If you were hurt in Missouri by someone else's conduct, you generally have five years from the date of the injury to file a personal-injury lawsuit. The deadline comes from RSMo section 516.120, and the clock starts on the date the harm occurred. Missouri's five-year window is one of the longest in the country for general PI claims, but that length is a trap: claimants assume there is no urgency, and other shorter deadlines run out long before the SOL.
The five-year number is the rule most Missouri injury searches return. The biggest traps are the 90-day notice requirement for claims against municipalities and the two-year SOL that governs medical-malpractice claims. Both run from accrual and can end a case years before the five-year general SOL would. This post walks through what the five-year SOL really means in 2026, where the exceptions are, and the fact patterns we see trip people up most.
The default Missouri PI window: five years under RSMo 516.120
RSMo section 516.120(4) sets a five-year statute of limitations for actions for injuries to the person not arising on contract and not otherwise enumerated. It is the catch-all for the vast majority of Missouri PI cases: car crashes, slip-and-falls, dog bites, premises liability, and most negligence claims.
The clock starts on the date the injury occurred. Missouri recognizes a discovery rule for latent injuries under RSMo 516.100: the cause of action accrues when the damage is sustained and is capable of ascertainment.
Missouri is a fault-based auto-insurance state. The injured party's recovery generally runs through the at-fault driver's insurer or the claimant's own uninsured-motorist coverage.
Exception one: the MTCA 90-day notice trap
If your injury involves a Missouri municipality, the Missouri Tort Claims Act applies. RSMo section 537.600 waives sovereign immunity in narrow circumstances (dangerous condition of public property, operation of motor vehicles by employees), and RSMo section 537.700 et seq. governs the procedure.
RSMo section 79.480 and the broader municipal notice scheme require written notice within 90 days of the injury for claims against a city of the third or fourth class. Many Missouri municipal charters impose their own short notice deadlines as well, often 90 days from injury.
Substantial compliance is not safe ground. The Missouri courts have repeatedly enforced strict notice content and timing.
The single most common Missouri PI trap: a claimant injured by a city vehicle or on city property assumes the five-year SOL applies, contacts an attorney four or six months after the incident, and learns the 90-day municipal notice has already run. The five-year general SOL never matters; the municipal notice was the live deadline.
Exception two: medical malpractice and the affidavit of merit
Missouri medical-malpractice claims run on a much shorter window under RSMo section 516.105: a two-year SOL from the date of the negligent act. Missouri also imposes a ten-year statute of repose measured from the act, with limited exceptions for foreign objects and minors.
RSMo section 538.225 requires an affidavit of merit filed within 90 days of the petition, signed by a legally qualified health care provider stating the defendant failed to use reasonable care and the failure caused or contributed to the injury. Failure to file is grounds for dismissal.
Exception three: minors
RSMo section 516.170 tolls the SOL during minority for general PI claims. A child injured at age 10 has additional time after reaching the age of majority to file. The toll does NOT extend the 90-day municipal notice deadlines; treat the government notice as the operative limit and act within it regardless of the claimant's age.
What Missouri's pure comparative-fault rule means
Missouri follows a pure comparative-fault rule under RSMo section 537.765 and the seminal Gustafson v. Benda, 661 S.W.2d 11 (Mo. banc 1983). A plaintiff's recovery is reduced by the plaintiff's percentage of fault, but the plaintiff can recover even at 99% fault.
This makes Missouri one of the most plaintiff-friendly comparative-fault states in the country. There is no percentage bar that ends the case at the door. Defense lawyers focus on driving the percentage down, not on hitting a threshold.
A common Missouri fact pattern that ends cases early
A pedestrian is struck by a city sanitation truck in St. Louis. The pedestrian is treated and released, calls the city for damages, gets a "we'll look into it," and assumes the case is being processed. Five months later, no resolution; the pedestrian retains an attorney; the attorney discovers the city was never given the 90-day written notice. The case is dismissed for failure of a prerequisite condition.
The takeaway: if any Missouri government entity is potentially involved (state, city, county, school district, MoDOT, transit), treat the 90-day municipal notice deadline as the operative limit and act within it, not the five-year general SOL.
Other Missouri-specific PI rules worth knowing
Dog bites. RSMo section 273.036 imposes strict liability on dog owners for bites in public places or when the bitten person is lawfully on private property, with no requirement to show prior viciousness. Five-year SOL.
Wrongful death. Three-year SOL under RSMo section 537.100. Standing under RSMo section 537.080. This is shorter than the general PI five-year window, a common point of confusion.
Premises liability and slip-and-fall. Five-year SOL. Pure comparative-fault applies. The plaintiff must show the owner knew or should have known of the hazard.
How the LawSensai Personal Injury Recovery Center helps with Missouri matters
We built the Recovery Center to handle the day-one organizational work in a Missouri PI case so that nothing falls through the cracks during the five-year window. We document the incident through a calm, save-and-resume intake, build a medical-and-evidence timeline, and surface every applicable deadline, including the 90-day municipal notice, the two-year medmal SOL with affidavit of merit, the three-year wrongful-death window, and the underlying RSMo 516.120 five-year window. When the matter is well-documented and ready, we route it to a verified personal-injury attorney licensed in Missouri. Start your Missouri intake here.
We are not a law firm and we do not give legal advice. We are the file-organization and deadline-surfacing layer that sits in front of a real attorney.
Personal injury statute of limitations in other states
Each state has its own SOL window, government-notice deadline, comparative-fault regime, and case-type quirks. The deep-dive posts here cover the highest-volume jurisdictions. The full LawSensai PI Recovery Center routes 50-state coverage at /personal-injury.
- Georgia (OCGA 9-3-33, 6-month municipal ante-litem)
- Iowa (Iowa Code 614.1(2), ITCA 6-month notice)
- Kansas (KSA 60-513, KTCA 120-day notice)
- Nebraska (4-year SOL, NPTCA 1-year notice)
- North Dakota (6-year SOL, 180-day govt notice)
- Wisconsin (3-year SOL, WMSTA 120-day notice)
Informational only
LawSensai is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. The information in this post is general and does not account for your specific facts. No attorney-client relationship is created by reading this post or by using the Personal Injury Recovery Center. Deadlines, exceptions, and procedural rules vary by case type and by the parties involved; verify your specific situation with a licensed attorney in Missouri before relying on any window described here.
Last verified: 2026-06-03.