The family-owned Bruning Law Firm’s St. Louis car accident lawyers represent drivers, passengers, and families injured in St. Louis City and County, and pursue compensation from every policy that applies, including umbrella and underinsured motorist coverage. Missouri gives you five years to file suit under RSMo § 516.120; crash evidence is lost in weeks. Call (618) 278-5186 for a free consultation. No fee unless we win.
The Bruning Law Firm has represented injured people in the Midwest since 1985.
Inc. 5000
Named to the Inc. 5000 list of America's fastest-growing private companies
1,800+
Five-star client reviews on Google and other review platforms
$300M+
Recovered for injured clients since 2016.
Memberships & Recognitions
Hurt in a St. Louis Car Crash?
What Do The Bruning Law Firm’s St. Louis Car Wreck Lawyers Do?
The Bruning Law Firm’s St. Louis auto accident lawyers investigate how the crash happened, document your injuries and treatment, identify every insurance policy that can pay the claim, and negotiate with the insurer or try the case in the St. Louis City or St. Louis County circuit courts.
The steps our St. Louis car accident lawyers take on every claim are listed below.
Obtain the crash report from the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, St. Louis County Police Department, or Missouri State Highway Patrol, and request camera footage and witness statements before they are lost.
Gather medical records, imaging, and lost-income documentation, and help you reach a doctor for an evaluation and imaging when a specialist cannot see you for weeks.
Identify the at-fault driver’s policy, umbrella coverage, other liable parties, and your own underinsured motorist coverage, since Missouri requires only $25,000 per person in bodily injury liability coverage under RSMo § 303.190.
Track the file against written benchmarks and follow up with you on average every 72 hours.
Negotiate the claim, explain medical liens, attorney fees, and case expenses before any settlement, and file suit in the 22nd Judicial Circuit (City of St. Louis) or the 21st Judicial Circuit (St. Louis County, in Clayton) when the offer falls short of the documented losses.
Each step closes an argument insurers use to reduce a claim: a missing report, a treatment gap, an undiscovered policy, or a settlement signed before the liens are known.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol recorded 52 traffic deaths in the City of St. Louis and 99 in St. Louis County in 2023, and MoDOT’s preliminary count puts statewide traffic deaths at 911 for 2025. Missouri’s filing deadline is five years under RSMo § 516.120 and three years for a wrongful death claim under § 537.100, and pure comparative fault reduces your recovery by your percentage of blame without barring it.
Insurers reduce claims in the first weeks through the recorded statement, the treatment-gap argument, and the fault percentage assigned to you. The playbook section below shows each tactic and our answer to each, and the deadline and fault sections explain the two rules in detail.
The Bruning Law Firm is a family-owned firm with an office in downtown St. Louis, founded by Anthony Bruning and led with his sons A.J. and Ryan. The firm has recovered more than $300 million for injured clients since 2016 and holds more than 1,700 five-star client reviews.
Recent case results come first below, then why clients choose the firm, the adjuster’s playbook, Missouri’s deadlines, partial fault, common injuries, case value, what to do after a crash, trial and timeline, the attorneys, and the questions St. Louis drivers ask most.
Call (314) 735-8100 or send the basics through the contact form. The consultation is free, and there is no fee unless we win.
"We will explain what has happened, what is about to happen, what could happen, what should happen. We want our clients to have that level of knowledge about their own case." Dylan Kriegshauser · Partner
The Bruning Law Firm Gets Results for St. Louis Car Accident Victims
Car Accident · December 2025
$3 Million
Passenger who suffered a broken femur, knee, and ankle.
Rear-End Collision
$2.5 Million
Serious neck and back injuries from a rear-end crash.
Truck Rear-End Collision
$2.5 Million
Neck, back, and hip injuries caused by a commercial truck.
Head Injury
$2.2 Million
Skull fractures and hearing loss from a vehicle collision.
Improper Lane Change
$2 Million
Neck and back injuries caused by an improper lane change.
Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Every case is judged on its own merits.
Why Choose The Bruning Law Firm for Your St. Louis Car Accident Injury Case?
After a serious car accident, you need more than a lawyer who promises to fight for you. You need to know whether the firm has a process for moving your case forward, identifying the available compensation, and keeping you informed.
Since 2016, The Bruning Law Firm has recovered more than $300 million for injured people while earning more than 1,800 five-star client reviews. The family-owned firm brings more than 40 years of personal injury experience to every case.
