A homicide, fatal assault, impaired driving crash, shooting, or other violent act can lead to a criminal investigation. The criminal case focuses on whether the government can prove an offense and impose punishment. A wrongful death lawsuit serves a different purpose. It allows authorized family members or a court appointed representative to seek civil accountability and damages for a death caused by legally wrongful conduct.
The civil case may be brought against the individual offender. Depending on the facts, it also can examine a business, employer, property owner, security company, transportation provider, or another party whose own negligence contributed to the death.
A criminal conviction can be important evidence, but it is not always required. Civil rights should be evaluated even when charges are delayed, reduced, dismissed, or never filed.
Quick Answer
Missouri allows a wrongful death action when a person dies from conduct that would have allowed the person to recover damages if death had not occurred. The statute identifies which family members have priority to file. A civil case can proceed separately from a criminal prosecution and generally uses a lower burden of proof. Potential damages include funeral expenses, financial losses, lost services, and the loss of companionship, guidance, and support. Missouri generally requires a wrongful death action to be filed within three years, but exceptions and claim specific rules require prompt review.
Who May File Under Missouri Law
Missouri Section 537.080 creates an order of people who may bring a wrongful death action.
The first group includes:
- The surviving spouse
- Children
- Descendants of a deceased child
- The deceased person’s mother or father
When no person in that group is entitled to bring the claim, a brother, sister, or their descendants may be eligible. If no listed family member is available, the court may appoint a plaintiff ad litem in the circumstances described by the statute.
The family should not assume that every relative can file a separate lawsuit. Missouri’s priority structure and rules for one action require coordination.
The Civil Case Is Separate From the Criminal Case
The prosecutor represents the state, not the family as private counsel. The criminal case asks whether the accused committed a crime beyond a reasonable doubt. A civil wrongful death case asks whether the defendant is legally responsible under the applicable civil standard.
Missouri law recognizes that a civil action is not merged into a criminal prosecution. A family may have civil options when:
- The accused person was not charged
- Charges were reduced
- A jury returned an acquittal
- The defendant entered a plea to another offense
- The criminal investigation remains open
- The offender died before prosecution
The different result does not mean one system proved the other wrong. The evidence rules, parties, remedies, and burdens differ.
A Conviction Is Not Always Required
A conviction can establish important facts or affect defenses, but the absence of a conviction does not by itself defeat a wrongful death claim.
Civil counsel can investigate police records, medical evidence, video, digital communications, witness testimony, weapons evidence, toxicology, admissions, and other proof. Some evidence unavailable to the public may be obtained through litigation.
The family should avoid waiting for the criminal case to finish without legal advice. Evidence can be lost and the civil deadline may continue to run.
Claims Against the Individual Offender
The person who committed the violent act may be directly liable. A civil complaint can address intentional conduct and the resulting death.
Practical recovery requires a separate investigation. The defendant may have assets, homeowners coverage, commercial coverage, an umbrella policy, or no meaningful collectible source. Intentional act exclusions can create insurance disputes.
The offender’s financial condition does not determine whether another legally responsible party exists. The legal team should investigate all actors without inventing a claim merely to find insurance.
Potential Claims Against Businesses and Institutions
When a Business or Property Owner May Be Involved
A violent crime may occur at a bar, hotel, apartment complex, store, workplace, event venue, or transportation facility. The location alone does not make the business responsible.
A third party claim can examine whether the business had a legally recognized duty and whether its own conduct contributed to the danger. Relevant facts can include:
- Prior similar incidents
- A specific threat reported to management
- Broken locks or controlled access
- Failure to respond to an active disturbance
- A dangerous employee with earlier complaints
- Security policies that were ignored
- Surveillance footage and incident logs
- Whether the business created or increased the risk
Foreseeability, notice, control, breach, and causation require a fact specific analysis.
Employer and Institutional Responsibility
An employer may become relevant when the offender used a job, vehicle, authority, uniform, access card, or work location to commit the crime.
Possible questions include negligent hiring, negligent retention, supervision, entrustment, and whether the employee acted within a relationship that creates another form of responsibility. Missouri law does not make an employer automatically liable for every intentional act.
