Missouri Burn Injury Lawyer: Your Rights After a Burn

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By Michael Shemtoub, trial attorney, Beverly Law. Updated November 2026.

What to do after a burn in Missouri

Start with the hospital. Missouri has no ABA-verified burn center, so ask the treating doctors whether you should be transferred to a verified center in a neighboring state (listed below).

Next, think like an investigator. Keep the item that burned you, such as a fuel can or battery pack, photograph the scene, and ask the business in writing to keep its video. A short daily journal of pain and missed work helps later.

The Division of Fire Safety posts annual NFIRS summary reports from 1998 to 2025 on its Fire Incident Reporting page. To look up a lawyer, The Missouri Bar offers a public directory called LawyerSearch.

The deadline to file in Missouri

The five-year period comes from RSMo § 516.120(4), which covers injury to the person not arising on contract. A medical malpractice claim is different: it must be brought within two years from the act of neglect under § 516.105.

Missouri writes its accrual rule into statute. Under RSMo § 516.100, a claim accrues not when the wrong is done but when the damage is sustained and is capable of ascertainment. Malpractice claims have only narrow discovery provisions, for foreign objects and failure to report test results (§ 516.105).

Missouri’s sovereign immunity waiver statutes (§ 537.600 and § 537.610) contain no general notice-of-claim prerequisite. But for an injury from a defective street, sidewalk, bridge or thoroughfare, cities of the third class, cities of the fourth class and cities of 100,000 or more require written notice to the mayor within 90 days (RSMo § 82.210; § 77.600; § 79.480). Public-entity liability is capped and indexed under § 537.610, and punitive damages are not available against a public entity.

How fault works in Missouri

Missouri uses pure comparative fault. The Missouri Supreme Court adopted it for negligence cases in Gustafson v. Benda, 661 S.W.2d 11 (Mo. banc 1983), and the legislature codified it for products liability in RSMo § 537.765. There is no cutoff percentage. Your damages are reduced by your share, whatever it is.

An example: a man refuels a portable generator while it is still running, and the fuel ignites. In his products case, the jury finds him 70% at fault and the maker 30% for a weak warning label. He still recovers 30% of his damages.

Damages and caps in Missouri

Two decisions shape these caps. In Lewellen v. Franklin, 441 S.W.3d 136 (Mo. banc 2014), the Missouri Supreme Court held that applying the punitive cap in a cause of action that existed at common law in 1820 violates the right to a jury trial. An earlier malpractice cap was struck down in Watts v. Lester E. Cox Med. Ctrs., 376 S.W.3d 633 (Mo. banc 2012), and the 2015 law replaced the common-law claim with a statutory cause of action (§ 538.210). The director of the Department of Commerce and Insurance calculates the current malpractice figures, and the Secretary of State publishes them in the Missouri Register.

Burns at work in Missouri

For a compensable injury, employers and co-employees are released from all other liability, and the workers’ compensation remedies are exclusive (RSMo § 287.120). The statute keeps one door open: a co-employee is not released if he engaged in an affirmative negligent act that purposefully and dangerously caused or increased the risk of injury.

When a third person is liable, such as the company that serviced a boiler, the employer is subrogated to the employee’s rights against that person (RSMo § 287.150). The recovery is divided after a proportionate share of expenses and attorney fees, and the employee’s share is credited against future compensation.

Burn centers in Missouri

The ABA directory lists four burn centers in Missouri, and none of them is ABA-verified.

The ABA lists these verified centers in neighboring Illinois and Kansas:

Source: American Burn Association, Find a Burn Center, directory checked November 2026.

Who may be liable for a burn

Most burns happen at home. The ABA reports that 61% of burn incidents occur at private residences and that scalds make up 58% of pediatric burn center cases (ABA fact sheet). So a landlord who ignores a faulty water heater can be part of the picture. Outside the home, look at a contractor on your employer’s job site, the maker of a defective appliance or battery, a utility after a gas line failure, and a restaurant that served a drink scalding hot.

How Beverly Law helps in Missouri

Beverly Law, a California firm, has attorneys licensed in California and Washington. For a burn suffered in Missouri, the firm works with licensed Missouri attorneys in its referral network. A free case review is the first step, and it usually puts you in touch with a Missouri-licensed burn injury attorney within one business day.

Related pages

• Burn injury lawyer · Burn injury law by state · Burn centers · Illinois · Kansas

This page is general information about Missouri law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Laws change; a lawyer licensed in Missouri can tell you how they apply to your case.

Common questions

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Important: Attorney Advertising. This page is general information, not legal or medical advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Beverly Law is a California firm whose attorneys are licensed in California and Washington; for injuries in other states it works with attorneys licensed there through its referral network. Last reviewed: November 6, 2026.