If you or someone you love was seriously hurt in an accident in Minnesota, a few early steps protect both your recovery and your claim: getting medical care and staying with it, keeping a record of the injury and every cost it causes, letting no-fault insurance pay the early bills after a crash, and talking with a lawyer before you give the other side a recorded statement or sign anything. Most filing deadlines are longer than people fear, but a few are short.
What Should You Do in the First Weeks After a Serious Injury?
In the first weeks after a serious injury, two things protect you most: your medical care and your record of the injury. Following your doctors’ treatment plan protects your health and your claim. Insurance companies often read gaps in treatment as a sign the injury was minor, even when the real reason was childcare, cost, or a hard week.
Until you talk with an attorney, I suggest you keep these:
- Photos of the scene, the injury, and any damaged property
- Names and phone numbers of witnesses
- Medical records, bills, and receipts for costs the injury caused
- Any letters or emails from an insurance company
- The damaged vehicle or the failed product, before an insurer salvages it or it is thrown away
A short daily journal helps too: your pain, what you could not do that day, the work you missed, and the help you needed from others. Months later, when an adjuster asks how the injury affected your life, the journal answers in your own words from the time it happened.
I also suggest you talk with an attorney before you give a recorded statement or sign anything from the other side’s insurance company. The adjuster works for the company that would pay your claim. A settlement almost always comes with a release, and a settlement and release agreement ends the claim permanently. Many releases also waive claims you do not know about yet, which matters when an injury is still unfolding.
Who Pays the Bills While You Recover?
After a motor vehicle accident in Minnesota, no-fault insurance pays your first bills, regardless of who caused the crash. It usually comes from your own auto policy; if you have none, the policy on a vehicle involved in the crash generally pays (Minn. Stat. § 65B.47, subd. 4). Minn. Stat. § 65B.44, subd. 1 requires at least $40,000 in basic economic loss benefits: “$20,000 for medical expense loss arising out of injury to any one person” and a total of $20,000 for income loss, replacement services, funeral expenses, and survivors’ losses. Lost income is paid at 85 percent of gross income, up to $500 a week (subd. 3). Replacement services reimburse what you pay others for housekeeping or childcare you can no longer do yourself, up to $200 a week, not counting the day of injury and the seven days after it (subd. 5).
The no-fault statute also sets rules for motorcycle riders and late notice:
- Motorcycle riders are treated differently. Under Minn. Stat. § 65B.46, subd. 3, injuries while on a motorcycle “do not arise out of the maintenance or use of a motor vehicle although a motor vehicle is involved in the accident causing the injury.” The notice every motorcycle policy application must carry warns that no PIP (no-fault) coverage from an auto policy “will extend to provide coverage in the event of a motorcycle accident” (Minn. Stat. § 65B.48, subd. 5).
- Prompt notice to your insurer helps, but late notice is not automatically fatal. A policy may set a notice deadline, but not one shorter than six months after the accident. Under Minn. Stat. § 65B.55, subd. 1, “Failure to provide notice will not render a person ineligible to receive benefits unless actual prejudice is shown by the reparation obligor, and then only to the extent of the prejudice.”
Serious injuries often outrun those limits, and no-fault covers only injuries from motor vehicles. Beyond no-fault, or after a fall, a dog bite, or an assault, your health insurance usually pays the medical bills, and the rest becomes part of the claim against whoever caused the injury.
If the driver who caused a crash carried no insurance, or not enough, your own policy may fill the gap. Minn. Stat. § 65B.49, subd. 3a requires every Minnesota auto policy to include separate uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage that, “at a minimum, must provide limits of $25,000 because of injury to or the death of one person in any accident.” Your policy may carry more than the minimum, so it is worth pulling your declarations page early.
Can You Recover If You Were Partly at Fault?
In Minnesota, you can still recover if you were partly at fault, as long as your fault “was not greater than the fault of the person against whom recovery is sought” (Minn. Stat. § 604.01, subd. 1). Your damages are “diminished in proportion to the amount of fault attributable to the person recovering.” If a jury finds you 20% at fault for a $100,000 loss, you recover $80,000. If it finds you more at fault than the other side, you recover nothing from that party.
Under Minn. Stat. § 169.685, subd. 4, proof that you did or did not wear a seat belt “is not admissible in evidence in any litigation involving personal injuries or property damage resulting from the use or operation of any motor vehicle,” except in a case about a defective seat belt or child seat. So in a Minnesota car accident case, the jury does not hear whether you wore a seat belt.
Fault starts with duty: whether the other person owed you reasonable care in the first place. The guide to how a duty is established in a negligence case explains that step, and the guide to premises liability covers the duties property owners owe in slip, trip, and fall cases.
How Long Do You Have to Bring a Claim in Minnesota?
