# authority.md — mva-intake-summary

Canonical text lives in `mo-authority.md` (bundled). This file is the intake slice.
**Verified July 16, 2026.** Legend: ✅ verified · 🔶 new · ⚠️ corrected · ⛔ open, do not state.

## The four screeners that change the case

### 1. Was the client insured at the moment of impact? — § 303.390 ✅

An uninsured motorist **waives non-economic loss** against a driver in compliance with chapter 303.
Ten-second question; it is the difference between a case and a specials-only case.

**Exceptions (§ 303.390.1, flush text):** tortfeasor under the influence; tortfeasor **convicted**
of involuntary manslaughter (§ 565.024.1(2)); tortfeasor **convicted** of assault 2d (§ 565.060.1(4))
— ⛔ **that cross-reference may be stale**; the Revisor double-asterisks it and the criminal code was
revised effective 1/1/2017 and assault 2d moved to **§ 565.052**. Do not assert the assault exception is operative.

**§ 303.390.2 lapse safe harbor — the direction is counterintuitive:**

| Facts | Result |
|---|---|
| Lapsed for nonpayment; insurer's notice **≥ 6 months** before crash | Waiver **APPLIES** |
| Lapsed for nonpayment; notice **< 6 months** before crash, or none | Waiver **DOES NOT APPLY** |

**The six months runs on the insurer's notice, not on the lapse.**

**§ 303.390.3** ✅ — post-verdict reduction; **"The trier of fact shall not be informed, directly or
indirectly, of such waiver."** Not an affirmative defense tried to the jury.

**Constitutionality is live.** *Jiles v. Schuster Co.*, 357 F. Supp. 3d 908, 914–16 (2018) struck it;
*Hassell v. Howard*, No. 20-05042-CV-S-BP (W.D. Mo. 2020) upheld it. No Missouri appellate merits
ruling. Run under *Watts ex rel. Watts v. Lester E. Cox Med. Ctrs.*, 376 S.W.3d 633, 637 (Mo. banc
2012). Present as unsettled.

### 2. Government vehicle? Name the driver individually. 🔶

**The § 537.610.2 cap does not reach the public employee.** Driving is **ministerial**, so official
immunity does not attach.

- *State ex rel. Trimble v. Ryan*, 745 S.W.2d 672, 675 (Mo. banc 1988) ✅ — Bi-State bus; entity
  capped, **driver not**; "ministerial matter of navigating a left turn."
- *Cottey v. Schmitter*, 24 S.W.3d 126, 128 (Mo. App. W.D. 2000) ✅ — snowplow operator uncapped.
- *Cole ex rel. Cole v. Warren County R-III Sch. Dist.*, 23 S.W.3d 756, 761 (Mo. App. E.D. 2000) ✅
  — district's immunity not transferable to its bus driver. ⚠️ 23 S.W.3d 756 is an **ambiguous
  reporter page** (also *State v. Holmes*, same date) — always cite by full case name.
- *Brancati v. Bi-State Dev. Agency*, 571 S.W.3d 625 (Mo. App. E.D. 2018) ✅ — declined to overrule
  *Cole*. Entity capped at $414,418; **driver liable for the full $625,000**.

**Waiver routes:** § 537.600.1(1) ✅ motor-vehicle operation; dangerous condition of public property;
and **insurance purchase** — *Kunzie v. City of Olivette*, 184 S.W.3d 570, 574 (Mo. banc 2006) ✅.
**Ask what policy the entity bought before asking about the cap.**
§ 537.610.3 ✅ — **no punitives against a public entity.**
⛔ **Current cap figure not verified.** $414,418 per person as of Dec. 2017 (*Brancati*, stipulated).
§ 537.610.5 indexes annually to the BEA Implicit Price Deflator, published in the *Missouri
Register*. **Pull it; do not hardcode; do not extrapolate.**

**§ 82.210** ✅ — 90-day notice to the mayor, cities of 100,000+ (St. Louis City and KC both qualify).
**Narrow:** reaches injuries "growing out of any defect in the condition of any bridge, boulevard,
street, sidewalk or thoroughfare." A **road-defect notice, not a general claims notice**. *Jones v.
City of Kansas City*, 15 S.W.3d 736 (Mo. banc 2000) ✅ (yield sign is not a thoroughfare); cf.
*Williams v. City of Kansas City*, 782 S.W.2d 64 (Mo. banc 1990) ✅. **It does not bite the
city-employee rear-ender.** § 79.480 ⛔ (fourth-class cities).

### 3. Which limitations period actually applies?

| Claim | Period | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| Ordinary negligence / PI | **5 years** | § 516.120(4) ✅ — "any other injury to the person or rights of another" |
| Wrongful death | **3 years from accrual, generally the DATE OF DEATH** ✅ — not the crash date | § 537.100 |
| Against a **health care provider** | **2 years** from occurrence | § 516.105 ✅ |
| Battery (road rage) | **2 years** | § 516.140 ✅ |

🔶 **THE TRAP: § 516.105 expressly names chiropractors and professional physical therapists.**
Chiropractic is the most common MVA treatment modality in Missouri. **A claim out of that treatment
is a 2-year claim inside a file that feels like a 5-year file.** Exceptions: foreign object and
failure-to-inform (discovery rules); minor under 18 → twentieth birthday. Outer bound 10 years from
the act, or 2 years from a minor's 18th birthday, whichever later. § 516.105.2 — 180-day service
window after expiration.

🔶 **§ 516.140's list is CLOSED.** No general intentional-tort catch-all. Battery = 2 years. **IIED is
not listed** → argues for the 5-year § 516.120(4) residual.

**§ 516.170 tolling** ✅ verbatim: tolls only actions "**in sections 516.100 to 516.370 specified**."
Two answers fall out of the text:
1. **Wrongful death is § 537.100 — OUTSIDE that range. § 516.170 does not toll it by its own terms.**
2. **Med mal is expressly carved out.** Revisor annotation: *"(1996) Actions brought pursuant to this
   section are not tolled under 516.170."*

⚠️ **"Five years from turning 21" is derived, not statutory.** The statute grants "the respective
times… after such disability is removed." Five years is the § 516.120(4) number. A different claim
yields a different number. **Do not hardcode.**

🔶 **Branch on government defendant.** Notice deadlines run far shorter than any limitations period.

### 4. Health insurance type — ERISA or not?

Missouri is an **ANTI-SUBROGATION** state. *Hays v. Mo. Highways & Transp. Comm'n*, 62 S.W.3d 538,
540 (Mo. App. W.D. 2001) ✅. A fully-insured non-ERISA plan frequently has **no right to be paid at
all**. Ask at intake; the answer drives net-to-client. Exceptions: ERISA self-funded, FEHBA
(*Coventry Health Care of Mo. v. Nevils*, 581 U.S. 87 (2017) ✅ — **reversing** *Nevils*, 418 S.W.3d
451), Medicare, Medicaid, statutory hospital/ambulance liens. See `mo-authority.md` § 8.

## Comparative fault

*Gustafson v. Benda*, 661 S.W.2d 11 (Mo. banc **1983**) ✅ — pure comparative fault; reduces but does
not bar. ⛔ Pin cite (15–16) unverified.

## Also capture

- **UM/UIM on every household policy**, med-pay limits, resident-relative policies, and the **number
  of vehicles and policies** (stacking — *Ritchie*, 307 S.W.3d 132 ✅; *Floyd-Tunnell*, 439 S.W.3d
  215 ✅).
- **Spoliation trigger.** Commercial-vehicle cases need an ECM/black-box preservation letter within
  days, not weeks.