Almost every car accident claim settles, which is why almost every firm advertising for them is built to settle. The problem is that the number an insurer offers depends on what it believes will happen if it refuses. A firm with no verdicts has nothing to make that belief with.
Updated September 2026
This page is attorney advertising. It offers general information about Missouri law and is not legal or medical advice for your situation. Reading this page or contacting the firm does not create an attorney-client relationship, which is formed only by a written agreement signed by both you and the firm. Any case results described are specific to the facts of those cases; past results do not guarantee, warrant, or predict a similar outcome in any other matter. Finney Injury Law is licensed to practice law in the State of Missouri. The full disclaimer appears at the bottom of this page.
This page is not an overview of car accident law. It is about one variable that changes what a claim is worth, and it is the variable most firms would prefer you not ask about: whether your lawyer has actually tried cases, and where.
Insurance carriers maintain that information. They know which firms in this market take cases to verdict and which have a filing history that ends in settlement every time. That knowledge is priced into every offer you receive, long before anyone mentions a trial date.
An adjuster's authority is set by an assessment of the likely outcome if the case is not resolved. That assessment includes the venue, the facts, and opposing counsel. A firm that has never asked a jury for a verdict makes the no-settlement branch of that calculation look cheap.
The St. Louis metropolitan area spans several circuits, each with its own jury pool and history: the City of St. Louis in the 22nd Circuit, St. Louis County in the 21st in Clayton, St. Charles County in the 11th, and Jefferson County in the 23rd in Hillsboro. Which courthouse a case belongs in is a legal question with real consequences for value.
A $14,937 offer on a permanent neck injury, or $50,000 on a tractor-trailer crash, is not an error. It is an inexpensive question about whether anyone will develop the case. Both of those offers appear in our results, and neither is what the case ultimately produced.
Trial readiness is not a posture that can be adopted at mediation. It is reconstruction, treating-provider testimony, life care and vocational analysis, and a case developed as though it will be presented. That work is visible to the other side, and it is what makes the possibility of trial credible.
A red light runner left our client needing multiple disc replacements and a lumbar fusion, with blood clots along the way. A St. Louis County jury returned $10,000,000.
An active grandmother was left with permanent chronic neck pain after a T-bone collision. The insurer argued her age explained her symptoms and offered $14,937. The jury returned $2.5 million, roughly one hundred and sixty times the offer.
A self-employed mechanic was told his injuries came from arthritis and hard work rather than the crash. A Jefferson County jury returned $2.5 million. And in a St. Charles County trucking case where the defense offered nothing and blamed the victim's mother, the verdict was $20,025,000.
The pattern in those cases is not that we are lucky with juries. It is that in each one, the number available without a trial was a fraction of what the injury was actually worth.
Past results do not guarantee a future outcome, and every case depends on its own facts. These are public-record jury verdicts and settlements from cases tried and resolved in the St. Louis area.
A red light runner. Multiple disc replacements, a lower back fusion, and blood clots. A St. Louis County jury returned $10,000,000. Read full story →
An active grandmother was left with permanent chronic neck pain. The insurer blamed her age and offered $14,937. The jury returned $2.5 million. Read full story →
A client on his way to Sunday mass faced an extended recovery and significant disruption to his life. The jury returned $4,000,000. Read full story →
The insurance company said the wrist fracture had healed. A unanimous jury disagreed in 15 minutes, at more than 10 times the last offer. Read full story →
Not how many they have handled, or settled, or filed. Tried, to a jury verdict, and in which courthouses. The answer is a matter of public record, and a firm that has one will give it to you without hesitating.
Some firms advertise heavily, sign volume, and refer anything that will not settle quickly to another lawyer. Ask whether the attorney sitting with you would be the one at trial, and get the answer before you sign.
A serious case needs scene evidence, vehicle inspection and data preservation, witness contact, and the right treating specialists involved early. A firm that plans to wait for medical records and then send a demand letter is running a settlement mill.
Contingency fee arrangements are standard, so there should be no fee unless you recover. Ask separately how case expenses are handled, because expert work and reconstruction are what actually build value, and a firm reluctant to spend on them is a firm planning to settle cheap.
Very few. The overwhelming majority of personal injury claims resolve without a verdict, which is why the distinction between firms that can try a case and firms that only settle is easy to hide. The relevance of a trial record is not that your case will be tried; it is that the possibility affects what you are offered.
No. Most of our cases resolve without one, frequently at figures well above the pre-litigation offer. Preparing a case for trial and trying it are different things, and the preparation is what tends to make the settlement unnecessary to fight over.
Public-record results include $20,025,000 in a St. Charles County wrongful death trucking case where the defense offered nothing, $10,000,000 in a St. Louis County red light case, $4,000,000 in a 2023 auto collision case, $2.5 million for a grandmother with permanent neck pain, $2.5 million for a self-employed mechanic in Jefferson County, and $750,000 from a unanimous jury that deliberated fifteen minutes.
Because the offer was not a valuation of the injury. Our client was an active grandmother left with permanent chronic neck pain, and the insurer's position was that her age accounted for her symptoms. A low offer on a sympathetic plaintiff with a real injury is a calculation that no one will invest in proving otherwise. The jury returned $2.5 million.
It depends on where the crash happened and where the defendants reside or do business. The metro spans the 22nd Circuit in the City of St. Louis, the 21st in St. Louis County at Clayton, the 11th in St. Charles County, and the 23rd in Jefferson County at Hillsboro. Venue is a legal question worth analyzing, because different jury pools value cases differently.
Not before you know the full extent of your injuries. First offers usually arrive before treatment is complete, and accepting one means signing a release that ends the claim permanently, including for medical care you have not yet needed. Have it reviewed before you sign anything.
Yes. Missouri uses pure comparative fault, so being partly responsible reduces your recovery by your percentage of fault rather than barring it entirely. Insurers lean on comparative fault to reduce payouts, which makes early investigation important.
We handle these cases on a contingency fee, so there is no fee unless we recover for you. The case review is free, and an attorney personally reviews every case that comes in.
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