When a St. Louis family loses someone because another person was careless, the law gives eligible family members a way to hold the responsible party accountable. A St. Louis wrongful death lawyer can help you seek financial support for your family’s losses.
The obstacle families often face is that the at-fault party’s insurer evaluates a death claim in financial terms. Adjusters can dispute liability, question the losses claimed, or make a settlement offer before the family understands the claim’s full value. Accepting too little can leave survivors without compensation for losses that continue for years.
Sumner Law Group builds claims with evidence and handles those disputes for the family. Call us today at (314) 669-0048 or reach out through our online form when you’re ready to talk about your claim.
Call Us Now! Your Time to
File a Claim Is Limited.
Why Choose Sumner Law Group for a St. Louis Wrongful Death Claim
Sumner Law Group brings decades of trial experience to wrongful death claims, giving families a legal team that knows how to handle serious disputes over fault, damages, and insurance coverage.
Trial-Ready Attorneys
Insurance companies know our lawyers are prepared to take wrongful death cases to trial when necessary. Building the case for litigation means gathering the evidence needed to prove both fault and the losses Missouri law allows the family to recover.
Over Five Decades in Missouri Courts
More than 50 years of combined experience gives our attorneys a deep understanding of Missouri wrongful death law. These claims follow specific rules about who can file, what damages are available, and how a recovery is divided. That experience helps your family avoid mistakes that could complicate the claim.
A Team That Answers Directly
You work with attorneys who know your family’s case rather than being passed from one person to another. Our lawyers keep you informed while handling the legal work, insurer communications, and deadlines that move the claim forward.
Who Can File a Wrongful Death Claim in St. Louis?
Missouri law gives the closest surviving family members the first right to bring a wrongful death claim. That generally means the deceased person’s spouse, children, descendants of deceased children, or parents.
If no one in that group can file, the right passes to siblings, or descendants of deceased siblings, and the court can appoint a plaintiff ad litem if no qualifying family member is available.
The people who can qualify include:
- Spouse: The surviving husband or wife can file the claim.
- Children: The deceased person’s children can bring the claim.
- Descendants of Deceased Children: Grandchildren or other descendants can qualify when their parent, who was the deceased person’s child, has already died.
- Parents: Either surviving parent can file.
- Siblings: If no one in the first group can file, the deceased person’s brothers or sisters can qualify.
- Descendants of Siblings: Nieces, nephews, or other descendants of a deceased sibling can qualify in that next group.
- Plaintiff Ad Litem: If no eligible family member in those groups can bring the claim, the court can appoint someone to do so.
More than one eligible family member does not mean the family files competing lawsuits. Missouri allows one wrongful death action against a defendant for one death, and an eligible claimant can pursue the case without every other eligible person formally joining. The court ultimately apportions the recovery among those entitled to share based on their losses.
Our St. Louis wrongful death lawyers can help your family determine who has standing, notify other eligible family members, and handle the court process for distributing any recovery.
What Kinds of Accidents Lead to Wrongful Death Claims?
Wrongful death claims can arise when another person or company causes a death through negligence or other legally wrongful conduct. The type of accident changes what your lawyer needs to investigate and which parties could be responsible.
Preventable injuries take an especially heavy toll on younger families. In 2024, unintentional injuries caused 1,353 deaths among Missourians ages 1 to 44.
Common examples include:
- Fatal Motor Vehicle Crashes: High-speed collisions on corridors like I-70 and I-44 can lead to fatal injuries. Your lawyer can investigate driver conduct, commercial trucking records, vehicle evidence, and available insurance.
- Pedestrian and Motorcycle Fatalities: People on foot and on motorcycles have little protection from the force of a collision. We gather evidence to establish how the crash happened and answer disputes over fault.
- Negligent Security and Facility Failures: A death caused by unsafe premises or inadequate security can create a claim against a property owner when the evidence establishes negligence.
- Dangerous or Defective Conditions: Defective products and hazardous property conditions can also lead to wrongful death claims when a person or company bears legal responsibility for the danger.
How Does an Insurance Company Respond to a Wrongful Death Claim?
Insurance companies investigate wrongful death claims to determine whether their insured is liable and how much it believes the claim is worth. That means the adjuster’s interests are different from your family’s, even when the company doesn’t dispute that a death occurred.
Several disputes commonly affect these claims:
- Early Settlement Offers: An insurer can make an offer before the family has fully documented lost financial support, services, companionship, and other damages.
- Disputes Over Liability: The insurer can argue that another person, including the deceased, shared responsibility for what happened.
- Challenges to Damages: Adjusters can dispute projected income, household services, life expectancy, or other factors used to calculate the family’s losses.
How Sumner Law Group Protects You
Sumner Law Group answers those disputes with evidence instead of leaving the insurer’s version of the claim unchallenged. Our St. Louis wrongful death lawyers document the financial and personal losses Missouri law recognizes, investigate fault, and respond when the insurer tries to reduce the value of the claim.
That can include gathering employment and tax records to establish lost income, documenting household services and support, and using medical or financial experts when future losses need more explanation.
If the insurer argues that your loved one shared responsibility, your lawyer can gather the evidence needed to address that comparative-fault claim. The goal is to give the insurer a complete, well-supported claim before you decide whether an offer is reasonable.
What Compensation Can a Family Recover in a Wrongful Death Case?
