Filing a car accident lawsuit in Missouri

Getting hurt in a crash is disorienting, and the rules that decide what you can recover are set at the state level. Missouri's tend to favor injured people more than most states do, but they carry hard deadlines and a few traps that catch drivers who wait too long or assume the national defaults apply here. Here is what actually governs a Missouri car accident claim.

You have five years, with important exceptions

Missouri gives you five years to file a personal injury lawsuit after a crash. The deadline comes from the state's catch-all injury statute, which covers "any other injury to the person or rights of another, not arising on contract."¹ The same five-year clock covers damage to your vehicle and other property.¹ That is one of the longer windows in the country, but treating it as a reason to wait is a mistake. Evidence disappears and witnesses move on.

Two exceptions change the math. If a crash kills someone, the claim becomes a wrongful death action, and that has to be filed within three years, not five.² And if your claim is against a government entity, such as a city bus or a state-owned vehicle, separate notice rules and sovereign immunity limits can apply, so those cases need a lawyer's attention early.

Fault is pure comparative, and it rarely shuts you out

Missouri follows pure comparative fault. The Missouri Supreme Court adopted it in Gustafson v. Benda in 1983, throwing out the old rule that any fault by the injured person barred recovery completely.³ Under today's system your damages are reduced by your share of the blame, and that is all. There is no cutoff. A driver found 90 percent at fault can still recover 10 percent of their damages. Many states bar you entirely once your share crosses 50 or 51 percent; Missouri does not.

A Missouri-specific rule helps plaintiffs here. Failing to wear a seat belt cannot be treated as comparative negligence. If a defendant does put seat-belt evidence in front of the jury to reduce damages, the reduction is capped at one percent of the award, and only after expert testimony ties the non-use to the injuries claimed.⁴

How Missouri handles insurance

Missouri is an at-fault (tort) state with no mandatory no-fault or personal injury protection coverage. You pursue the driver who caused the crash and their insurer. Medical payments coverage is available but optional.

Every driver has to carry liability limits of at least $25,000 for injury to one person, $50,000 per accident, and $25,000 for property damage, written as 25/50/25.⁵ Those are floors. Serious injuries routinely run past them.

The backstop is uninsured motorist coverage, and Missouri makes it mandatory. Every auto liability policy must include UM coverage at 25/50 limits, and a standard individual policyholder cannot waive it.⁶ That protection matters, because a real share of Missouri drivers carry nothing or the bare minimum. Underinsured motorist coverage is a different animal and is not independently required, so if you want to be protected against an insured but underinsured driver, you generally have to buy that add-on yourself.

Damage caps barely apply to a car crash

This is where Missouri departs from what many people expect. There is no cap on economic or non-economic damages in an ordinary car accident case. The state's widely cited non-economic cap applies to medical malpractice, not motor vehicle negligence.⁷

Punitive damages follow a similar path. Missouri's statute caps them at the greater of $500,000 or five times the judgment.⁸ But in Lewellen v. Franklin, the Missouri Supreme Court held that cap unconstitutional as applied to common-law claims that existed before 1820, because it infringes the right to a jury trial.⁹ Ordinary negligence is exactly that kind of claim, so the statutory cap does not bind a typical crash case.

Punitive damages are still hard to win. Since the 2020 tort reforms, you have to prove by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant either intentionally harmed you or acted with "deliberate and flagrant disregard for the safety of others."¹⁰ A reckless drunk driver is the classic fact pattern that can clear that bar.

Drunk driving and bar liability

When a drunk driver hits you, the criminal case runs on its own track, separate from your civil claim, and the flagrant-disregard standard above can open the door to punitive damages.¹⁰ Going after the bar or restaurant that overserved the driver is harder in Missouri than in many states. Under the dram shop statute you must show, by clear and convincing evidence, that the licensee knowingly served a visibly intoxicated person or served alcohol to someone under 21.¹¹ "Visibly intoxicated" has a statutory definition tied to significantly uncoordinated physical action, which is a high bar to prove after the fact.¹¹

Distracted driving is now its own violation

Since August 28, 2023, Missouri has banned handheld phone use for every driver under the Siddens Bening Hands-Free Law.¹² Holding a phone, texting, or scrolling behind the wheel is a traffic violation statewide. Two details matter for a lawsuit. Enforcement is secondary, which means an officer cannot stop a driver for the phone alone.¹² And officers issued warnings only through the end of 2024, so citations have been available since January 1, 2025.¹² A citation, or a driver's own admission of phone use, is strong evidence of negligence in your civil case.

Get the crash report and document the loss

The official crash report is written by the investigating agency, most often the Missouri State Highway Patrol on highways and in rural areas. The Patrol charges $6 for a basic report and asks you to wait 10 days after the crash before you request it.¹³ The retrieval details are on our Missouri crash reports page.

Do not overlook what your car lost. Even after a clean repair, a vehicle with a wreck on its history sells for less, and that loss is recoverable from the at-fault driver in Missouri. Our Missouri diminished value page walks through how to document and claim it.

When to bring in a lawyer

You can handle a minor claim on your own. Once there are real injuries, disputed fault, a commercial or government defendant, or an insurer offering far less than your bills, the comparative-fault math and the five-year clock both start rewarding preparation over delay. A Missouri attorney can value the claim and get it filed before the deadline. Our legal directory is a place to start looking for one near you.

This article is general information about Missouri law, not legal advice. For guidance on your specific situation, talk to a licensed Missouri attorney.

Sources

1. Missouri Revised Statutes § 516.120 (five-year limitation for personal injury and property damage). https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=516.120

2. Missouri Revised Statutes § 537.100 (three-year limitation for wrongful death). https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=537.100

3. Gustafson v. Benda, 661 S.W.2d 11 (Mo. banc 1983) (Missouri adopts pure comparative fault). https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1787880/gustafson-v-benda/

4. Missouri Revised Statutes § 307.178 (seat belt non-use is not comparative negligence; one percent damage-reduction cap). https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=307.178

5. Missouri Revised Statutes § 303.190 (minimum 25/50/25 liability limits). https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=303.190

6. Missouri Revised Statutes § 379.203 (mandatory uninsured motorist coverage). https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=379.203

7. Missouri Revised Statutes § 538.210 (non-economic damages cap limited to medical malpractice). https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=538.210

8. Missouri Revised Statutes § 510.265 (punitive damages cap). https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=510.265

9. Lewellen v. Franklin, 441 S.W.3d 136 (Mo. banc 2014) (punitive cap unconstitutional as applied to pre-1820 common-law claims). https://www.courts.mo.gov/file.jsp?id=77893

10. Missouri Revised Statutes § 510.261 (clear-and-convincing standard for punitive damages). https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=510.261

11. Missouri Revised Statutes § 537.053 (dram shop liability). https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=537.053

12. Missouri Revised Statutes § 304.822 (Siddens Bening Hands-Free Law). https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=304.822

13. Missouri State Highway Patrol, Traffic Crash Reports (Patrol Records Division). https://www.mshp.dps.mo.gov/MSHPWeb/PatrolDivisions/PRD/TrafficCrashReports/PRDCrashReports.html