How Much Is a Car Accident Case Worth in Missouri?

A Missouri car accident case is worth what the evidence proves your losses to be: medical expenses, lost income and pain and suffering, which has no statutory cap in a crash case. That total is cut by your share of fault (Gustafson v. Benda) and limited by available insurance, which can be as little as $25,000 per person (RSMo 303.190).

An average describes other people’s injuries, other people’s insurance and other people’s juries. None of those are yours.

01Why Is There No Honest Average for a Missouri Car Accident Case?

Because the number depends on facts that are different in every crash. National figures blend fender-benders with fatal highway crashes. They mix states that cap damages with states that do not. They combine drivers carrying the legal minimum with companies carrying millions in coverage.

A Missouri valuation answers three questions. What did the crash cost you, proven with records? How much of the fault, if any, is yours? How much insurance can actually be reached? A figure that skips any one of them is not a valuation.

No one can answer those questions responsibly before the medical picture is clear. That includes the adjuster who calls in the first week.

02What Losses Make Up the Value of a Claim?

Missouri lets an injured person recover every loss the crash caused that the evidence can prove. Those losses fall into a few categories.

• Past medical expenses. Ambulance, emergency room, surgery, therapy, prescriptions. Either side may put in evidence of the actual cost of care, defined as what was paid plus what is still owed after contractual discounts and write-offs (RSMo 490.715).
• Future medical expenses. A surgery your doctor says you will need, ongoing therapy, injections, replacement hardware. These have to be supported by medical testimony.
• Lost wages. Time missed from work, proven with pay records and your employer’s confirmation.
• Lost earning capacity. If the injury limits the work you can do for the rest of your career, the difference between what you would have earned and what you can earn now. Proving it often takes a vocational expert and an economist.
• Pain, suffering and loss of enjoyment of life. Physical pain, limits on what you can do, scarring, anxiety, the activities you have lost. No Missouri statute caps these damages in an ordinary car crash case. Missouri’s statutory cap on noneconomic damages applies to claims against health care providers (RSMo 538.210), not to a negligent driver.
• Property damage. Repairs or the fair market value of a totaled car, a rental or loss of use, and personal property destroyed in the crash.

Future losses are where the largest disagreements usually happen. They are also where the documentation has to be strongest.

03How Does Fault Change What You Recover?

Your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault, but it is not wiped out. Missouri adopted pure comparative fault in Gustafson v. Benda, 661 S.W.2d 11 (Mo. banc 1983). If a jury finds you 20 percent at fault, you receive 80 percent of the damages it awards.

That is why fault arguments show up in almost every claim. A suggestion that you were speeding, looking at your phone or slow to brake is not only about blame. Every percentage point the insurer can assign to you comes straight off the value.

Seat belts are treated differently. In a claim against a driver, not wearing one is not evidence of comparative fault. If the defense proves with expert testimony that it contributed to your injuries, a jury may reduce your damages by no more than 1 percent (RSMo 307.178).

04Why Do the At-Fault Driver’s Policy Limits Matter So Much?

Because insurance is usually the only money that can realistically be collected. Missouri requires liability coverage of only $25,000 for one person’s bodily injury, $50,000 for everyone hurt in one crash and $25,000 for property damage (RSMo 303.190). Many drivers carry exactly that.

A serious injury can be worth far more than the policy behind it. Insurers rarely pay beyond their limits voluntarily. Collecting more usually requires another source of coverage.

Your own policy is often that source. Every Missouri auto policy must include uninsured motorist (UM) coverage at no less than the state minimums, and it applies even when a hit-and-run driver is never identified (RSMo 379.203). Underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage, which pays when the at-fault driver’s limits are too low, is optional. Many people carry it without knowing.

Then comes stacking. The Missouri Supreme Court held that the public policy behind RSMo 379.203 bars an insurer from limiting you to only one of the UM coverages written on several vehicles (Cameron Mutual Insurance Co. v. Madden, 533 S.W.2d 538, Mo. banc 1976). UIM coverage is not required by statute, so whether it stacks generally turns on the policy wording. That wording is worth reading line by line.

Other policies may apply too: an employer’s commercial policy if the driver was working, an umbrella policy, a rideshare company’s coverage, or the policy on the car if the driver did not own it. Our rideshare page at /car-accidents/rideshare-accidents/ explains how those coverage tiers work.

05Who Gets Paid Out of a Settlement Before You Do?

Anyone who paid for your care may have a legal right to be repaid from your recovery. What you take home depends on those claims as much as on the gross number.

