Midwest Personal Injury Lawyers · St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis Car Accident Lawyers

Smarter Approach. Better Results.

The Bruning Law Firm is family-owned and operated. Our St. Louis car accident lawyers have over 40 years of experience fighting for people in the Midwest and have recovered over $300 million for accident victims. We take a smart approach on each case we handle for our clients. The consultation is free, and there is no fee unless we win your case. Give us a call.

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Proud Partner of the
Missouri Tigers® Missouri Tigers
St. Louis car accident lawyer
40+ Years
Fighting for the injured
Inc. 5000
One of America's fastest-growing firms
1,700+
Five-star reviews from clients
$300M+
Won for our clients
Memberships & Recognitions
Super Lawyers Million Dollar Advocates Forum Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum Top 100 Trial Lawyers Avvo Rating Better Business Bureau The Missouri Bar Illinois bar association membership NAFI membership Expertise.com 2024
The Bruning Law Firm

Every Firm Says They Care. We Built a System That Proves It.

Every case in this office runs against written benchmarks that our team tracks daily, and our staff follow up with clients on average every 72 hours. When you call with a question about your insurance claim, the person who answers can actually answer it. You will never wonder what is happening with your case.

Getting medical care after a crash in St. Louis can be harder than it should be. Some specialists quote appointments a year out, and busy hospital systems often leave crash patients waiting. We help our clients find doctors who will evaluate their injuries, and we make sure the imaging actually happens, because an undocumented injury is an uncompensated one.

We also chase every dollar of coverage that applies to your wreck. That includes the at-fault driver’s policy, any umbrella coverage above it, and the underinsured motorist coverage sitting in your own policy that most people never think to use.

"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
Case Results

Recent Car Accident Recoveries

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 Bruning Is a Strong Choice

What Actually Runs Behind Your Case

A case that never sits still

Every case runs against written benchmarks tracked daily, with follow-up on average every 72 hours. Our staff answer your insurance questions on the spot, in plain English. You will never wonder what is happening with your case.

Doctors, not dead ends

St. Louis hospital systems make it hard for crash patients to get seen; some specialists quote appointments a year out. We find doctors who will evaluate your injury, arrange the imaging, and keep the record complete. An undocumented injury is an uncompensated one.

Every policy in play

Missouri minimums are $25,000 per person under RSMo § 303.190, and serious injuries outrun them fast. We pursue the at-fault policy, umbrella coverage, liable third parties, and the UM and UIM coverage in your own policy.

Know Their 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.

Call (314) 735-8100
Know Your Deadlines

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.

Shared Blame

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.

The Injuries We See

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.

The Honest Number

How Much Is a St. Louis Car Accident Case Worth?

Search this question and you will find formulas. The most common is the multiplier method: add up your medical bills, multiply by a number between 1.5 and 5 depending on severity, and call that your pain and suffering. Insurers and settlement calculators lean on it because it is tidy. It is also not how your case actually gets valued.

Two things set the real number. The first is the coverage available: the at-fault driver’s policy, any umbrella coverage, liable third parties, and the underinsured motorist coverage in your own policy. Missouri minimums are $25,000 per person under RSMo § 303.190, and serious injuries outrun that fast. The second is the full extent of your injuries, which cannot be known two weeks after a wreck, no matter what a calculator says.

Your damages fall into two buckets. Economic damages are countable: medical bills, future care, lost wages, lost earning capacity, the totaled car. Non-economic damages are the rest of what the crash took: pain, the golf you gave up, the sleep you lost, the parts of your life that shrank. Both count. Only one shows up on a receipt.

And one number nobody else talks about: the check you keep. Hospital liens and health-insurance paybacks come out of every settlement. We negotiate those down, because the settlement figure is a headline and the take-home is your life.

$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.

Expectations, Set Honestly

Will My 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.

Next Steps

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.

Start My Free Consultation

Photograph everything

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.

Our Process

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
Our Team

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.

Anthony Bruning, Founder, The Bruning Law Firm
Anthony Bruning
Founder
A.J. Bruning, Founder, The Bruning Law Firm
A.J. Bruning
Founder
Ryan Bruning, Founder, The Bruning Law Firm
Ryan Bruning
Founder
Patrick Hinrichs, Partner, The Bruning Law Firm
Patrick Hinrichs
Partner
Dylan Kriegshauser, Partner, The Bruning Law Firm
Dylan Kriegshauser
Partner
Jamie Boyer, Partner, The Bruning Law Firm
Jamie Boyer
Partner
Alex LaBarge, Partner, The Bruning Law Firm
Alex LaBarge
Partner
Brad Wilmoth, Partner, The Bruning Law Firm
Brad Wilmoth
Partner
Meet the full team, including the attorneys and staff working your file every day
Go Deeper

Your Crash, Your Situation

Every crash has its own shape. These guides go deeper on the specific situations St. Louis drivers bring us.

Rear-End CrashesThe most common St. Louis collision Whiplash InjuriesThe injury insurers dismiss Uninsured DriversWhen they have no coverage Underinsured CoverageWhen their policy is too small Multi-Vehicle WrecksWhen fault gets complicated Distracted DrivingProving they weren't looking Rollover AccidentsCatastrophic crash claims Broken BonesBeyond the emergency room Injury GuideEvery injury type, explained MedPay CoverageThe benefit you already own Umbrella PoliciesThe coverage above the coverage After a CrashThe step-by-step guide
Straight Answers

St. Louis Car Accident Questions, Answered

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.

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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.