Minnesota Personal Injury Settlements – Lawsuit Information Center Blog

A Jury Verdict Research study found that the median award in Minnesota in personal injury cases is an even $30,000. Minnesota personal injury plaintiffs receive an award in 67 percent of cases that go to trial.
The median compensation in Minnesota is somewhat below the national median of $38,179, and I suspect Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Rochester verdicts inflate that average a bit. But because Minnesota has no-fault coverage (or PIP) in motor vehicle wreck claims up to $40,000 ($20,000 for medical bills and $20,000 for economic loss) that is subject to the collateral source rule, Minnesota personal injury lawyers tend to have few small cases in Minnesota.
In other words, Minnesota law provides that awards are offset by collateral source payments (if the source of reimbursement does not have a subrogation right). So the gap between Minnesota’s median and the national median verdict is probably wider than the numbers reflect. Not surprisingly, U.S. Chamber of Commerce data found Minnesota juries to be the “15th best,” which means the 15th worst for personal injury victims.
Interestingly, the recovery probability in Minnesota tort suits is 67% compared to the national average of 53%. I would think that fewer smaller claims would lead to a lower recovery probability because fewer small cases rarely involve a liability dispute (which you would think would lower the recovery probability). Accordingly, it is fair to infer from the data that Minnesota juries are inclined to believe the Minnesota plaintiff’s claims as to how/why the crash/malpractice/injury occurred.
Although Minnesota juries are somewhat conservative, the big complaint that drug and device companies have about Minnesota is that its laws are favorable to personal injury victims.
There was an ABA Journal article, Lawsuits Travel Up North: Land of Ten Thousand Lakes Is Flooded With Thousands of Out-of-State Filings, that discussed the benefits of filing product liability claims in Minnesota, including Minnesota’s reasonable six-year statute of limitations in products liability cases that we discuss below.
While Minnesota personal injury lawyers rarely have seriously injured clients in a car accident that come to them years after the cause of action arose, this is a far more common occurrence in products liability cases because it sometimes takes a while for people to understand the connection between the negligence and their injuries, even if that information is available under the “know or have reason to know” standard.”
Below are medical malpractice and personal injury settlements in Minnesota in recent years.
It is hard to argue these are “sample” verdicts and settlements.  Our personal injury and malpractice lawyers have clearly cherry-picked some better results.  Still, I think these personal injury settlement examples are instructive in helping determine the value of these cases.
Below is a summary of some important aspects of Minnesota personal injury law that may apply to your case.
Minnesota likes to keep things complicated by having various statutes of limitations for personal injury claims depending on the type of claim. These are the general statutes for the various types of tort claims:
Personal Injury – 2 Years
Wrongful Death – 3 Years (intentional six years)
Medical Malpractice – 4 Years
Strict Liability – 4 years
Product Liability – 4 or 6 Years
This means that a person injured in an accident, due to someone else’s negligence, generally has two years from the accident date to file a personal injury lawsuit. However, there are some exceptions to this general rule that can make the time shorter or longer.
One exception that helps plaintiffs is the discovery rule.  In Minnesota, the “discovery rule” allows for the statute of limitations for personal injury claims to begin running at the time the injury is discovered, or when it should have been discovered with reasonable diligence, rather than the date of the incident that caused the injury. This means that if a person suffers an injury due to another party’s negligence or intentional actions, but the injury is not immediately apparent, the statute of limitations for filing a personal injury claim may be extended.
What our lawyers see in practice is that too many victims assume that the discovery rule will always apply in their case regardless of the circumstances. While the discovery rule can extend the statute of limitations, it only applies in specific situations where the injury or damage was not immediately apparent or could not have been reasonably discovered at the time of the incident.
More generally, while statutes of limitations generally set a deadline for filing a lawsuit, there are many exceptions and variations to these rules.  So you want to talk to a Minnesota lawyer about your case, if only to get your deadline to file a lawsuit, given all the rules and exceptions.
A statute of repose is a type of time limitation in civil law that limits the period within which a legal action can be brought, regardless of when the injury or harm occurred. Unlike a statute of limitations, which generally begins to run when the plaintiff discovers or should have discovered the injury, a statute of repose typically starts to run from a specific event, such as the date of the product’s manufacture, or the completion of a construction project.
In Minnesota, the statute of repose for personal injury cases is generally six years from the date of the alleged injury. This means that, with certain exceptions, a claim must be brought within six years of the date the injury occurred, even if the injury was not immediately discovered. However, the statute of repose is subject to several exceptions, such as cases involving medical malpractice or exposure to hazardous substances, which may have different limitations periods.
The take-home message for all these deadline to file questions is to talk to a Minnesota personal injury lawyer about your unique situation to see what deadline to sue applies to you.
Minnesota is a comparative negligence state, which means that in personal injury cases, fault can be allocated to multiple parties, and damages can be reduced in proportion to the amount of fault assigned to each party.
Minnesota Statutes section 604.01 provides that the court shall determine the percentage of fault of each party, and the total amount of damages shall be reduced in proportion to the amount of fault assigned to the plaintiff. If the court determines that the plaintiff’s fault was greater than the fault of the other parties, the plaintiff may not recover any damages.
Unlikely many states with comparative negligence, Minnesota has modified joint and several liability. Under Minnesota law, a defendant is jointly and severally liable for damages if that defendant is found to be 51% or more at fault for the plaintiff’s injuries. If the defendant is found to be less than 51% at fault, the defendant is only severally liable for the percentage of fault assigned to them.
In Minnesota, the statutory scheme for auto accident claims is a “no-fault” system, which requires all drivers to carry Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage as part of their auto insurance policy. This coverage provides benefits for medical expenses, lost wages, and other costs regardless of who was at fault for the accident.
But Minnesota law under Minn. Stat. § 65B.51, established an easy path to step outside of the no-fault system and bring a car accident lawsuit against the at-fault driver. In Minnesota, an injured person may pursue a liability claim if their medical expenses, lost wages, and other costs exceed a certain threshold. This threshold is currently set at $4,000 in economic damages (not pain and suffering), and the injury results in:
(1) permanent disfigurement;
(2) permanent injury;
(3) death; or
(4) disability for 60 days or more.
Minnesota’s statutory scheme governing truck accidents is primarily found in the Minnesota Motor Vehicle Code. This code sets out the rules and regulations that truck drivers and trucking companies must follow while operating their vehicles on the state’s roadways.
Some of the key provisions of the Minnesota Motor Vehicle Code that apply to truck accidents include:
In some cases, failure to comply with these regulations can be used as evidence of negligence in a truck accident lawsuit in Minnesota.
A few closing thoughts about Minnesota wrongful death settlements:
Let’s drill down on some of Minnesota’s malpractice law:
Minnesota does not have a malpractice cap.
Medical malpractice lawsuits must be filed within four years of the date that the cause of action accrued. 
Our law firm handles many birth injury lawsuits.  So we have a separate page dedicated to Minnesota birth injury lawsuits.
The mass torts Minnesota plaintiffs are bringing in 2023 include:
Our law firm handles severe injury and wrongful death lawsuits in Minnesota, working with trusted Minnesota personal injury lawyer colleagues throughout the state.  We compensate our Minnesota lawyers out of our attorneys’ fees.  Does this cost you anything?  No.  You pay no additional contingency fees for having two law firms instead of one.  And you only owe a fee if you get settlement compensation or a jury payout for you.
If you have an injury or wrongful death claim in Minnesota, get a free no-obligation case evaluation or call our attorneys today at 800-553-8082.

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Personal injury lawyers handling serious personal injury truck and auto accident, medical malpractice and products liability cases throughout the United States.
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