With an office in downtown St. Louis and attorneys serving injured people throughout the entire Midwest, The Bruning Law Firm combines local experience with a data-driven system for moving cases forward, measuring results, and keeping clients informed. Client testimonials repeatedly reinforce the qualities our firm has built its process around: clear communication, timely updates, personal attention, and confidence that the case is being handled.
We Keep Your Case Moving
Every case is measured against written benchmarks that our team tracks daily. We follow up with clients an average of every 72 hours, so you know what is happening and what comes next. When you have a question about your insurance claim, our team is prepared to give you a clear answer.
We Help You Obtain and Document Medical Care
Getting timely medical care after a St. Louis car accident can be difficult. Some specialists schedule appointments months in advance, leaving injured people without the evaluation or treatment they need. We help clients locate appropriate medical providers, arrange necessary imaging, and maintain complete treatment records. That documentation helps connect your injuries, treatment, and resulting losses to the crash.
We Investigate Every Applicable Source of Coverage
Missouri drivers are generally required to carry at least $25,000 in bodily injury liability coverage per person under RSMo. § 303.190, but serious injuries can quickly exceed that amount. We investigate the at-fault driver’s policy, applicable umbrella coverage, other liable parties, and any uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage available through your own policy. This helps ensure that no applicable source of recovery is overlooked.
The top reasons injured people choose The Bruning Law Firm for car accident cases include:
We use a measured process to move your case forward. Your case follows written workflows, deadlines, and performance benchmarks that help us identify unfinished work and reduce avoidable delays.
We make communication accountable. Our system tracks when we last contacted you and flags cases that have gone too long without an update. You should understand what is happening, why it matters, and what comes next.
We investigate every applicable source of recovery. We examine the at-fault driver’s policy, umbrella coverage, other potentially liable parties, and any uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage that may apply.
We explain what a settlement means for you. Before you accept an offer, we review the attorney fees, case expenses, medical obligations, and expected net recovery so you can make an informed decision.
You pay no upfront attorney fees. We work on a contingency-fee basis, which means we do not receive an attorney fee unless we recover compensation for you.
We begin by determining how the crash happened, who may be responsible, what evidence supports your claim, and which insurance policies may provide compensation. That includes coverage beyond the at-fault driver’s basic policy when umbrella, third-party, uninsured, or underinsured motorist coverage applies.
We develop your claim using the police report, witness information, medical records, imaging, lost-income documentation, and evidence showing how the injuries have changed your daily life. Our goal is to give the insurance company a complete, well-supported account of what the crash has cost you.
As your case moves forward, we track the work against written benchmarks and keep you informed about important developments. We can also help address barriers to obtaining medical care and documentation, while our team manages the insurance and legal work.
Before recommending a settlement, we explain the offer, attorney fees, case expenses, medical obligations, and expected net recovery. We want you to understand what the resolution means for your life before you decide whether to accept it.
We Know Insurance Company's Playbook
The Adjuster Is Not Confused. You Might Be.
None of this is a conversation. It is evidence collection, and it starts with the first phone call after your crash.
The RecordingFile 01
The recorded "I'm fine"
The adjuster asks how you are doing. You answer on autopilot, the way you would at church or the grocery store. Months later, when your doctor recommends surgery, that recording resurfaces as proof you were never hurt.
The NarrativeFile 02
The swerve story
You had the right of way and no warning, and the adjuster still asks why you did not swerve. The questions come in a specific order because they are building a story where the crash is partly your fault, one agreeable answer at a time.
The GapFile 03
The treatment-gap argument
Your primary care office quotes a six-week wait, which is normal in St. Louis. The insurer recasts that delay as proof you were faking. We keep treatment moving so the argument never gets to land.
The SurveillanceFile 04
Watching, pinging, pulling
Surveillance photos of clients carrying groceries. Cell tower data pulls. Credit checks. We can usually tell from the adjuster's first questions when a case will draw this treatment, and we get ahead of it.
5
Years · RSMo § 516.120
The statute gives you five years
Missouri allows five years from the date of the crash to file a car accident lawsuit; wrongful death claims are three years under § 537.100. But camera footage gets overwritten, witnesses move, and vehicles get repaired. The claim you can prove in week one is not the claim you can prove in month six.
72
Hours · Average Follow-Up Cadence
We measure updates in hours
A typical volume firm hands one team member 250 files; each client hears something about once every five weeks. Our staff average around 75 cases, tracked daily against written benchmarks. You should always know where your case is and what happens next.
Calling today costs the same as calling next month. The only thing waiting changes is the evidence.
