Kansas City Personal Injury Lawyer

Comparative negligence is a legal concept that allows for parties to an accident or injury to share fault. While there are certain situations where one party is completely at fault, there are many other circumstances where both parties had some degree of negligence that contributed to the accident.

Some states use a modified comparative negligence system under which an injured person is barred from recovery if they reach a specific percentage of fault, usually 50 or 51 percent. Missouri uses a pure comparative negligence model that permits everyone to recover damages even if they are 99 percent at fault.

However, in that scenario, you would only recover 1 percent of your damages. That’s because each party can only recover based on the percentage of fault the other party has.

If you are 20 percent at fault, you could recover 80 percent of your damages (and the other party could recover 20 percent of their damages from you).

One of the reasons insurance companies often succeed in undervaluing claims is that valuing a claim is a complex process. The average layperson doesn’t have the knowledge necessary to determine how much their claim should be worth.

Without the assistance of an attorney, many injured people accept an offer that undervalues their damages because it seems fair. Only later do they realize they have more expenses, and the insurance company no longer has any obligation to pay them.

Your lawyer will discuss the following categories of damages with you to calculate how much you should seek for each one. Then, they will add these up to arrive at a ballpark figure to pursue for compensation.

If the insurance company’s offer isn’t close to this number, we are prepared to negotiate with the insurance carrier for a more equitable deal.

• Medical bills, current and future. Some injured people only consider the bills they have now, but if you need any future care, such as follow-up appointments or physical therapy, we will either wait for your treatment to end or estimate your future costs. Additionally, we’ll consider related costs, such as traveling to see a specialist, making your home accessible, buying or replacing mobility aids, etc.
• Lost income. Following an accident or injury, many people have to miss work while they recover. Some don’t think about trying to recover their lost income if they took paid time off, but the reality is that you lost those paid days off you could have used on other occasions. For example, if you had to take a week off work, that’s a week of vacation pay you might have lost while in the hospital. Meanwhile, people with more serious injuries may need weeks or months away from work, and most don’t have enough paid time off to cover all the time they need.
• Lost earning potential. What if you never fully recover from your injuries? In some cases, an injured person cannot return to work or has to take a less strenuous job with lower pay. When this happens, we can calculate your lost earning potential and pursue compensation.
• Permanent disability or disfigurement. Aside from work, a permanent injury can affect many other areas of your life, from hobbies to relationships. We’ll consider the long-term effects on your life when estimating this damage.
• Pain and suffering. Both physical pain and mental or emotional distress are included in this category. There are several different ways insurance companies can calculate pain and suffering, including the Multiplier Method, in which they multiply your economic losses by a number chosen based on the severity of your injuries. Not surprisingly, insurance adjusters sometimes select a number that’s too low, so we’ll work to ensure they recognize the seriousness of your injuries.
• Property damage. In car accidents, this usually refers to damage to your vehicle. This is also true in accidents involving boats, golf carts, ATVs, etc. Property damage could also mean damage to items you had with you, like a laptop or smartphone. With defective product cases, sometimes property damage may be more extensive. For example, if a defective appliance causes your home to catch fire, you could have damage to the house itself and various possessions inside it.
• Wrongful death. The most extreme personal injury cases result in one or more deaths. If you’ve lost a loved one due to another party’s negligence, you can file a wrongful death claim. This is like a personal injury claim, but for a person who is no longer able to file one because they are deceased. Damages include medical expenses related to the death, funeral or burial costs, loss of financial support, and loss of consortium. You might also be able to file a separate survival action for the decedent’s pain and suffering if they lived for some time after the accident.

This is frequently a problem in car accidents. Missouri state law requires drivers to carry $25,000 in bodily injury liability per person ($50,000 per accident) and $25,000 in property damage liability.

For less serious accidents, this minimum coverage is usually sufficient, but there are several other situations where it isn’t:

• If your injuries are severe, you could have more than $25,000 in medical bills and related expenses, especially if you spend time in the ICU or are out of work for a long while.
• Regardless of the requirement, about 16 percent of Missouri drivers are uninsured.

Missouri also requires drivers to carry uninsured motorist coverage of at least $25,000. This only covers bodily injury, not property damage; you can buy a larger amount if you like, and we recommend doing so if it fits your budget.

However, in more severe accidents, you could still have damages that exceed both your own coverage and the other party’s insurance. When this happens, please speak with a lawyer right away.

We’ll review the situation and determine if there is any way to recover your additional damages, such as:

• Suing the other driver. If they are at fault, we can sue them for any damages not covered by insurance. Unfortunately, this isn’t always productive. If the other driver has few or no assets we can seize, we might win a judgment but have no means to collect it. In this situation, we would not advise you to pursue a lawsuit as it wouldn’t be in your best interest.
• Considering a third-party lawsuit. This is only possible when a third party (someone besides you and the other driver) contributes to the accident or injury. One example would be if an intoxicated driver injured you. Under Missouri’s dram shop laws, you might be able to sue a commercial establishment that served the driver before your accident. However, you would need to have strong evidence that the seller knew or should have known the driver was either younger than 21 or was visibly intoxicated already. Another example would be suing the manufacturer of a defective seatbelt that didn’t lock correctly and allowed you to be ejected from the car.
• Using your underinsured motorist coverage. It’s important to understand that uninsured motorist coverage is required by state law, but underinsured motorist coverage is optional. Sometimes, clients think they have both types of coverage and can use their own insurance for damages beyond what the other party’s insurance paid. But this is only true if they purchased underinsured motorist coverage, which picks up where the other driver’s policy leaves off in some circumstances.

In many cases, underinsured motorist coverage may be your only path to recovering your damages, so we strongly recommend adding this coverage if you don’t already have it.

If you are hurt in someone’s home or elsewhere on their property (such as in the yard), you may be able to file a claim on their homeowner’s insurance. As with business liability claims, it is necessary to show the property owner was negligent because they failed to fix or warn you about a hazard on the property.

Hazards might include:

• Slip/trip and fall hazards. These could be puddles or slick spots, loose or damaged floor tiles, torn or snagged carpets, bunched throw rugs, uneven flooring, damaged stairs, poor stairwell or walkway lighting, garden tools or toys left scattered on a walkway, etc.
• Structural defects. Examples might be a handrail that gives way, a floor that caves when you step on it, a balcony that collapses, etc.
• Toxic chemicals. For instance, if the property owner leaves a bucket of pool chemicals out where your toddler can get into it easily, they could be negligent.
• Unfenced pools or other attractive nuisances. Suppose there are potentially dangerous items or features in your neighbor’s yard that could hurt a child. In that case, they have a responsibility to take reasonable steps to block young children from wandering into the yard and getting hurt. Typically, this means putting up a fence or placing the dangerous object in a locked shed.
• Fires. If the owner’s actions caused a house fire or they failed to have smoke detectors installed, they might be negligent.