For most injuries caused by someone’s carelessness, Minnesota gives you six years to start a lawsuit. The Minnesota Supreme Court in D.M.S. v. Barber, 645 N.W.2d 383, 386 (Minn. 2002) stated that “Generally, personal injury actions grounded on negligence must be commenced within the six-year period of limitation provided in” Minn. Stat. § 541.05. Several situations carry much shorter clocks:
| Situation | Deadline | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Most negligence injuries (car crashes, falls) | 6 years | Minn. Stat. § 541.05, subd. 1(5) |
| Assault or battery | 2 years (6 years if it was also domestic abuse) | Minn. Stat. § 541.07(1); § 541.05, subd. 1(9) |
| Defective product, on strict liability | 4 years | Minn. Stat. § 541.05, subd. 2 |
| Wrongful death (most cases) | 3 years after the death, and within 6 years of the act | Minn. Stat. § 573.02, subd. 1 |
| Injury caused by the State, or by a city, county, town, or school district | Written notice within 180 days (1 year for a death) | Minn. Stat. § 3.736, subds. 5-6; § 466.05 |
| Claim against a bar or liquor store that illegally sold alcohol to a drunk driver | Notice within 240 days of hiring an attorney; suit within 2 years | Minn. Stat. § 340A.802, subd. 2 |
A pothole on a city street or a crash with a county snowplow triggers the notice under Minn. Stat. § 466.05, which must be given “within 180 days after the alleged loss or injury is discovered.” A crash with a state vehicle, such as a MnDOT plow, takes the same 180-day notice, sent to the attorney general under Minn. Stat. § 3.736, subd. 5. Under both statutes, time during which the injured person is “incapacitated by the injury from giving the notice” does not count. Exceptions and tolling rules exist, so the table is a reason to check your own deadline early.
What Can an Injury Claim Recover?
A Minnesota injury claim can recover two kinds of loss. Economic loss is the money: medical bills, lost wages, reduced future earning capacity, and the cost of help you now need. Noneconomic loss is the rest: pain, emotional distress, and the loss of the life you had before.
Car accident claims carry a threshold for the second kind. Under Minn. Stat. § 65B.51, subd. 3, you cannot recover noneconomic damages from the at-fault driver unless your reasonable medical expenses exceed $4,000, or the injury results in permanent disfigurement, permanent injury, death, or disability for 60 days or more. No-fault benefits paid or payable to you are deducted from what the at-fault driver pays (subd. 1), so you are not paid twice.
In a serious injury claim, future losses take the most work to prove: future surgeries, therapy, and lost working years each need medical and financial support. When a settlement pays over time, the guide on structured settlements explains what to weigh before you sell future payments.
What Changes When a Drunk Driver or a Dog Is Involved?
A drunk driver or a dog each brings a Minnesota rule that widens who can be held responsible.
A drunk driver. Under Minn. Stat. § 340A.801, subd. 1, a person injured by an intoxicated person has a claim against whoever caused the intoxication “by illegally selling alcoholic beverages.” That claim reaches the bar or liquor store, not just the driver. It also has its own notice deadline under Minn. Stat. § 340A.802, so it helps to learn early where the driver was drinking.
A dog. Minnesota’s dog bite statute, Minn. Stat. § 347.22, makes the owner liable “to the full amount of the injury sustained” when a dog, “without provocation, attacks or injures any person who is acting peaceably in any place where the person may lawfully be.” The statute does not ask whether the dog had bitten anyone before.
What If a Loved One Was Killed or a Child Was Hurt?
When an accident takes a life, a Minnesota wrongful death claim belongs to the family. Under Minn. Stat. § 573.02, a court appoints a trustee on the petition of the surviving spouse or next of kin, and the recovery is “for the exclusive benefit of the surviving spouse and next of kin.” The general clock is three years, but some death claims run much shorter. A death caused by the State or a local government needs written notice within one year (Minn. Stat. § 466.05, subd. 2; § 3.736, subd. 6), and a claim against a bar that illegally sold alcohol to the driver must be filed within two years (Minn. Stat. § 340A.802, subd. 2). Learning early which deadlines apply lets your family take the first months to grieve.
When a child is hurt, two rules protect the child. First, a settlement for a minor needs a judge’s approval. Minn. Gen. R. Prac. 145.01 provides that “No part of the proceeds of any action or claim for personal injuries on behalf of any minor or incompetent person shall be paid to any person except under written petition to the court and written order of the court.” Second, the child’s own negligence claim gets more time. Under the minority tolling statute, Minn. Stat. § 541.15(a)(1), as applied in D.M.S. v. Barber, 645 N.W.2d 383, 386-87 (Minn. 2002), the child may bring the claim “within one year of reaching the age of majority or within the six-year period of limitation, whichever is later.” That rule extends the time to sue, not the short notice deadlines in the table.
