Missouri Personal Injury Laws and Statutes of Limitations

Missouri's Statutes of Limitations for Personal Injury Lawsuits

A "statute of limitations" is a law that puts a deadline on your time to file a lawsuit in court. Missouri has several that control personal injury cases. We begin with Missouri's five-year general rule, then we'll explain some different deadlines for specific kinds of lawsuits.

Missouri's General Rule: Five Years From the Date of Your Injury

As a general rule, you have five years, usually starting on the date you were injured, to file a personal injury lawsuit in court. (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 516.120(4) (2024).) Unless a more specific rule is a better fit, this is the statute of limitations for lawsuits involving:

• auto accidents
• dangerous or poorly maintained real estate (a "premises liability" case)
• dangerous or defective products (a "product liability" suit), and
• dog bites caused by the owner's carelessness.

Other Rules for Specific Personal Injury Cases

Missouri's five-year deadline isn't a "one-size-fits-all" rule. In some cases, there's a more specific statute of limitations. Here are a few common examples.

Medical malpractice. A number of special rules apply to medical malpractice lawsuits. Among them is the statute of limitations, Mo. Rev. Stat. § 516.105.1 (2024). Most often, the filing deadline is two years from the date of the malpractice. The clock might start running later, meaning you've got more time to file, in cases involving:

• a foreign object mistakenly left inside your body
• unreported test results, or
• malpractice injuries suffered by a child.

(Learn more about Missouri medical malpractice laws.)

Intentional injuries. By far, a majority of personal injury claims happen when a person is hurt because of another's negligence, or carelessness. But injuries also result from intentional wrongdoing. The law calls this an "intentional tort." Missouri law gives you two years to sue for these (and other) intentional torts:

• assault and battery
• defamation
• false imprisonment, and
• malicious prosecution.

(Mo. Rev. Stat. § 516.140 (2024).)

Injuries resulting in death. When personal injuries cause death, the victim's surviving family members can file a Missouri wrongful death lawsuit. The filing deadline is three years, usually starting on the date of death. (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 537.100.1 (2024).) You might have more time if the defendant (the party you're suing) flees Missouri in an attempt to avoid your lawsuit.

Can Missouri's Personal Injury Filing Deadline Be Extended?

In a few situations, yes. Missouri law sometimes extends the lawsuit filing deadline, giving you a bit more time to sue.

You don't know you've been hurt. It's possible that you might be injured and not even know it. Should that happen, your lawyer might argue that Mo. Rev. Stat. § 516.100 (2024) allows you more time to file. Under this law, the filing clock doesn't start running until your injuries ("damages," in the language of the law) are "capable of ascertainment."

What does "capable of ascertainment" mean? Unfortunately, it's not clear. Missouri courts haven't provided much useful guidance regarding what this phrase means. You need not have actual, subjective knowledge that you've been injured. But there must be some available facts to put a reasonable person on notice that they might have an injury that could support a lawsuit.

Here's the bottom line. If you're hoping you might have more time to sue because your damages weren't "capable of ascertainment" right away, you'll need to get advice from a Missouri PI lawyer. Expect the defendant to put up a serious fight, and the court to be skeptical of your claim.

The injured person is legally disabled. A person who's younger than 21 years old or "mentally incapacitated" gets extra time to sue. Under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 516.170 (2024), the limitation period starts running when:

• the person turns 21, or
• the mental incapacity is "removed."

These exceptions don't apply in medical malpractice cases.

The defendant tries to prevent you from suing. When you're injured by a person who lives in Missouri, but who later flees the state in an effort to keep you from suing them, Missouri law provides a remedy. The statute of limitations clock doesn't run as to that defendant for the period they're outside the state. It starts (or resumes) when they return. (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 516.200 (2024).)

What Happens If I Miss Missouri's Statute of Limitations Deadline?

If you've missed the filing deadline for your lawsuit, or if you think the limitation period is going to run out very soon, your first call should be to a Missouri personal injury lawyer. You want to know:

• what the statute of limitations is for your case
• whether the lawsuit filing deadline has passed or is about to pass, and
• if the deadline has passed, whether there's an exception that might give you more time to sue.

When your filing time has run out and no exception applies, your claim is legally dead. Nothing you do will bring it back to life. Try to file a lawsuit and the court will dismiss it. The court might also sanction (penalize) you for filing a frivolous case.

You'll also be disappointed if you're trying to negotiate a settlement of your case. You won't have the threat of a lawsuit to back you up, so neither the defendant nor their insurance company will take you seriously. You can't force them to pay you, and they're not likely to voluntarily write you a check.