Every figure below is the researched rule for Missouri, with its citation and a direct link to the official source so you can confirm it yourself. Covers statutory interest and when it starts accruing, how Actual Cash Value is determined and whether labor can be depreciated, whether a “no damages for delay” clause is enforceable and how long you have to file, the state-specific inputs behind a fully burdened labor rate and who can be held liable for a construction-site injury.
The rate itself and the date interest starts running, which differs by claim type in most states.
9% / year, fixed (or the contract rate, if higher)
General statutory rate for non-tort (contract/construction) judgments. (Tort judgments use a different Federal-Funds-Rate-based formula, not applicable to construction-contract claims.)
From the date of a written demand for payment on a liquidated (readily ascertainable) claim
Missouri allows prejudgment interest on liquidated claims, meaning damages that are readily ascertainable or capable of being easily calculated, such as a breach of a construction contract with a fixed unpaid balance. Interest runs from the time a written demand for payment is made, not automatically from the date of breach itself.
Making a clear, written demand for a specific amount is what starts the clock; simply having a valid claim isn't enough on its own.
Requires a detailed statutory demand letter; interest runs once that demand is satisfied, with a 90-day open period
Missouri's tort/property-damage demand statute requires a written demand sent by certified mail, including an affidavit detailing the nature and extent of damages, that references the statute and stays open for the defendant to accept for 90 days. Interest runs based on satisfying these specific requirements, not simply from the date of loss.
The published description of this demand procedure includes a reference to medical providers/records, which reads as written with personal-injury claims in mind; confirm how (or whether) that specific requirement applies to a pure property-damage claim before relying on this provision.
How ACV is determined, whether labor cost can be depreciated and the rules on releasing withheld recoverable depreciation.
Fair-market-value differential (not a named broad evidence rule, not a fixed depreciation formula)
Missouri courts measure ACV/damages as the difference between the property's fair market value immediately before and after the loss, with depreciation as one relevant factor. Field/adjusting practice often still uses replacement-cost-minus-depreciation even though courts may require fair-market-value proof at trial.
Missouri does not have a statute restricting labor depreciation; the rule comes from case law applying the state's fire-policy valuation statute.
Mo. Rev. Stat. section 379.150 requires that on a partial loss under a fire policy, the insurer pay so that the damaged property is restored to as good a condition as before the loss, at the option of the insured, but it does not itself define depreciation or address labor cost. Missouri courts have split on whether labor may be depreciated: the Eighth Circuit, applying Missouri law in In re State Farm Fire and Casualty Co., 872 F.3d 567 (8th Cir. 2017), held that embedded labor cost depreciation is one factor a fact-finder may consider in determining ACV, while a Missouri Court of Appeals panel in 2022 held that absent specific policy language allowing it, labor costs may not be depreciated and the earlier McMillin v. American Family Insurance Co. (Mo. Ct. App. 1997) held that a partial-loss policy without express depreciation language could not have depreciation, including overhead and profit, withheld from payment. There is no statute resolving this split; it remains governed by case law that is itself divided.
This is common-law and federal-court interpretation of a general valuation statute, not a standalone statute defining ACV depreciation or specifically restricting labor depreciation and Missouri authority on labor depreciation is internally split between the Eighth Circuit and at least one state appellate panel.
No Missouri statute sets a holdback release deadline. On the related labor-depreciation question, Missouri bars depreciating labor absent specific policy language allowing it.
No Missouri statute or regulation governs the timing or process for paying withheld recoverable depreciation, so the policy terms control. On the related scope question, the Missouri Court of Appeals held in Franklin v. Lexington Insurance Co. that labor may not be depreciated under a policy that does not define actual cash value or depreciation to expressly include labor depreciation. A storm damaged a St. Louis roof, the insurer's own file instructed the adjuster to depreciate materials and sales tax only, the adjuster depreciated labor anyway and the court affirmed a judgment for the $5,424.79 of labor depreciation withheld. The court found the policy ambiguous and construed it against the insurer.
Franklin turns on the absence of an express labor depreciation provision, so a Missouri policy that contains one is outside it. The court also said its decision should not be read to require replacement cost less depreciation in every case where ACV is undefined.
Whether a no-damages-for-delay clause will be enforced against you and the deadline for bringing a construction contract claim.
Unenforceable as applied to public works contracts by statute (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 34.058). No Missouri court has addressed private contracts.
Mo. Rev. Stat. § 34.058 voids any public-works-contract clause waiving a contractor's right to recover costs or damages for delays caused, in whole or in part, by acts or omissions within the control of the contracting public entity.
10 years for a written instrument for the payment of money or property
Missouri's limitations period for an action on any writing, sealed or unsealed, for the payment of money or property is 10 years from accrual, covering an ordinary written construction-contract claim. Two deadlines sit in front of that one on most construction claims. A mechanic's lien and a payment bond claim each run on their own, far shorter clock, counted from last furnishing rather than from breach and missing either one removes the security while leaving the contract claim alive but unsecured. Check those dates first. Accrual is the other half of the question: the period runs from breach, which on a payment dispute is usually the date payment came due rather than the date the work was done.
The state-specific rates and requirements that sit underneath a fully burdened hourly labor cost.
The 2026 new-employer rate is 2.376% (1.00% for qualifying 501(c)(3) nonprofits). Established employers range from 0.0% to 6.0% before surcharges. The 2026 taxable wage base is $9,000, down $500 from 2025.