The Missouri Statute of Limitations for Car Accidents
In Missouri, you generally have five years from the date of the crash to file a car accident lawsuit. The deadline comes from RSMo § 516.120, and it covers both your injury claim and the damage to your vehicle.
Here is what a statute of limitations actually means, in plain English. It is not a deadline to finish your case, and it is not a deadline to settle. It is the deadline to file a lawsuit in court. If that date passes without a suit on file, your claim is legally extinguished. The insurance company knows it, and from that day forward it has no reason to offer you anything at all. Every dollar of leverage you had disappears at once.
Two different clocks can apply to the same crash. If someone died, the family’s wrongful death claim runs on a shorter three-year deadline under RSMo § 537.100. Families grieving a loss often assume they have the same five years everyone talks about. They do not.
Missouri law can pause the clock in a few narrow situations, such as for injured minors under RSMo § 516.170. The exceptions are real but narrow, and the worst mistake you can make is assuming one applies to you. Treat the deadline as fixed and let us confirm the rest.
And a practical warning from the inside: insurers benefit from your delay. An adjuster can keep a claim in friendly negotiation for years while your deadline quietly approaches, then stop returning calls once your leverage is gone. Filing on time is what keeps their number honest.
5 years
To file an injury or vehicle-damage lawsuit after a Missouri car accident. RSMo § 516.120
3 years
For a wrongful death claim when a crash takes a life. The shorter clock surprises families. RSMo § 537.100
30 days
The deadline almost nobody mentions: crashes involving an uninsured driver generally must be reported to the Missouri Department of Revenue within 30 days under the financial responsibility law. RSMo Ch. 303
Weeks, in practice
Camera footage gets overwritten, witnesses move, vehicles get repaired. The legal deadline is five years; the evidence deadline is measured in weeks.
What If the Insurance Company Says the Crash Was Partly Your Fault?
You can still recover in Missouri, even if you were partly at fault. Missouri follows pure comparative fault, adopted by the Missouri Supreme Court in Gustafson v. Benda (1983). Your compensation is reduced by your percentage of fault, whatever that percentage is, and it is never cut off entirely.
Now connect that rule to the adjuster’s phone call. When the questions come in a strange order, when you are asked why you did not swerve even though you had the right of way, the adjuster is not confused about what happened. They are building your percentage. Every agreeable answer becomes a point of fault assigned to you, and every point is money subtracted from your recovery.
That is why the fault fight is where car accident cases are quietly won and lost, and why we treat the first insurer phone call as seriously as a court date. Our job is keeping your percentage where the evidence puts it, not where the adjuster’s script leads it.
How the Math Works
Say your damages are $100,000 and the insurer convinces everyone you were 20% at fault. Your recovery drops to $80,000. If they push you to 50%, you lose $50,000. The percentage argument on that first recorded call can be worth more than every medical bill combined.
Why This Rule Cuts Both Ways
Pure comparative fault also means a driver who was mostly at fault can still come after you. The rule that protects your claim gives the other side an incentive to inflate your share. Documentation, not politeness, is the defense.
Common Injuries in St. Louis Car Accidents
Neck and back injuries
Far and away the most common, because most urban crashes are rear-end collisions. Many doctors will not treat a spinal injury seriously without an MRI; we make sure the imaging you were referred for actually happens.
Whiplash and soft-tissue injuries
Easy for an insurer to dismiss and easy for you to underestimate. The pain that "goes away" because you stopped doing what hurts is still an injury, and it still belongs in the record.
Shoulder and joint injuries
The classic toughing-it-out injury. You quit golfing, quit lifting your kid, and the injury stays while the complaints stop. If it hurts every time you wash your hair, your body is telling you something.
Concussions and head injuries
Skull fractures, hearing loss, and concussions changed lives in cases we have resolved for seven figures. The person carrying one is often the last to admit it; sometimes a spouse's "he is not himself anymore" is the first honest diagnosis.
Fractures and broken bones
The ER diagnoses the break; the fight is over everything after: hardware, rehab, and the chronic pain that outlasts the cast. The lasting part of the injury is what has to get valued.
Surgical and permanent injuries
You get one settlement. If your injury needs surgery two years from now, that cost has to be in the number before you sign. We document future care so today's offer covers tomorrow's operation.
How Much Is Your St. Louis Car Accident Case Worth?
A St. Louis car accident case is worth the documented losses the evidence supports, limited by the insurance coverage that can be collected, minus the liens, attorney fee and case expenses that come out of the gross recovery. Three questions decide the number: how much coverage exists, how serious and permanent the injuries are, and what is owed from the settlement.