A family can seek compensation for financial losses and specific losses tied to the relationship with the person who died. Missouri law allows the court or jury to consider both measurable economic losses and the value of the support, services, and companionship the family lost.
Those damages can include:
- Lost Financial Support: Your claim can account for income and financial support the deceased would have provided.
- Lost Services and Guidance: Missouri law allows you to seek compensation for the value of services, instruction, guidance, counsel, training, and support that the family has lost.
- Funeral Expenses: Your claim can seek compensation for funeral costs tied to the death.
- Loss of Companionship and Consortium: The law recognizes losses such as companionship, comfort, and consortium caused by the death.
Missouri specifically excludes damages for grief and bereavement themselves, so the claim must focus on the losses the statute allows.
How Does a St. Louis Wrongful Death Lawyer Handle Your Case?
A St. Louis wrongful death lawyer investigates fault, documents the family’s losses, handles the insurer, and manages the court process. That keeps the legal work moving without forcing family members to build the case themselves while grieving.
Investigating What Caused the Death
Your lawyer gathers police reports, medical and coroner records, available video, witness statements, and other evidence tied to the death. Whether a fatal crash happened on I-64 or a death resulted from unsafe premises, the goal is to establish what happened and who bears responsibility.
Documenting the Family’s Losses
A wrongful death claim requires more than proof that someone caused the death. Your lawyer also documents lost income, household services, support, companionship, funeral expenses, and other damages Missouri law recognizes.
Financial records, employment information, testimony from family members, and expert analysis can help establish the losses that will continue into the future.
Handling the Insurance Company
Your lawyer communicates with insurers, responds to arguments about liability and damages, and presents the evidence supporting the claim. That keeps the family from having to negotiate directly with an adjuster or decide what information the insurer needs.
Preparing for Settlement or Trial
The evidence gathered for the claim also prepares the case for litigation if negotiations do not produce a reasonable offer. Your lawyer handles filing requirements, court deadlines, discovery, negotiations, and trial preparation while keeping you informed about major decisions.
How Long Do You Have To File a Wrongful Death Claim in Missouri?
Missouri generally gives eligible family members three years to file a wrongful death lawsuit. Under RSMo § 537.100, the deadline applies to actions brought under Missouri’s wrongful death statute.
Three years can seem like a long time, but wrongful death claims often require a substantial investigation before a lawsuit is filed. Your lawyer may need to determine who has the right to bring the claim, gather records, review available insurance, and document your family’s losses.
Waiting can also make it harder to build your case. Video can disappear, witnesses can become harder to locate, and businesses can dispose of records in accordance with their normal retention policies.
Starting the investigation earlier gives our St. Louis wrongful death lawyers more time to preserve evidence and address disputes before the filing deadline.
Read this guide to understand if you can hold the government accountable and successfully recover damages from the City of St. Louis.
FAQ for St. Louis Wrongful Death Lawyers
How Do St. Louis Wrongful Death Lawyers Prove the At-Fault Party Caused the Death?
Wrongful death lawyers prove causation by connecting the responsible party’s conduct to the fatal injury with evidence. Depending on the case, that can include police reports, medical records, video, physical evidence, company records, and witness testimony.
Your lawyer uses that evidence to show both what happened and why the defendant bears legal responsibility.
Can We Still File a Claim if Our Loved One Was Partly at Fault?
Missouri’s comparative fault rules can reduce the value of a wrongful death claim when the deceased shared responsibility for the underlying injury. The percentage of fault attributed to the deceased affects the damages rather than automatically eliminating the claim.
Your lawyer gathers evidence to respond when the defense tries to place more responsibility on the person who died.
Is a Wrongful Death Claim the Same as a Criminal Case?
A Missouri wrongful death claim is a civil case that is separate from any criminal prosecution. A family can pursue a civil claim even when prosecutors don’t file criminal charges. The proceedings also use different legal standards, so the outcome of one doesn’t automatically determine the other.
What Happens if More Than One Family Member Wants To File a Wrongful Death Claim?
Missouri allows only one wrongful death action against the same defendant for the death of one person. One or more eligible family members can pursue the claim, and Missouri law doesn’t require every eligible person to join the lawsuit. The court determines how to divide a recovery among those entitled to share in it.
Discover which legal relatives qualify to file a claim and receive compensation in a Missouri wrongful death suit.
How Does a St. Louis Wrongful Death Attorney Determine What Our Family’s Claim Is Worth?
Your St. Louis wrongful death attorney evaluates your claim by documenting the financial and personal losses Missouri law allows the family to recover. That can include lost financial support, services, companionship, funeral expenses, and damages the deceased suffered before death.
St. Louis Statute of Limitations on Wrongful Death
The Missouri wrongful death statute of limitations typically requires that a lawsuit be filed within three years of the person’s passing. If your family’s wrongful death lawsuit is not filed before this three-year period, the court can dismiss your case. When that happens, you lose the right to seek compensation for your damages and losses in court.
Hold the Responsible Party Accountable
No legal claim can restore what your family lost, but a wrongful death case can hold the responsible party financially accountable and help address the losses the death created. Sumner Law Group can investigate what happened, document your damages, and handle the insurer for your family.
Reach our St. Louis wrongful death lawyers at (314) 669-0048 or contact us through our online form when you’re ready to get started.