Missouri Accident Lawyer Blog

Two elderly residents from Marston, Missouri were killed in a fatal Missouri car accident this holiday weekend on July 2, 2011 at 12:17pm. The fatal Missouri car accident occurred on US-60 and MO-114 at Morehouse.

According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Missouri car crash happened when Charlie S. Hammons pulled a 1998 Ford into the path of a 1996 Chevrolet driven by Bryian G. Brown. Brown’s Chevrolet slammed into Hammons’s Ford. The force of the collision pushed both vehicles off the roadway. Hammons was ejected from his vehicle during the accident, though he and the others involved wore seat belts. Both drivers were insured by State Farm.

93-year-old Hammons was transported by Air Evac to St. Francis Hospital for medical treatment. Nevertheless, he was pronounced dead by Cape Girardeau Coroner John Clifton at the hospital. 87-year-old occupant Essie P. Hammons was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident by Stoddard County Coroner Aaron Mathis. Teenaged occupant George D. Brown of New Madrid was moderately injured in the accident. An ambulance took him to Missouri Delta Medical Center.

Injured accident victims often wonder whether they can recover damages for their injuries if the driver at fault died during the accident. Is it possible to sue drivers for personal injuries from a Missouri car accident after they have passed away? The answer depends on whether your jurisdiction has passed a type of law called a “survival statute.” Survival statutes dictate that personal injury cases “survive,” even when a party does not.

Missouri statute §537.020 is Missouri’s survival statute. Statute §537.020 says that causes of action for personal injuries “shall not abate” because the defendant died. Rather the cause of action survives to a representative for the deceased defendant. The statute authorizes a probate court to appoint a personal representative for the deceased. Suing a deceased defendant is often referred to as “suing the estate of the deceased.”

The accident victim will not receive a lower judgment or settlement merely because the defendant has passed away. Missouri law dictates that “the liability and the measure of damages shall be the same as if such death or deaths had not occurred.” If the accident victim would have received a judgment of $25,000 against a living defendant, the accident victim would receive a $25,000 judgment against a deceased defendant.