What comes out of a settlement before you are paid?
The net recovery from a St. Louis car accident settlement is the gross amount minus the attorney fee, case expenses, medical liens and health insurance reimbursement claims. Hospital and physician liens in Missouri are governed by RSMo § 430.225, which limits what lien holders can take when the recovery is too small to pay everyone. Medicare, Medicaid and ERISA health plans have their own reimbursement rights.
An illustrative net calculation: a $100,000 settlement with a one-third attorney fee ($33,333), $2,500 in case expenses and medical liens negotiated from $20,000 to $12,000 leaves the client $52,167. The same settlement with the liens left at $20,000 leaves $44,167. Lien negotiation is part of the firm’s work for exactly this reason.
Coverage figures that set the value of a St. Louis car accident case
Figure
Meaning
$25,000 / $50,000
Missouri minimum bodily injury liability limits per person and per accident, RSMo § 303.190
$25,000 / $50,000
Uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage required on every Missouri auto policy, RSMo § 379.203
One settlement
A claim settles once; future surgery has to be in the number before the release is signed
The three figures are the minimum liability limits, the required uninsured motorist limits and the single-settlement rule that makes future care part of every valuation.
The table gives the three-year crash counts from the Patrol’s 2022 to 2024 rank-order listing and the 2023 deaths from its annual statistics booklet. St. Louis County’s 99 deaths in 2023 ran 20 above its ten-year average; the City’s 52 deaths were 27 fewer than in 2022.
Statewide in 2023, Missouri recorded 136,847 crashes, 991 deaths and 50,375 injuries. City streets accounted for 60,312 of those crashes, more than any other road class, and interstates for 18,039. The most frequent probable contributing circumstances were failure to yield (13,229 crashes), driving too fast for conditions (7,097), distracted or inattentive driving (6,426), following too closely (5,950) and improper lane usage or change (5,890). Speed was a factor in 39.0% of fatal crashes and alcohol or drugs in 22.5%.
The crash report for a St. Louis crash comes from the agency that responded: the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department for city streets, the St. Louis County Police Department or the municipal department for county roads, and Troop C of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, headquartered in Weldon Spring, for crashes it investigates on the region’s interstates. A lawsuit from a crash in the city is filed in the 22nd Judicial Circuit; a crash in the county is filed in the 21st Judicial Circuit in Clayton.
Call (314) 735-8100 to talk with a car accident injury lawyer in St. Louis about a crash on any of these roads.
$25K / $50K
Missouri minimum bodily-injury coverage per person / per accident. The reason "what's their policy?" is question one. RSMo § 303.190
2 factors
Coverage available and injury severity. Everything else, including every online calculator, is decoration around those two.
1 settlement
You settle once. If surgery arrives two years from now, it has to be in the number before you sign, or it is yours to pay.
Will Your Case Go to Trial, and How Long Will It Take?
Most car accident cases settle without a trial. Yours probably will too. But here is the part that matters: settlements are not priced on politeness. Insurance companies pay differently depending on whether they believe a firm will actually walk into a courtroom, and a firm known to fold gets fold-sized offers. We prepare every case as if it will be tried, because that preparation is what makes trial unnecessary.
On timing, the honest answer has a structure. A claim should not settle before the full extent of your injuries is known, which usually means completing treatment or reaching the point where doctors can say what your future care looks like. Straightforward cases resolve in months. Serious-injury cases take longer, and litigation adds time when the insurer will not get honest. Anyone promising you a fast number is pricing their convenience, not your case.
What we control is motion. Your case runs against written benchmarks, tracked daily, with follow-up on average every 72 hours, so the months it takes are months of progress rather than silence.
Most cases settle
Trial is the exception. Trial-readiness is why the settlement offers get honest.
Treatment first
The settlement clock starts when your medical picture is complete, not when the insurer gets impatient.
72 hours
Our average client follow-up cadence while the case moves. You will never wonder where things stand.
What Should I Do After a Car Accident in St. Louis?
Four things, in order. After the fourth, everything else, the police report, the medical records, the bills, the 30-day uninsured-driver report to the Department of Revenue if one applies, and every insurance call, becomes our job, not yours. We handle everything from there.
Both vehicles, the scene, and any visible injuries or bruising. Once the cars are moved and the bruises fade, that evidence is gone for good.
Get treated, and keep every appointment
Gaps in treatment are the first thing an adjuster uses against you. If you are in pain, get it documented promptly.
Write everything down
What the other driver blurted out, what the officer said, how you slept that night. A year from now, your notes will remember what you cannot.