• Hospitals and medical providers. Missouri gives hospitals, clinics and licensed practitioners a lien on an injury claim. If the liens add up to more than half of what is due you, the providers share in no more than 50 percent of the net proceeds, meaning what is left after attorney fees and expenses (RSMo 430.225).
• Medicare. When a liability settlement pays for care Medicare already covered, Medicare must be reimbursed, and the federal government can sue for double damages if it is not (42 U.S.C. § 1395y(b)(2)(B)).
• MO HealthNet. Missouri Medicaid payments for your crash injuries are a debt due the state, capped at what MO HealthNet actually paid, and the state holds a lien on the recovery. You must notify the MO HealthNet division when you pursue the claim, and a court can decide how much the state receives, including whether it should bear part of the fees and costs that produced the recovery (RSMo 208.215).
• Private health insurance. A self-funded employer plan governed by federal ERISA law can enforce its written reimbursement terms. Where the plan says nothing about attorney fees, the common-fund doctrine fills the gap (US Airways, Inc. v. McCutchen, 569 U.S. 88 (2013)). Other kinds of plans follow different rules, so the plan documents matter.

Liens can often be negotiated, and mistakes in them are common. Charges for unrelated care show up. Payments get counted twice. Resolving those problems before the money is divided changes your net recovery directly.

06When Are Punitive Damages Possible?

Only in a narrow set of cases. Punitive damages punish; they do not compensate. Missouri allows them only if you prove by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant intentionally harmed you without just cause or acted with a deliberate and flagrant disregard for the safety of others (RSMo 510.261). Ordinary carelessness, like running a stop sign, does not qualify.

A punitive claim cannot appear in the first petition. It can be added only with the court’s permission, on a written motion supported by evidence (RSMo 510.261). Drunk driving is where the question most often comes up. Our drunk driving page at /car-accidents/drunk-driving-accidents/ covers those claims in detail.

The statute caps punitive damages at the greater of $500,000 or five times the net judgment against that defendant. The cap does not apply if the defendant pleads guilty to or is convicted of a felony arising from the same conduct (RSMo 510.265). The Missouri Supreme Court has held that applying the cap to a claim that existed at common law in 1820, in that case fraud, violates the right to a jury trial (Lewellen v. Franklin, 441 S.W.3d 136, Mo. banc 2014). How the cap applies in a given case can be disputed.

07How Is a Car Accident Case Actually Valued?

By the documented damages, by the place the case would be tried and by the insurer’s own internal numbers.

The demand

A serious claim goes to the insurer with the proof behind every loss: medical records and bills, wage records, expert opinions on future care, photographs and a clear account of how the injury changed daily life. Missouri gives a well-built demand real weight. If a written demand meeting RSMo 408.040 is sent by certified mail and held open for 90 days, and the later judgment is larger than the demand, the court awards prejudgment interest.

The requirements are specific. The demand needs an affidavit describing the claim and the damages, copies of reasonably available medical bills, lists of medical providers and employers, and authorizations to obtain their records. Suit must be filed within 120 days after the demand is received (RSMo 408.040).

The venue

A crash case is generally filed in the Missouri county where you were first injured (RSMo 508.010). Juries in the City of St. Louis, St. Louis County and St. Charles County are drawn from different communities. Both sides study the verdicts each venue has returned in similar cases, and where the case would be tried is part of what it is worth.

The reserve

When a claim is opened, the insurer sets a reserve, its internal estimate of what the claim will cost. The adjuster’s settlement authority is tied to it. The reserve moves when the evidence does: new records, a surgeon’s opinion, a filed lawsuit, a trial date.

The insurer is valuing your claim from the first day. Your side of the valuation is only as strong as the records behind it.

08Why Do Two People With the Same Injury Get Different Results?

Because the injury is only one input. Two people with the same herniated disc can be in very different positions.

• One was not at fault at all. The other was found 30 percent at fault and loses 30 percent of the award.
• One was hit by a driver with a minimum policy and has no UIM coverage. The other was hit by a commercial vehicle insured for far more.
• One treated consistently, with records tying every visit to the crash. The other waited weeks to see a doctor, and the insurer argues something else caused the pain.
• One has a surgeon’s written opinion on future care. The other has none, so future losses are never proven.
• One’s care was paid at a health plan’s discounted rates. Under RSMo 490.715, the actual cost of care, not the full bill, can be what the jury hears.
• One’s case would be tried in a different county, before a different jury pool.
• One has Medicare or MO HealthNet liens that take part of the recovery. The other does not.

None of those differences appears in an average. All of them appear in the result.

09What Has The Injury Counsel Recovered in a Car Accident Case?

The Injury Counsel has obtained a $1.1 Million result in a car accident case. Every case turns on its own facts, and a past result does not predict the outcome of any other case.

Our car accident page at /car-accidents/ covers the rest of a Missouri crash claim, from deadlines to dealing with adjusters.

If you want to understand what drives the value of your own claim, call The Injury Counsel at (314) 727-7220 for a free, confidential consultation. We will review your records, identify every policy and explain the rules that apply to your crash.