Missouri

Burn Injury Attorneys in Missouri

This page lists attorneys in Missouriwho practice burn injury law. Listings are compiled from publicly available firm-published information. Contact information is displayed directly on each attorney's profile — we don't intermediate.

Missouri statute of limitations

5 years

for most personal-injury claims, per Mo. Rev. Stat. § 516.120.

Claims against government entities often carry shorter notice deadlines (often under six months). See our full state-by-state guide for citations and exceptions.

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Every listing on this page was compiled from public records. You can cross-check an attorney’s bar status, admission date, and any disciplinary record directly on the official state registry.

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How Missouri law treats burn-injury claims

Shared fault

Missouri follows pure comparative fault: an injured person can recover even if mostly at fault, with the award reduced by their percentage of fault.

Gustafson v. Benda, 661 S.W.2d 11 (Mo. banc 1983)

Damage caps

Missouri has no cap on damages in ordinary personal-injury cases. Statutory medical-malpractice claims are capped at approximately $481,000 (or about $843,000 for catastrophic injury) in 2026, with the base amounts growing 1.7% per year.

RSMo § 538.210; Watts v. Lester E. Cox Med. Ctrs. (2012)

Claims against government

Missouri governments are broadly immune from injury suits except for motor-vehicle negligence and dangerous-condition-of-property claims, and public-entity damages are capped (roughly $500,000 per person, inflation-adjusted). Street- and sidewalk-defect claims in the largest charter cities require written notice to the mayor within 90 days.

RSMo §§ 537.600, 537.610, 82.210

Punitive damages

Punitive damages require clear and convincing proof that the defendant intentionally harmed the plaintiff or acted with flagrant disregard for safety, plus court permission to plead. A statutory cap exists but the Missouri Supreme Court has held it cannot constitutionally be applied to most common-law injury claims.

RSMo §§ 510.261, 510.265; Lewellen v. Franklin (Mo. banc 2014)

Reference summaries verified against statutory text as of 2026-06-10. Laws change and exceptions apply — this is general information, not legal advice; consult a Missouri attorney about your situation.

Burn care in Missouri

Severe burns are treated at specialized burn centers, and the treating facility's records become central evidence in any claim. Missouri has no ABA-verified burn center, but 3 burn facilities are listed, per the ABA's public directory:

Burn Services at Research Medical Center

Children's Mercy Kansas City Burn Center

Mercy Burn Center - St. Louis

Source: American Burn Association — Find a Burn Center. Verification status changes; confirm with the facility. This is not medical advice or a facility endorsement.

Fire deaths in Missouri

The U.S. Fire Administration reports 121 fire deaths in Missouri in 2023 — a rate of 19.5 per million residents.

Source: U.S. Fire Administration, Fire Death and Injury Risk by State (2023 data). Crude rates are not age-adjusted and should not be compared between states.

Missouri's burn-injury treatment infrastructure centers on the Mercy Hospital St. Louis Burn Center and the University Hospital Burn Center at MU Health Care in Columbia, with pediatric burn care at Children's Mercy in Kansas City and SSM Health Cardinal Glennon in St. Louis. Survivors typically face multi-stage skin grafting, infection-control admissions, rehabilitation, and reconstructive procedures that can extend for years.

Severe burns in Missouri arise from residential fires across St. Louis, Kansas City, and Springfield metros, motor-vehicle collisions involving fuel ignition along the I-70 and I-44 corridors, industrial incidents in the state's substantial automotive-manufacturing and food-processing sectors, electrical arc-flash exposures on construction and utility sites, and farming-related burns in the state's agricultural counties. Missouri's civil statutes, not editorial commentary, govern filing deadlines.

Missouri's five-year statute of limitations

Missouri Revised Statutes § 516.120 states that the following actions "shall be commenced within five years": "(4) An action for taking, detaining or injuring any goods or chattels, including actions for the recovery of specific personal property, or for any other injury to the person or rights of another, not arising on contract and not herein otherwise enumerated …" Source: Missouri Revisor of Statutes, RSMo § 516.120.

We compile this for reference. Missouri is unusual in giving most personal-injury claimants five years, substantially longer than the two- or three-year limits common in most states. Medical-malpractice claims, wrongful-death claims, and claims against governmental entities are governed by different statutes (notably RSMo §§ 516.105 and 537.100) with shorter timelines. For advice on your specific case, consult a licensed Missouri attorney.

Comparative fault in Missouri

Missouri follows a pure comparative-fault rule under Missouri Supreme Court precedent (Gustafson v. Benda, 661 S.W.2d 11 (Mo. 1983)), allowing a partially-at-fault claimant to recover damages reduced by that party's percentage of fault, regardless of how high that percentage is. Because the rule originates in case law rather than in a single codified comparative-fault statute, we do not quote a statutory provision here. Allocation of fault in any specific matter is a question for the trier of fact. For advice on your specific case, consult a licensed Missouri attorney.

Where Missouri burn cases are typically filed

Civil personal-injury actions in Missouri are generally filed in the Circuit Court of the county where the injury occurred or where the defendant resides. The Circuit Court has general jurisdiction over tort claims; associate-circuit divisions handle some lower-value matters. St. Louis City, St. Louis County, Jackson County (Kansas City), and Greene County (Springfield) handle the majority of the state's higher-value personal-injury caseload by volume.

This page lists Missouri attorneys whose website disclosures indicate burn-injury or catastrophic-injury practice. Listings are compiled from publicly available firm information; nothing on this page should be read as legal advice or as an endorsement of any individual attorney. For advice about your specific situation, consult a licensed Missouri attorney directly.