If the other driver's insurer is hinting that you share some of the blame for your crash, know this first: partial fault does not end your claim in Missouri. The state follows pure comparative fault, which means you can still recover money even when part of the wreck was your doing. Your award just shrinks by your share.
That rule shapes almost every settlement conversation you will have. Adjusters lean on it hard, and they often stretch it further than the law allows. Here is what Missouri actually requires, with the statutes and cases behind each point.
What pure comparative fault means here
Missouri adopted pure comparative fault in Gustafson v. Benda, 661 S.W.2d 11 (Mo. banc 1983).1 Before that decision, the state used contributory negligence, a harsh rule under which any fault by the injured person, even one percent, wiped out the entire claim. The Missouri Supreme Court threw that out, along with the old "last clear chance" doctrine, and directed trial courts to follow the Uniform Comparative Fault Act instead.1
Under the pure version Missouri chose, your recovery drops in direct proportion to your fault. Say your damages come to $100,000 and a jury decides you were 30 percent responsible. You collect $70,000. The math holds no matter how high your percentage climbs. A plaintiff found 99 percent at fault still recovers one percent of the damages. That is what separates Missouri from "modified" comparative fault states next door, where crossing a 50 or 51 percent line bars recovery entirely. Missouri has no such cutoff.
So when an adjuster tells you a shared-fault crash is worth nothing, that is not Missouri law. It is a negotiating position.
Who decides your percentage, and who has to prove it
Comparative fault is an affirmative defense. The other side has to raise it and prove it; you do not have to disprove your own carelessness before you can recover.1 If your case reaches a jury, the jurors assign each party a percentage of fault using Missouri's approved comparative fault instructions, found in Chapter 37 of the Missouri Approved Instructions (MAI 37.01 is the core verdict director).2 The court then reduces your verdict by whatever percentage the jury pins on you.
Most claims settle long before trial. But every settlement number is negotiated in the shadow of what a jury would likely do, so the same percentage fight happens across a conference table instead of a courtroom. Evidence of who did what, the police narrative, photos, and witness accounts, is what moves that percentage. If you need the official report, you can request the Missouri crash report through the state's records process at thatcarhitme.com/crash-reports/missouri.
The seat belt rule is narrower than insurers pretend
One of the most common ways an insurer tries to shift blame is to point out you were not buckled. Missouri law limits that tactic sharply.
Under Mo. Rev. Stat. Section 307.178, failure to wear a seat belt "shall not be considered evidence of comparative negligence."3 It can be used only to argue you failed to mitigate your damages, and only after the defendant first puts on expert testimony that the missing belt actually contributed to the injuries you are claiming. Even then, the statute caps the reduction: a jury "may reduce the amount of the plaintiff's recovery by an amount not to exceed one percent of the damages awarded after any reductions" for comparative negligence.3 One percent, at most.
There is one flip side. If your case is against the vehicle's maker or designer, a product liability claim, an unbuckled belt becomes fully admissible as evidence of comparative fault, causation, and failure to mitigate.3 For an ordinary claim against the driver who hit you, though, the seat belt argument is close to toothless.
Fault belonging to people who aren't in the courtroom
Missouri does not allow the "empty chair" defense. A defendant cannot ask the jury to dump a chunk of the blame onto someone who already settled and left the case. In Teeter v. Missouri Highway & Transportation Commission, 891 S.W.2d 817 (Mo. banc 1995), the Supreme Court held that a settling defendant "is dismissed from the action for all purposes, including allocation of fault."4 The remaining defendant is stuck arguing about its own conduct and yours, not the absent party's.
Settling with one at-fault party does affect your remaining claim, but through dollars, not percentages. Mo. Rev. Stat. Section 537.060 says a release of one tortfeasor does not discharge the others unless the agreement says so, and it reduces your claim against everyone else "by the stipulated amount of the agreement, or in the amount of the consideration paid, whichever is greater."5 So if you settle with one driver for $20,000, the claim against the second driver drops by that $20,000, regardless of how a jury might have split their fault.
When more than one defendant is left at trial, how much each one owes depends on a fault line drawn at 51 percent. Under Mo. Rev. Stat. Section 537.067, a defendant found to bear 51 percent or more of the fault is jointly and severally liable for the whole judgment, while a defendant below that threshold pays only its own percentage share.6 That detail decides whether you can collect a full award from one solvent defendant or have to chase each one separately.
Comparative fault follows your whole claim
Your fault percentage does not just touch the injury side of the case. It reduces your property damage recovery too, including any diminished value claim for the resale hit your car takes after a serious repair. The same split applies when you turn to your own uninsured motorist coverage, which Missouri requires on every auto liability policy under Mo. Rev. Stat. Section 379.203.7 Collecting from your UM coverage after a hit-and-run or an uninsured driver still means proving the other driver's fault and absorbing a reduction for your own.
All of this sits on top of Missouri's basic at-fault system. Drivers must carry liability limits of at least $25,000 per person, $50,000 per accident, and $25,000 for property damage under Mo. Rev. Stat. Section 303.190.8 Those minimums are thin, which is a big reason the uninsured and underinsured coverage on your own policy often matters more than the numbers suggest.
You still have to beat the clock
Comparative fault only helps if you file in time. Missouri gives you five years to bring a car-accident injury or property damage claim under Mo. Rev. Stat. Section 516.120(4), the catch-all provision for injuries to "the person or rights of another" not arising on contract.9 That is more generous than most states, but the evidence that fixes your fault percentage, skid marks, vehicle positions, fresh witness memories, fades long before the deadline does.
If an insurer is trying to load fault onto you, that is a number you can push back on, not a verdict. A lawyer who tries these cases knows what a Missouri jury tends to do with a given fact pattern and can argue the percentage down. You can start looking at thatcarhitme.com/legal-directory.
This is general information, not legal advice.
Sources
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Gustafson v. Benda, 661 S.W.2d 11 (Mo. banc 1983), CourtListener. https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1787880/gustafson-v-benda/
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Missouri Approved Instructions (MAI-Civil), comparative fault instructions (Chapter 37), Supreme Court of Missouri. https://www.courts.mo.gov/page.jsp?id=182227
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Mo. Rev. Stat. Section 307.178 (seat belt use; effect on evidence and damages), Missouri Revisor of Statutes. https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=307.178
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Teeter v. Missouri Highway & Transportation Commission, 891 S.W.2d 817 (Mo. banc 1995), Justia. https://law.justia.com/cases/missouri/supreme-court/1995/76867-0.html
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Mo. Rev. Stat. Section 537.060 (release or settlement of joint tort-feasors), Missouri Revisor of Statutes. https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=537.060
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Mo. Rev. Stat. Section 537.067 (joint and several liability; 51 percent threshold), Missouri Revisor of Statutes. https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=537.067
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Mo. Rev. Stat. Section 379.203 (uninsured motorist coverage required), Missouri Revisor of Statutes. https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=379.203
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Mo. Rev. Stat. Section 303.190 (owner's motor vehicle liability policy; minimum limits), Missouri Revisor of Statutes. https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=303.190
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Mo. Rev. Stat. Section 516.120(4) (five-year limitation for personal and property injury), Missouri Revisor of Statutes. https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=516.120