negotiation for years while footage is overwritten and witnesses move away. The deadline protects the right to file. It does nothing for the proof.
Two other clocks matter. A wrongful death claim must be filed within three years of the death under RSMo 537.100, which can be a different date from the crash. A claim involving a transit bus or a state highway truck runs into Missouri's sovereign immunity rules and, in some cities, a short written notice requirement that comes due long before any lawsuit deadline.
How does the five year clock work in practice?
The clock runs from the crash date. A collision on the first day of March must be in suit by the first day of March five years later. Because a crash injury is known at the scene, the discovery rule that delays some limitation periods has almost no role here.
When the deadline is shorter, longer or paused
- Wrongful death: three years from the death under RSMo 537.100, brought by the spouse, children or parents. When a person survives the crash for a time and later dies, the two clocks start on different days.
- Public entities: a claim against a city, county, transit agency or state agency proceeds only through the exceptions to sovereign immunity for the operation of motor vehicles and dangerous conditions of public property, and some cities require written notice within a short window. Five years is the outer limit, not the first deadline.
- Minors: the period generally does not begin until the child turns eighteen.
- Your own policy: uninsured and underinsured motorist claims are contract claims with notice and consent terms far shorter in effect than five years.
Two examples in words
A delivery van rear ends a driver on the interstate through Kansas City. The van belongs to a private company, so the ordinary rule applies: five years from the crash to sue the driver and the company, with no notice step. Even so, the van's telematics and driver logs survive only if someone demands them early.
A pedestrian is struck by a city transit bus in St. Louis. The bus is operated by a public entity, so the claim proceeds only through the motor vehicle exception to sovereign immunity, and the city's notice rule may require a written claim within weeks. Waiting a few months could end the case long before the five year limit matters.
Miss the fifth anniversary and the defense pleads the statute and the court dismisses the case. Top USA Law opens every Missouri file with a written deadline sheet: the injury date, any death date, every public defendant and the notice terms in each household policy.
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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 Missouri deadlines
We file Missouri car accident cases in the circuit court for the county where the crash happened, most often the Circuit Court of Jackson County, the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis or the St. Louis County Circuit Court in Clayton. Records from the Level I trauma centers, including University Health Truman Medical Center in Kansas City and Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, are requested in the first weeks so the file is ready early. Andranik "Andy" Boyadzhyan is licensed in Missouri and handles these files personally. Read the Missouri car accident lawyer page or call (877) 411-5291 to confirm your dates.
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
Should I wait to hire a lawyer since I have five years?
No. The deadline governs when a petition must be filed, not when evidence is preserved. Camera footage is typically overwritten within days, and vehicles are repaired or sold within weeks. Insurers also require prompt notice under your own policy. Five years under RSMo 516.120 is the last possible day, not a plan.
When does the clock start if I felt fine at first?
For a car crash, Missouri treats the date of the collision as the date of injury, and the five years runs from that day even if symptoms appeared later. Do not count on a discovery argument to extend it. See a doctor promptly so the record ties your symptoms to the crash.
Is the deadline different for passengers, pedestrians or cyclists?
No. RSMo 516.120 applies to any action for injury to the person, so a passenger, a pedestrian and a cyclist each have five years from the crash to sue the driver at fault. What changes is the defendant: if a public vehicle was involved, sovereign immunity rules and city notice requirements apply on top.
How long does a family have for a Missouri wrongful death claim?
Three years from the date of death under RSMo 537.100, not five. The spouse, children or parents can bring it. If the person lived for months after the crash before dying, the death claim and the injury claim have different trigger dates, and both should be calendared at once.
Does an insurance claim stop the five year clock?
No. Only a petition filed with the circuit court stops it. An open claim number, an adjuster's promise to review the file or an ongoing negotiation has no effect on RSMo 516.120. If talks are still running as the deadline approaches, the case must be filed first.
Can the deadline be paused in Missouri?
In limited situations. The period is generally tolled while the injured person is a minor or legally incapacitated, and certain absences of the defendant from the state can pause it. None of those is a reason to wait. Top USA Law treats every Missouri file as if the earliest possible date applies.
Last reviewed by Andranik "Andy" Boyadzhyan, Esq., September 2026.
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