Sharing responsibility for a car accident does not automatically bar you from recovering compensation in Missouri. The state applies a pure comparative fault rule, meaning you may still pursue a claim even if you were partially at fault. However, any compensation you receive will be reduced in proportion to your share of responsibility.
Insurers are aware that many drivers are unfamiliar with how comparative fault works. They may take advantage of that uncertainty by attributing a greater percentage of fault to you than the facts justify, which can lower the value of your claim.
Consulting with a Southeast Missouri car accident attorney before agreeing to any fault assessment can help safeguard your ability to recover fair compensation.
Key Takeaways About Being Partly to Blame for a Car Accident in Missouri
- Missouri follows a pure comparative fault system, meaning you may still recover compensation even if you share a significant percentage of blame for the crash.
- Your total recovery gets reduced by your percentage of fault, but Missouri does not bar your claim at any fault threshold below 100 percent.
- Insurance adjusters regularly inflate your share of fault to lower the settlement amount, and their initial fault determination is not the final word.
- The police report provides a starting point for fault analysis, but it does not bind the insurance company, your attorney, or a jury.
How Does Missouri’s Comparative Fault Law Work After a Car Accident
Missouri’s pure comparative fault statute, RSMo § 537.765, abolished the old rule that barred recovery entirely when the plaintiff shared any blame for the accident. Under the current system, a jury assigns a percentage of fault to each party, and your compensation gets reduced by the percentage of fault assigned to you.
How Shared Fault Affects Your Compensation
Once fault is apportioned, your recovery is adjusted accordingly. If you are found partially responsible for the accident, your total damages are reduced in proportion to your share of the blame. Importantly, Missouri does not impose any cutoff that would prevent you from recovering damages entirely, even if you are more at fault than the other party.
This approach reflects the reality that most accidents involve multiple contributing factors. It also means that the outcome of your claim depends heavily on how fault is evaluated and supported by evidence such as accident reports, witness testimony, and expert analysis.
Why Missouri’s Pure Comparative Standard Matters
Missouri is among a relatively small number of states that allow injured individuals to pursue compensation regardless of how much fault they share. This system recognizes that a person may still suffer significant harm even if they contributed to the accident in some way. However, it also creates strong incentives for insurance companies to argue that you bear a greater share of responsibility. Increasing your percentage of fault directly lowers the amount they must pay, making fault allocation a central issue in both settlement negotiations and litigation.
How Pure Comparative Fault Differs from Other State Systems
Many states follow a modified comparative fault rule, which bars recovery once a person’s fault reaches 50 or 51 percent. Others still apply contributory negligence, where even minimal fault can eliminate the right to compensation altogether. Missouri’s pure comparative system offers broader access to recovery, but it also places greater importance on accurately determining and proving each party’s share of fault.
How Do Insurance Companies Use Shared Fault to Reduce Your Car Accident Claim
Insurance adjusters handling car accident claims in Southeast Missouri and across the state follow a process designed to assign you as much fault as the evidence allows, and sometimes more than the evidence supports. Their goal is straightforward: the higher your percentage of fault, the less the carrier pays.
Common Tactics Adjusters Use to Shift Blame
Adjusters draw on several strategies to inflate your share of responsibility for the crash. Recognizing these tactics helps you understand why the initial fault determination rarely represents the full picture:
- Requesting a recorded statement shortly after the accident, hoping you make unclear or inconsistent comments the adjuster may use to suggest you contributed to the collision
- Interpreting the police report in the carrier’s favor by emphasizing any notation about your speed, lane position, or actions while downplaying the other driver’s violations
- Arguing that you failed to take reasonable steps to avoid the crash, such as braking sooner or changing lanes, even when the other driver’s negligence left you with no time to react
- Monitoring your social media accounts for posts or photos that might contradict your account of the accident or the severity of your injuries
The adjuster’s fault assessment is not a legal finding. It represents the insurance company’s position, and your attorney may challenge that position with independent evidence.
Why the Police Report Does Not Settle the Fault Question
The police report carries weight as an official record of the investigating officer’s observations. However, it does not bind the insurance company, your attorney, or a jury.
Officers arrive after the crash and piece together what happened based on the scene, statements from those involved, and witness accounts. They may miss details, misinterpret physical evidence, or rely on one party’s version of events more heavily than the other’s. Dashcam footage, traffic camera recordings, cell phone records, vehicle data recorders, and independent witness statements may all tell a different story than the one the police report reflects. A thorough investigation often shifts the fault picture significantly.
What Evidence Matters When You Are Partly to Blame for a Car Accident
The percentage of fault assigned to you depends entirely on the evidence available. Building a strong factual record protects your claim by showing that the other driver’s negligence was the primary cause of the crash, even if you made a contributing error.
Types of Evidence That Shape Fault Determinations
Several categories of evidence play a direct role in how fault gets divided between the parties in a Missouri car accident case. The records and materials that carry the most weight include:
- Photographs of the accident scene, vehicle damage, road conditions, traffic signals, and skid marks taken as close to the time of the crash as possible
- Traffic camera or dashcam footage that captures the movements of both vehicles in the seconds before impact
- Cell phone records showing whether either driver was texting, calling, or using an app at the time of the collision
- Witness statements from passengers, pedestrians, or other drivers who observed the crash or the events leading up to it
- The vehicle’s event data recorder, which stores information about speed, braking, steering input, and seatbelt use in the moments before the collision
Your attorney may also work with accident reconstruction professionals who analyze physical evidence to determine how the crash occurred and which party’s actions contributed most significantly.
