Licensed in Missouri and Kansas

Missouri Businesses are Not Required to Carry Insurance

Many people are surprised to find out that most businesses in Missouri are not required to carry insurance. Although Missouri law requires motorists to carry a minimum amount of liability insurance, the same is not true for businesses. Liquor stores, bars, grocery stores, and many other businesses we visit are not required to have liability insurance. Certainly it's a good practice for businesses to carry insurance, and a mortgage provider or other lending company may require it as a condition to get a loan, but it is not required.

This means that if you are injured because of a dangerous condition at a business or from some act of wrongdoing by the business, and they don't have insurance, your only means for compensation is the assets of the business. This is typically very difficult to do even if a business appears to have enough assets to cover your loss. Money can be moved around and the business can change hands so that it can claim it doesn't have the assets to compensate you. Without assets, you're left trying to squeeze blood from a turnip.

Another problem that arises if you're injured because of a business' wrongdoing is that there's no way to tell if they have insurance. There is no public database showing whether a business has insurance. It's up to the business to tell you. Sometimes they don't tell you, and then the only way to find out is to file a lawsuit against them and compel them to disclose whether they have insurance through discovery. If you've been injured because of a business' wrongdoing and are unsure whether they have insurance to compensate you for your losses, please contact our firm. We can help you find this information out.