Institutional records may show earlier complaints, discipline, training, location assignments, access, and decisions that placed the offender in contact with the deceased person.
Evidence From the Criminal Investigation
Police and prosecutors may collect:
- Body camera and surveillance video
- Emergency calls
- Photographs
- Firearm or weapons evidence
- DNA
- Toxicology
- Autopsy findings
- Mobile device records
- Social media messages
- Witness interviews
- Statements by the accused
A civil lawyer should coordinate requests so that the civil investigation does not interfere with an active criminal case. Some records may remain confidential until a later stage.
The civil case also may seek material that police did not collect, such as business policies, employee files, insurance notices, property records, and prior customer complaints.
Preserving Evidence Outside Law Enforcement
Families can preserve information that may otherwise disappear:
- The deceased person’s phone and accounts
- Messages from witnesses
- Photographs of the location
- Funeral and medical bills
- Employment and tax records
- Video identified at nearby businesses
- Statements by the offender or business
- News reports that identify witnesses
- Personal calendars and travel records
Do not alter the original device or guess passwords repeatedly. A qualified professional can preserve electronic information while maintaining its integrity.
Damages Available in a Missouri Wrongful Death Case
Missouri Section 537.090 lists the losses a court may consider. They include funeral expenses, financial loss, services, consortium, companionship, comfort, instruction, guidance, counsel, training, and support.
The statute also allows certain damages the deceased person could have recovered for injury and suffering between the wrongful act and death. The facts and the legal claim control whether those damages are available.
Missouri does not allow a separate award for grief and bereavement. That rule does not erase the loss of companionship, guidance, care, and support. The evidence should describe the relationship and the real role the person had in the family.
Financial Loss Is More Than a Paycheck
A person may have earned wages, provided health insurance, cared for children, maintained a home, helped relatives, managed money, or provided other valuable services. Those contributions can matter even when they did not produce a paycheck.
Economic evidence can address:
- Income history and work life
- Employment benefits
- Household and caregiving services
- Education and career plans
- Support provided to children or parents
- The person’s own expected living expenses
A child, retired adult, or stay at home caregiver can still provide services, guidance, and support recognized by Missouri law. A fair review should not treat current wages as the only measure of loss.
Aggravating Circumstances and Punitive Damages
Section 537.090 allows a jury to consider aggravating circumstances in a wrongful death case. That term refers to conduct that makes the wrong more serious and can support added damages when the evidence and law permit.
A separate request for punitive damages also must satisfy Missouri Section 510.261. The plaintiff must present clear and convincing evidence of intentional harm without just cause or deliberate and flagrant disregard for the safety of others. The plaintiff must ask the court for permission before adding that claim.
The conduct of each defendant must be reviewed on its own. A violent crime can support a strong claim against the offender, but it does not by itself prove aggravating circumstances or punitive liability against a business, employer, or property owner.
One Case and Family Coordination
Multiple family members may have strong and understandable views about the case. Missouri law generally contemplates one wrongful death action for the death.
Counsel should identify every person entitled to share in recovery, address representation and conflicts, and explain how a settlement would be approved and allocated. Family disagreements can delay the case or create uncertainty if they are ignored.
Open communication and written authority are especially important when family relationships are complicated.
The General Three Year Deadline
Missouri Section 537.100 generally requires a wrongful death action to be commenced within three years after the cause of action accrues. The statute contains specific provisions that can affect the calculation in certain circumstances.
Other deadlines may be shorter. Claims involving government entities, probate, insurance, federal law, or another state can add requirements. A criminal prosecution does not by itself extend the civil period.
Early investigation also protects video, electronic access records, and witnesses before they disappear.
Talk With a Missouri Crime Victim Attorney
A family dealing with a violent death may be focused on funeral arrangements, criminal proceedings, safety, and grief. The civil process should not add unnecessary confusion.
Attorney Grant Boyd and O’Brien Law Firm represent crime victims and families throughout Missouri. The firm can investigate the offender and potential third parties, preserve evidence, coordinate with criminal proceedings, identify insurance, and explain who may bring the wrongful death action.
A confidential consultation can help the family understand civil options without waiting for the criminal case to determine every issue. Learn more through the firm’s crime victims practice or contact O’Brien Law Firm.