Personal Injury Attorney in St. Louis, MO

Defending the rights of the injured and vulnerable

How is Compensation Calculated in a Personal Injury Claim in St. Louis, Missouri?

The total compensation you receive is a combination of the economic and noneconomic damages you sustained because of your injury. Economic damages are the sum total of all present and future expenses such as medical bills or lost wages. Once economic damages are determined, noneconomic damages, often called "pain and suffering," are generally calculated using one of two methods: the multiplier method or the per diem method.

The Multiplier Method

In the multiplier method, your St. Louis personal injury attorney and insurance company or a Missouri jury will multiply your economic damages by a number between 1.5 and 5. That number becomes the total amount of damages you receive. For example, if your economic damages were $20,000, and a jury decides to use the number 3 as their multiplier, your total compensation would be $60,000. Three is the most common multiplier used, and 4 and 5 are typically saved for injuries that result in permanent disabilities or death, and in particularly heinous cases such as sexual assault.

Determining factors in choosing the multiplier are:

• Whether you share any blame for the accident
• The severity of your injury and its long-term consequences
• The impact your injuries had on your ability to enjoy life
• How long your recovery takes
• How obvious the defendant's fault is

The Per Diem Method

"Per diem" is Latin for "per day." a Missouri jury, an insurance company or your St. Louis personal injury will assign a daily monetary value for your noneconomic damages, and multiply that by the number of days your recovery required or will require. The most commonly used daily amount is your daily wages, the idea being that a day of pain and suffering is at least worth a daily wage. For example, if you made $50,000 at your most recent job, you would divide 50,000 by 250 working days, which ends up being $200 a day. If your recovery takes six months, you would multiply $200 by 180 days, and your noneconomic damages would be $36,000. The per diem method is not used in personal injury claims with permanent disabilities or disfigurement, as there is no way to know how long you will live.

In Missouri, Senate Bill 239 sets damage caps in medical malpractice cases, which increase by 1.7 percent every year. However, there are no such damage caps in other personal injury cases.

Your Missouri personal injury attorney in St. Louis will know the best way to calculate your damages. We demand maximum compensation for all of your damages, and know how to convince insurance companies and juries to give it to you. In cases of wrongful death or catastrophic injuries, damages can total in the hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars. Call our personal injury attorney team today at (314) 500-HURT.

Can I Still Receive Compensation for My Personal Injury in Missouri if I Was Partially to Blame?

In personal injury cases where you were at fault, but only partially, your St. Louis personal injury attorney will still be able to help you recover damages, although the amount will be less. Missouri is a pure comparative fault state, which means that your compensation will be reduced by the percentage of blame you share in your accident.

Missouri Revised Statute §537.765 states that:

Any fault chargeable to the plaintiff shall diminish proportionately the amount awarded as compensatory damages but shall not bar recovery.

Meaning, if you are rear ended and sustain an injury, but a jury finds that you share 30 percent of the blame because you stopped suddenly, you will receive 70 percent of the compensation your damages are worth. Even if you were 99 percent at fault for your injury, you could still recover one percent of your damages in Missouri.

Shifting blame onto you is a common trick insurance companies use to minimize claims or avoid paying them altogether. The St. Louis personal injury attorney team at Burger Law fights back against bullies like insurance companies who employ dishonest tactics to eschew their obligation to pay you the money you rightfully deserve.

How Long Do I Have to File a Personal Injury Claim in Missouri?

In Missouri, the statute of limitations is five years for most personal injury claims, according to Missouri Revised Statute §516.120. There are four notable exceptions:

1. If you were under the age of 21 or "mentally incapacitated" when the injury occurred, you have five years from the day you turn 21 or the day your disability ends to file a claim, according to Missouri Revised Statute §516.170.
2. If the person you are making a claim against is a resident of Missouri but leaves the state for a period of time, their time out of state does not count against the five years, according Missouri Revised Statute §516.200.
3. Medical malpractice cases must generally be made within two years of the injury or the discovery of the injury, according to Missouri Revised Statute § 516.105.
4. Any claim against a government entity in Missouri must be filed within 90 days with the Missouri Office of Administration's Risk Management Division.

Once you have been injured because of somebody else's reckless actions, there is no time to wait. Burger Law's St. Louis-based Missouri personal injury attorney team has experience filing and winning claims in a variety of circumstances. Do not delay, call us today (314) 500-HURT.

Burger Law's Missouri personal injury law firm based in St. Louis has a team of gifted litigators and trial lawyers with more than 70 years of combined experience practicing law and protecting the vulnerable and injured. We will fight to get you maximum compensation in any injury claim in Missouri, including the case types listed here. Click for more information.