How Can You and Your Family Get Through the Recovery?
Recovering from a serious injury includes the emotional injury: fear of driving, nightmares, irritability, and trouble sleeping are common after a crash or an attack. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ National Center for PTSD explains that “most people start to feel better after a few weeks. If symptoms last longer than a month and are causing problems in your life, it could be PTSD.” These symptoms are part of your injury, so your doctor needs to hear about them. If you or a family member is in crisis, the National Institute of Mental Health lists the 988 line (call or text 988) and, “In life-threatening situations, call 911.”
A few practical moves make the months ahead easier:
- Help from family. Rides, meals, and childcare from family show how the injury changed daily life, and paid substitute help can be reimbursed under no-fault, so both are worth writing down.
- Your employer. An early conversation about sick leave, short-term disability, and light-duty work helps, and copies of what you send and receive become part of your wage-loss record.
What Injury Claims Can Aaron Hall Help With, and How Does the Fee Work?
Aaron Hall can help injured people throughout Minnesota with claims arising from:
- Vehicle accidents: car, motorcycle, semi-truck, bus, SUV rollover, drunk driving, pedestrian, and ATV accidents
- Other injuries: slip, trip, and fall injuries; dog bites; assault injuries; construction accidents; defective products; boating and train accidents; civil rights injuries; and wrongful death
Injury cases are handled on a contingency fee. The attorney’s fee is one-third of what is recovered by settlement, award, verdict, or appeal, calculated before case expenses are repaid. If there is no recovery, you owe no attorney’s fee and are not charged expenses. Here is how the math works on a $90,000 settlement with $6,000 in case expenses: the fee is $30,000, the expenses of $6,000 are repaid, and $54,000 goes to you, less any medical repayment your health plan is owed. You decide whether to accept any settlement; your claim cannot be settled without your permission. Before you hire any injury lawyer, the guide to contingency fees covers the questions to ask.
Who pays my medical bills after a car accident in Minnesota?
No-fault insurance pays first, no matter who caused the crash, usually from your own auto policy or, if you have none, a policy on a vehicle involved (Minn. Stat. § 65B.47, subd. 4). Minnesota no-fault coverage must provide at least “$20,000 for medical expense loss arising out of injury to any one person,” plus $20,000 for lost income and related losses (Minn. Stat. § 65B.44, subd. 1). Motorcycle riders are an exception: a rider’s car policy does not pay no-fault benefits (Minn. Stat. § 65B.46, subd. 3; § 65B.48, subd. 5). Bills beyond the no-fault limits go to your health insurance and, later, into the claim against the driver at fault.
How much is my injury case worth?
No one can give an honest number until your medical treatment has run its course. Value turns on the severity and permanence of the injury, the medical bills and lost income, how the injury changes your daily life, your share of fault if any, and how much insurance the person at fault carries. A figure offered in the first weeks is a guess.
Will I have to repay my health insurance out of a settlement?
Possibly, and it depends on your plan. For the health plans it regulates, Minnesota allows a repayment clause only if it “applies only after the covered person has received a full recovery from another source,” and, unless the plan has its own attorney, its repayment is reduced by its share of the attorney fees and costs of obtaining the recovery (Minn. Stat. § 62A.095, subd. 2). That rule does not apply to Medical Assistance and other state public programs, which have their own repayment statutes (subd. 1(b)). It also does not reach an employer plan that pays claims from its own funds: state laws that regulate insurance “do not reach self-funded employee benefit plans” (FMC Corp. v. Holliday, 498 U.S. 52, 61 (1990)). Either way, it helps to ask your plan for its repayment terms in writing early, so the number does not surprise you at settlement.
Is a personal injury settlement taxable?
Compensation for a physical injury generally is not taxable income. Federal law excludes “the amount of any damages (other than punitive damages) received (whether by suit or agreement and whether as lump sums or as periodic payments) on account of personal physical injuries or physical sickness” (26 U.S.C. § 104(a)). Punitive damages fall outside that rule, and a tax preparer can confirm how your settlement is treated before you file.
Can I post about my accident on social media?
You can, but anything you post can be read by the insurance company. A photo from a good day can be used to argue that you were not really hurt. I suggest pausing your posts until the claim is resolved.
How long does a personal injury case take?
Most of the time is spent waiting for medical treatment to end. A claim usually waits until your doctors can say whether you have fully recovered or what your long-term limits are, because only then is the full cost known. A case that goes to a lawsuit takes longer than one that settles.
What does it cost to hire Aaron Hall for an injury case?
Nothing up front. The attorney’s fee is one-third of what is recovered by settlement, award, verdict, or appeal, calculated before case expenses are repaid. If there is no recovery, you owe no fee and are not charged expenses. The written fee agreement states these terms before any work begins.