Call before you talk to any adjuster
Insurance representatives are trained to turn friendly answers into recorded admissions. Let us do the talking from here.
How Do I Know If I Have a Car Accident Case?
Every viable claim rests on the same four legal elements. Here is what each one means in a Missouri car wreck, in plain English.
Element 01
Injury
You were actually hurt, and the injury is documented. This is why treatment matters so much: an injury that never made it into a medical record is, to the insurance company, an injury that never happened.
Element 02
Negligence
Someone failed to drive with reasonable care: the rear-end, the improper lane change, the left turn across traffic. Expect the insurer to argue you share the blame; that is the swerve story, and we know how to answer it.
Element 03
Causation
The crash caused the injury. This is where treatment gaps and the recorded "I'm fine" do their damage, and where prompt, consistent medical documentation quietly wins cases.
Element 04
Damages
What the injury cost you: medical bills, lost wages, future care, and the parts of your life it took. The recovery is bounded by the coverage available, which is why we pursue every policy in play.
Why We Dig Deeper
“
A Left Turn. A Blocked View. A Case Nobody Else Saw.
One of the first plaintiff’s cases Partner Patrick Hinrichs worked involved a man left quadriplegic when a car turned left across his motorcycle at a green light. On its face, a simple case: illegal turn, driver at fault. Handled that way, the driver’s insurance policy would have been the ceiling on everything this man’s life now required.
Patrick looked at the intersection instead. A large sign had blocked the turning driver’s view. That opened claims against the companies that built, designed, and placed the sign, and with them, recovery the obvious case would never have reached. That is the habit this firm was built on: the obvious defendant is not always the only one.
"By visiting with this client, in his home, with his family, we found what the case actually needed. That is what proactive means." Patrick Hinrichs · Partner
Over Team of St. Louis Car Accident Lawyers Have Over 40 Years of Experience
The Bruning Law Firm is a family business, built on trust and dedication. Founded by Anthony Bruning, led with his sons A.J. and Ryan, and driven by partners who know St. Louis courtrooms, adjusters, and juries.
How long do I have to file a car accident lawsuit in Missouri?
Five years from the date of the crash, under RSMo § 516.120. That deadline applies to filing the lawsuit, not finishing the case. Wrongful death claims are three years under RSMo § 537.100. Either way, the practical deadline is much shorter than the legal one, because camera footage, witnesses, and vehicle evidence disappear in weeks.
Can I still recover if the crash was partly my fault?
Yes. Missouri follows pure comparative fault, so your recovery is reduced by your percentage of blame rather than eliminated. That is also exactly why the adjuster works so hard to raise your percentage. See the shared-blame section above for how the math works.
What is my car accident case worth?
No honest lawyer can tell you two weeks after a wreck. The value turns on two things: how much insurance coverage exists, including the underinsured motorist coverage in your own policy, and how serious and permanent your injuries turn out to be once treatment is understood. Anyone who quotes you a number on the first call is guessing at your expense.
Should I talk to the other driver's insurance company?
Not before you talk to a lawyer, and never in a recorded statement. Adjusters are trained to turn your politeness into admissions: a reflexive "I'm fine" on a recorded line becomes their argument that you were never hurt. Once we represent you, they talk to us instead.
What if I already gave the insurance company a statement?
Call us anyway. It takes a professional to unscramble that egg, and in most cases it can be managed. The worst move is assuming you have ruined your case and taking whatever they offer.
What does it cost to hire The Bruning Law Firm?
The consultation is free, and we work on contingency: no fee unless we recover for you. Your price is the same whether you call today or a week from today. The evidence is what changes.
What kinds of car accident cases do you handle?
All of them: rear-end collisions, which drive most of the spinal injuries we see, truck and rideshare crashes, hit-and-run and uninsured driver cases, and crashes caused by more than one party. The cases we decline are the ones where we honestly cannot make a difference for you, and we will tell you that straight.
Where We Work
Serving the Entire St. Louis Region
St. Louis City·St. Louis County·St. Charles County·Jefferson County·Franklin County·Clayton·Florissant·Chesterfield·Kirkwood·Maryland Heights·Webster Groves·Ferguson
Free Consultation
Tell Us What Happened
Call (314) 735-8100 and talk to us now, or send the basics and we will call you back. Either way, it costs nothing to find out where you stand.
No fee unless we win. Your information stays confidential.
The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based solely upon advertisements. Past results afford no guarantee of future results; every case is different and must be judged on its own merits.
