Question 1

What personal injury case types do you cover in Missouri?

Accepted Answer

All major Missouri personal injury practice areas: car accident / auto / MVA, truck and commercial vehicle, motorcycle, rideshare (Uber and Lyft), pedestrian and bicyclist, slip and fall / premises liability, dog bite, wrongful death, workplace and construction injuries, product liability, and medical malpractice. Missouri product liability is a particularly active venue right now following the Williams v. Wabash National $462 million St. Louis verdict in September 2024. Medical malpractice is routed separately given the RSMo § 538.210 noneconomic damages cap structure. You can focus on one case type, a subset, or the full PI spectrum.

Question 2

What is the statute of limitations for Missouri personal injury claims?

Accepted Answer

Five years from the date of injury under RSMo § 516.120 for most personal injury claims, including auto, premises, dog bite, and product liability. That is one of the longer general PI statutes of limitations in the country (compare Tennessee at 1 year and Louisiana at 1 year). Wrongful death runs on a separate 3-year clock from the date of death under RSMo § 537.100. Minors generally have until age 21 to file under RSMo § 516.170, which means a child injured at age 5 can file as late as their 26th birthday. Government tort claims under RSMo § 537.600 et seq. require a written notice of claim, typically within 90 days, before suit. The longer SOL window means Missouri leads do not need to be triaged with the same hour-by-hour urgency as Tennessee or Louisiana files, but it also means Missouri intake should not assume the prospect has filed elsewhere just because the accident is older than 12 months.

Question 3

How does Missouri's pure comparative fault rule affect case values?

Accepted Answer

Missouri is one of only a handful of pure comparative fault states. Under RSMo § 537.765, any fault chargeable to the plaintiff diminishes the damages award proportionally but never bars recovery, even at 99% plaintiff fault. That is the most plaintiff-friendly fault regime in the country. Compare modified comparative fault states with a 50% bar (Tennessee, Georgia) or 51% bar (Florida post-HB 837), and contributory negligence states like North Carolina where 1% plaintiff fault wipes out recovery entirely. Practically, the pure rule changes both demand math and trial dynamics: defense fault-allocation arguments still reduce damages, but they cannot defeat the case. Borderline-fault Missouri files that would be screened out in Tennessee or North Carolina remain viable here, often as reduced-value but still profitable settlements.

Question 4

Does Missouri cap noneconomic damages?

Accepted Answer

Only in medical malpractice. RSMo § 538.210 caps medical malpractice noneconomic damages at $473,444 for non-catastrophic injuries and $828,529 for catastrophic injuries in 2026, with the caps indexed to grow at 1.7% annually under SB 239 (2015). Catastrophic injury is defined in RSMo § 538.205 as quadriplegia, paraplegia, loss of two or more limbs, significant and permanent cognitive impairment, irreversible failure of a major organ, or significant loss of vision. Outside med-mal, Missouri does not cap noneconomic damages on personal injury cases. Punitive damages are separately capped under RSMo § 510.265 at the greater of $500,000 or five times the net compensatory damages awarded.

Question 5

How do Missouri's recent punitive damages procedural reforms affect intake?

Accepted Answer

Missouri tightened punitive damages procedure in recent years. A claim for punitive damages may not be contained in the initial pleading and must be filed as a written motion with court permission no later than 120 days prior to the final pretrial conference or trial date. Punitive liability requires clear and convincing evidence that the defendant intentionally harmed the plaintiff or acted with deliberate and flagrant disregard for safety. For health care defendants, the standard is even stricter: clear and convincing evidence of intentional damage or malicious misconduct, not mere negligence or conscious disregard. Under RSMo § 537.675, the state holds a lien on 50% of any final punitive judgment after attorney fees and expenses, payable to the Tort Victims' Compensation Fund. None of this changes what makes a viable lead at intake, but it does change demand-letter and pleading strategy on the back end.

Question 6

Are Missouri dog bite claims different?

Accepted Answer

Yes. RSMo § 273.036, effective August 29, 2009, imposes strict liability on dog owners when a dog bites without provocation any person on public property or lawfully on private property, regardless of the dog's prior viciousness or the owner's knowledge. Missouri also retains common law remedies for non-bite injuries (knockdowns, scratches), which still require proof of scienter under the traditional one-bite framework. Comparative fault reduces but does not bar recovery. The strict liability rule does not apply where the victim was on the owner's property unlawfully (trespasser exclusion). The 5-year general PI statute of limitations applies.

Question 7

How are Missouri premises liability cases evaluated?

Accepted Answer

Missouri premises law turns on the visitor's classification: invitee, licensee, or trespasser. Property owners owe invitees the highest duty of ordinary care, which includes both warning of known hazards and reasonable inspection to discover and remedy unknown hazards. Licensees are owed a duty to warn of known, non-obvious dangers but no inspection duty. Trespassers are owed only a duty not to inflict willful or wanton injury (with limited exceptions). Surveillance footage preservation timing, incident report status, and witness identification drive Missouri slip-and-fall outcomes. The 5-year SOL gives more breathing room than Tennessee or Louisiana files, but evidence preservation still favors fast intake.

Question 8

How much do Missouri personal injury leads cost?

Accepted Answer

Missouri is a moderate to competitive PI Google Ads auction. Personal injury CPCs across Missouri generally run $50 to $180, with Kansas City and St. Louis at the upper end and Springfield, Columbia, Joplin, and the Lake of the Ozarks markets lower. National benchmarks for high-volume queries like "car accident lawyer" run $150 to $300 per click. Missouri sits below California, New York, Texas, Georgia, and Florida on per-click cost but is fully competitive against neighboring Illinois, Kansas, Iowa, and Arkansas. We price per lead with no monthly minimums and no contracts. Contact us for current pricing by county and case type.

Question 9

Can I target specific Missouri counties?

Accepted Answer

Yes. All 114 counties plus the independent City of St. Louis. Highest sustained PI claim volume comes from St. Louis County, Jackson County (Kansas City), the City of St. Louis, Greene County (Springfield), Boone County (Columbia), St. Charles County, Clay County, Jefferson County, and Cass County. Target at the county or zip level so you only pay for leads in your actual service area. The St. Louis metro region recorded its deadliest year on record for pedestrians in 2024 (23 in St. Louis City, 36 in St. Louis County), part of a statewide 148 pedestrian deaths that set a new Missouri record.

Question 10

Are your Missouri leads pre-screened against the 5-year SOL?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Every Missouri lead is screened for SOL position, representation status, injury, and a pure-comparative-fault sanity check against RSMo § 537.765. Leads within 90 days of the 5-year mark are flagged for accelerated routing. Wrongful death leads are evaluated against the separate 3-year clock under RSMo § 537.100 (which runs from date of death, not date of injury, the opposite of Tennessee's wrongful death rule). Government tort leads are screened for the 90-day notice requirement before delivery.

Question 11

Any contracts, minimums, or setup fees?

Accepted Answer

None. No monthly minimums, no subscriptions, no setup fees for standard onboarding. Pay per lead. Pause or resume anytime. Invalid leads are replaced under our standard policy.

Missouri Personal Injury Leads for Law Firms

Why Missouri Is One of the Most Plaintiff-Friendly PI Venues in the Country

Case Types We Generate Across Missouri

Missouri Personal Injury Law: Quick Reference

Notable Missouri Personal Injury Verdicts Across Practice Areas

Lead Pricing Across Missouri Practice Areas

Ready for Exclusive Missouri PI Leads?

Frequently Asked Questions

References

Stop Wasting Money on Leads That Don't Convert