Missouri's Division of Employment Security assigns most new employers a 2026 rate of 2.376%, while qualifying 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations receive a 1.00% new-employer rate. Established, experience-rated employers range from 0.0% to 6.0%, before any maximum-rate surcharge or contribution rate adjustment is added. The 2026 taxable wage base is $9,000 per employee, down $500 from the 2025 base.
Missouri has no separate construction new-employer rate, unlike several neighbouring states. Reconfirm the rate and wage base each year on the Division of Employment Security's tax rates page.
Missouri is an NCCI state. NCCI publishes annual state advisory reports and files advisory loss costs used as the basis for insurer rates in Missouri.
Missouri workers' compensation insurance rates are based on advisory loss costs filed by the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI), reviewed by the Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance. NCCI maintains ongoing state advisory reports for Missouri (2024 and 2025 editions identified), consistent with its role as Missouri's licensed rating/advisory organization.
NCCI maintains active state advisory reports for Missouri, which is standard for an NCCI state. Pull the current report for rate change figures.
Missouri has a state prevailing wage law (RSMo Sections 290.210-290.340), applying to public works contracts with no statewide minimum dollar threshold.
Missouri's prevailing wage law is codified at Sections 290.210 to 290.340 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri and administered by the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. Unlike many other states, Missouri does not impose a minimum monetary contract threshold; the law applies to public works projects such as roads, bridges and government buildings regardless of contract value, with wage rates varying by county and occupational classification.
OSHA enforcement structure, how much weight an OSHA violation carries in a negligence case and whether an injured worker's own employer can be pulled back in.
Pure comparative fault, no bar; recovery reduced by the worker's share of fault
Recovery is reduced in proportion to the worker's share of fault, with no threshold that cuts it off. A worker 90% at fault still recovers 10% of the damages.
Missouri is a pure comparative state by judge-made rule. Gustafson v. Benda abandoned contributory negligence and adopted comparative fault; the worker's share reduces the award and never defeats it.
There is no Missouri comparative fault statute for ordinary negligence. Gustafson is the authority. Missouri is the third state in this exercise where the rule is judge-made and online summaries nonetheless cite code sections. Tennessee and South Carolina are the others.
No general cap on non-economic damages
Most states cap non-economic damages only in medical malpractice actions, which does not reach a third-party construction claim. Economic losses, medical bills, lost wages, future earning capacity, are not capped by these statutes.
Federal OSHA (no state plan)
Missouri has no OSHA-approved state plan; both public and private employers fall under federal OSHA jurisdiction. Under federal jurisdiction the citation is issued by an OSHA area office and contested before the federal Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. Federal OSHA does not cover state and local government employees, so a public employee injured on a public job falls outside it. Reporting deadlines are a work-related fatality within 8 hours, an inpatient hospitalisation, amputation or loss of an eye within 24 hours. For a construction claim the inspection file matters more than the citation: photographs, measurements, witness statements and the inspector's narrative are usually obtainable and are often the best contemporaneous record of the site.
Missouri's high court holds OSHA violations constitute evidence of negligence, not negligence per se.
The Missouri Supreme Court has held that OSHA violations are relevant evidence a jury may weigh in assessing negligence rather than negligence per se. Evidence rather than negligence per se means the violation goes to the jury as one fact among several. The worker still proves duty, breach, causation and damages in the ordinary way and the defendant can argue the standard did not apply to it, that the cited condition did not cause this injury, or that the citation was contested or withdrawn. The reverse is also true: compliance with OSHA is not a defence, since the standards are a floor rather than a definition of reasonable care.
Missouri protects qualifying statutory employers and co-employees; the threshold question in any third-party claim is whether the defendant is a protected co-employee or statutory employer.
A party that is neither a statutory employer nor a protected co-employee can be reached through premises liability, retained control, negligent undertaking, product defect or vehicle theories.
General exclusivity under §§ 287.010 et seq., covering qualifying statutory employers and co-employees
Mo. Rev. Stat. §§ 287.010 et seq. make compensation the exclusive remedy against the employer and qualifying statutory employers and co-employees may also be protected. Confirm the current piercing exceptions directly before relying on them. In practice exclusivity takes the direct employer off the tort table entirely, whatever the OSHA file shows. The claim runs against the other parties on the site: the general contractor, the owner, another subcontractor, an equipment manufacturer. The employer or its carrier then asserts a lien against whatever the worker recovers from those parties, so the figure the worker actually keeps is the recovery less the lien, the fee and the costs. Whether the lien is reduced for the cost of obtaining the recovery is a separate state question worth asking early, because it moves the net more than most people expect.
Design-professional immunity carve-out; confirms this is not unique to Georgia
RSMo § 287.150(5): no construction design professional retained to perform professional services on a construction project (nor their assisting/representing employees) shall be liable for any injury resulting from the employer's failure to comply with safety standards on the project, unless responsibility for safety practices is specifically assumed by contract. This immunity does not extend to negligent preparation of design plans or specifications. Missouri also uses a three-part 'statutory employee' test (work performed under contract; injury on/about the alleged statutory employer's premises; work in the usual course of that employer's business) to extend exclusivity beyond the direct employer.
ClaimDuke's calculators compute delay and extended overhead (Eichleay), fully burdened labor rates, ACV/RCV property loss, claim interest and construction-injury settlement ranges. Every calculation is free and live; a documented, citation-backed report is $19.
This page is reference information for your own verification. It is not legal advice and is not a substitute for confirming the current rule with the official source linked above or with counsel. Several states' interest rates float and reset on a schedule (monthly, quarterly or annually), so always check the live source for the figure as of today rather than relying on what is shown here. Which rule actually applies to your specific claim is itself a legal question this page cannot answer for you.
