When you begin the process of filing a personal injury claim after an accident, proving who was at fault in the accident will be one of your top priorities for a case in Missouri. A personal injury attorney can help you investigate the accident and determine who was liable following the rule of comparative negligence in Missouri.

Understanding Comparative Negligence

Determining who should be held liable for an accident can get tricky, especially when more than 1 party is partly at fault. This is a crucial part of an injury claim because the compensation you're entitled to will be reduced by your degree of fault in the accident.

Each state follows some variation of negligence rules when divvying up the blame and the compensation: 

  • Contributory Negligence - under this rule, if you are even partly to blame for the accident, you will be unable to receive any compensation whatsoever; currently only 5 states still adhere to this rule.
  • Pure Comparative Negligence - states that follow the pure comparative negligence rule, including Missouri, allow accident victims to pursue compensation even if they were up to 99% at fault in the accident.
  • Modified Comparative Negligence - some states follow a variation of the comparative negligence rule, allowing the injured party to recover compensation as long as they were less than 49% or 50% at fault. 

Proving Fault after an Accident

Because you'll be adhering to the rule of pure comparative negligence in Missouri, you'll need to demonstrate that the other party was at least partly responsible for the accident that caused your injuries.

With some accidents, it's obvious who was at fault in the accident, but that's not always the case. Sometimes, it can be difficult to prove who was more careless in the accident and how the blame should be apportioned.

If your accident occurred in Missouri, a personal injury attorney should be contacted to look over all the accident details, collect evidence, and try to reduce your degree of fault so that you'll be eligible for a greater settlement package.

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