If a car hit you while you were walking, any settlement you reach is not set by a formula. In Missouri it's shaped by a few specific rules: how fault gets divided, how high a duty the driver owed you, and how much insurance sits behind the person who hit you. Knowing those rules tells you far more about a realistic range than any online calculator can.
Missouri puts no cap on a pedestrian injury claim
Some states limit what an injured person can recover. Missouri does not, at least not in an ordinary pedestrian case. The state's non-economic damages cap of $400,000, which rises to $700,000 for a catastrophic injury, sits in the medical malpractice statute and applies only to claims against health care providers.1 It has nothing to do with a driver who struck a pedestrian. There is no statutory ceiling on your medical bills, lost wages, or pain and suffering in a standard negligence claim.
Missouri once capped punitive damages as well, at the greater of $500,000 or five times the judgment.2 The Missouri Supreme Court struck that cap down in 2014 in Lewellen v. Franklin, holding it unconstitutional as applied to common-law claims that existed before 1820, a category that includes ordinary negligence, because it infringed the right to a jury trial.3 So in a pedestrian case neither compensatory nor punitive damages carry a fixed statutory limit.
Pure comparative fault, and why it decides pedestrian cases
The rule that moves pedestrian settlements the most is comparative fault. Missouri follows pure comparative fault, adopted by its Supreme Court in Gustafson v. Benda in 1983.4 Your recovery is reduced by your own share of the blame, but it is never erased, even if you were more at fault than the driver. A pedestrian found 60 percent responsible can still collect 40 percent of the damages.
This is the ground insurers fight on. Were you in a crosswalk? Missouri tells a driver to yield to a pedestrian crossing within a crosswalk when no signal is present, and it bars a following driver from passing a car that has stopped at a crosswalk to let someone cross.5 The same statute also says a pedestrian cannot suddenly leave a curb and walk into the path of a car that is too close to stop.5 Cross mid-block or against the light and the insurer will argue you carry a large slice of fault. Under pure comparative fault that argument lowers your payout; it does not end the claim.
Where you were walking counts too. Missouri makes it unlawful to walk in the roadway where a sidewalk is provided, and where there is no sidewalk it directs you to the left shoulder, facing traffic.6 Ignoring that can raise your fault percentage.
The high duty Missouri places on drivers
Missouri asks more of its drivers than many states do. Every driver must exercise the "highest degree of care," a phrase written directly into the statute.7 The traffic code repeats it for people on foot: a driver must use the highest degree of care to avoid hitting any pedestrian on the roadway.8 That is a stronger duty than ordinary reasonable care, and it helps an injured pedestrian when fault is disputed. A driver who was speeding, distracted, or simply not looking has fallen short of a high bar.
Distraction is easier to pin down now. Since August 28, 2023, the Siddens Bening Hands-Free Law has banned holding a phone while driving anywhere in the state.9 A driver on the phone when they hit you was breaking a specific law, which helps prove negligence.
What usually limits the check: insurance
Here is the part that catches people off guard. The biggest limit on a Missouri pedestrian settlement is often the size of the policy behind the driver.
Missouri is an at-fault state with no no-fault or PIP system, so you collect from the driver who hit you or their insurer.10 The state requires only minimum liability coverage of $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident for injuries, plus $25,000 for property damage.10 If the driver who hit you carries that minimum and nothing more, $25,000 is frequently the practical ceiling their insurer will pay for one injured person, however serious the injuries.
That is why your own auto policy can matter even though you were on foot. Missouri requires uninsured motorist coverage on every auto liability policy at 25/50 limits, with no option to waive it on a standard individual policy.11 If the driver who hit you had no insurance, or fled and was never identified, your own UM coverage can step in. Underinsured motorist coverage is not required, but if you carry it, it can add to a recovery when the at-fault driver's policy is too small for your injuries.11 A pedestrian is generally covered by the UM and UIM on a household auto policy even when none of their own cars was involved.
Who pays your medical bills first
Because Missouri has no PIP, there is no automatic no-fault fund for your treatment. Medical payments coverage, or med-pay, on an auto policy is optional, not required.10 If you have it, or health insurance, those pay your bills while the liability claim is pending, and they will often seek repayment out of your eventual settlement. That reimbursement, set against the available policy limits, usually shapes the net amount you actually keep.
Five years to file
Missouri gives you five years from the date of the crash to file a personal injury lawsuit, under the catch-all limitations statute.12 That is longer than most states allow, but it is a hard line: miss it and the claim is gone no matter how strong it was. The same five-year window covers property damage, so if a vehicle of yours was hit in the same event, a claim for the repair, or for the diminished value that lingers after a major repair, runs on the same clock.12
A police crash report is usually the first piece of evidence in a pedestrian claim, since it records the officer's account of where each party was and who had the right of way. You can request the Missouri report through the Highway Patrol; the Missouri crash report page covers how.
The numbers behind Missouri pedestrian crashes
Pedestrian crashes in Missouri are getting worse. MoDOT counted 148 pedestrian deaths in 2024, the most the state has ever recorded and a 16 percent jump from 2023, even as total roadway deaths fell to 954.13 MoDOT noted that a notable share of those killed had gotten out of their vehicle after an earlier crash or breakdown.13 Severe pedestrian injuries track the same rising trend, and severity is what drives claim value.
Getting the number right
No two pedestrian settlements in Missouri look alike. What stays constant is the framework this page walked through, and the two things that move the number most are how badly you were hurt and how much insurance sits behind the driver. When the injuries are serious, or the other side is blaming you for stepping off the curb, the comparative-fault math and the policy limits are worth fighting over. An attorney from the legal directory can press those points.
This is general information about Missouri law, not legal advice about your specific situation.
Sources
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Missouri Revised Statutes § 538.210, medical malpractice non-economic damages cap. https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=538.210
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Missouri Revised Statutes § 510.265, the punitive damages limitation. https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=510.265
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Lewellen v. Franklin, 441 S.W.3d 136 (Mo. banc 2014). https://missourisupremecourtopinions.justia.com/2014/10/01/lewellen-v-franklin
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Gustafson v. Benda, 661 S.W.2d 11 (Mo. banc 1983). https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1787880/gustafson-v-benda/
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Missouri Revised Statutes § 300.375, pedestrians' right-of-way in crosswalks. https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=300.375
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Missouri Revised Statutes § 300.405, pedestrians walking on or along roadways. https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=300.405
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Missouri Revised Statutes § 304.012, the highest degree of care standard. https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=304.012
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Missouri Revised Statutes § 300.410, drivers' duty of care toward pedestrians. https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=300.410
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Missouri Revised Statutes § 304.822, the Siddens Bening Hands-Free Law. https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=304.822
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Missouri Revised Statutes § 303.190, motor vehicle financial responsibility and minimum limits. https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=303.190
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Missouri Revised Statutes § 379.203, required uninsured motorist coverage. https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=379.203
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Missouri Revised Statutes § 516.120, the general five-year limitation statute. https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=516.120
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Missouri Department of Transportation, 2024 statewide roadway fatality figures. https://www.modot.org/node/62240