What Damages May You Recover If You Are Partly at Fault in Missouri
Missouri law allows you to pursue both economic and non-economic damages even when you share some percentage of fault for the car accident. The total award gets reduced by your fault percentage, but the categories of recoverable compensation remain the same.
Economic and Non-Economic Damages in Shared Fault Cases
The damages available in a Missouri car accident claim where you bear partial responsibility follow the same structure as any other negligence case. Depending on the facts of your crash, you may be able to pursue compensation for:
- Past and future medical expenses, including emergency care, surgery, hospitalization, physical therapy, and any ongoing treatment tied to injuries from the collision
- Lost wages from time missed at work, along with reduced earning capacity if the injuries limit the type of work you may perform going forward
- Pain and suffering, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment of daily activities resulting from the crash and your injuries
- Property damage to your vehicle and personal belongings
The comparative fault reduction applies to the total award, not to individual categories of damage.
How Shared Fault Affects Settlement Negotiations
Insurance adjusters factor their fault assessment into the settlement offer from the start. Challenging that fault allocation with solid evidence may significantly increase the settlement figure. An attorney reviewing the adjuster’s fault determination against the physical evidence, witness accounts, and available data often finds room to reduce the percentage of blame assigned to you.
How Does Filing a Lawsuit Work When Both Drivers Share Fault
If settlement negotiations stall or the insurance company refuses to adjust its fault determination, filing a lawsuit may become the next step. Missouri’s statute of limitations under RSMo § 516.120 gives you five years from the date of the accident to file a personal injury lawsuit.
Fault Allocation at Trial
At trial, the jury hears evidence from both sides and assigns a specific percentage of fault to each party. The defendant’s attorney raises your comparative fault as an affirmative defense under RSMo § 537.765, meaning they must present evidence to support the claim that you contributed to the crash. The jury then decides the total amount of damages and the percentage of fault for each party, and the court reduces the award accordingly.
Missouri also allows the jury to consider the fault of non-parties who contributed to the accident but are not named in the lawsuit. If a third vehicle played a role in the crash, or if a road condition contributed to the collision, the jury may allocate a portion of fault to those non-parties as well. That allocation may reduce the percentage of fault assigned to you.
How Cook, Barkett, Ponder & Wolz Handles Shared Fault Car Accident Claims in SEMO
Cook, Barkett, Ponder & Wolz (CBPW Law) are trial attorneys who regularly handle car accident cases where fault is shared between the parties. The firm challenges inflated fault determinations by investigating the facts independently, gathering evidence the adjuster may have overlooked or minimized, and presenting a factual counter-narrative that reflects the other driver’s primary role in causing the crash.
Building the Case to Minimize Your Fault Percentage
The firm reviews police reports, obtains traffic camera and dashcam footage, analyzes vehicle data recorder information, and interviews witnesses to build a complete picture of the collision. That investigation often reveals that the insurance company’s initial fault allocation overstates your contribution to the crash.
CBPW Law maintains offices in Cape Girardeau, Sikeston, and Bloomfield. The Cape Girardeau office sits across from the Osage Center and northwest of Southeast Missouri State University. The firm also accepts referrals and co-counsel arrangements from SEMO attorneys on complex car accident cases where fault allocation is contested.
FAQs for Being Partly to Blame for a Car Accident in Missouri
If I am partly to blame for my car accident, may I still file a claim in Missouri?
Yes. Missouri follows a pure comparative fault system under RSMo § 537.765. You may still pursue compensation even if you share a significant percentage of fault. Your total recovery gets reduced by your fault percentage, but Missouri does not bar your claim at any threshold below 100 percent.
How does the insurance company decide my percentage of fault?
The adjuster reviews the police report, vehicle damage, medical records, and any available statements to assign a fault percentage. That determination reflects the carrier’s position, not a legal finding. Your attorney may challenge the adjuster’s assessment with independent evidence, including dashcam footage, witness statements, and accident reconstruction analysis.
What if the insurance company says I was 50 percent or more at fault?
Unlike most states, Missouri does not cut off your recovery at the 50 or 51 percent threshold. Even if the carrier assigns you a majority share of fault, you may still recover compensation for the portion of damages attributed to the other driver’s negligence.
How long do I have to file a car accident lawsuit in Missouri?
Missouri’s statute of limitations under RSMo § 516.120 gives you five years from the date of the accident to file a personal injury lawsuit. That applies whether you share fault or not. Starting the investigation early preserves evidence that may reduce your fault percentage.
Does the police report determine who is at fault?
The police report provides an initial record of the investigating officer’s observations and conclusions. However, it does not bind the insurance company, your attorney, or a jury. Additional evidence, including camera footage, cell phone records, and witness statements, may tell a different story than the report reflects.
Take Action If You Are Partly to Blame for Your Car Accident in Missouri
Cape Girardeau Car Accident Attorney, Phillip J. Barkett
The insurance company already has a number in mind for your share of the blame, and that number directly reduces what they pay you. Accepting the adjuster’s fault determination without challenging it hands the carrier a discount it may not have earned.
If you share some fault for a car accident in Sikeston, Cape Girardeau, or anywhere in Southeast Missouri, Cook, Barkett, Ponder & Wolz may review the evidence, challenge inflated fault allocations, and pursue the compensation your claim supports. Contact the firm to discuss your case.