This is kind of tricky question because it depends who you really are and who claim is against.
For the purposes of this question, let’s assume you are not a minor and this claim is not against the governmental organization.
So, it’s a straight rear-end car accident collision.

Then the answer is, you have 5 years after the car accident to file a lawsuit. That’s called the statute of limitations, here in Missouri. If you don’t do anything within those 5 years, you will be forever barred. The reason for that is, in Missouri, it’s actually very liberal, other states have much shorter statute of limitations of one, two or three years for these car accident claims and lawsuits.

The reason for that is, the statue is there to prevent a fraudulent lawsuit.
After 5 years people start forgetting, and it’s getting much more difficult to prove what really happened.
The answer is you got 5 years after a collision, if it’s not a governmental organization, you are not minor to file a lawsuit.

Why is it tricky? #

However, this is really tricky, because if you don’t get any treatment or if you don’t do the necessary steps to preserve your rights.
Let’s say you don’t do anything for six months after a car accident, and all of sudden your neck that’s been bothering you for six months, you just can’t do anything about it, and you go back to a doctor. You say, hey, this is related to a car accident.
That gap in treatment is going to be very very detrimental to your case.

Even though you’ve got 5 years to start litigation in a car accident case, I would not advise you to wait to do anything that long. Do everything that you can ASAP because right after a car accident takes the time to take the necessary steps to preserve your rights.

If you have any other questions, call me at 314-352-6800. Consultation is free. Hope we’ll be able to chat with you. Have a good day.

Bajric & Ramic Law Office
Nedim Ramic – Auto Accident Lawyer – Personal Injury Attorney