A collision at the intersection of State Highway 29 and County Road 82. A rear-end crash on I-94 east of Alexandria. A T-bone at one of the busy intersections in the Lakes Area. A rollover on a county road during a Minnesota winter storm. Within hours of any serious car accident, a process starts that most drivers do not fully understand — and the early decisions often determine the value of the entire claim.
At Schoep & McCashin, Chtd., we represent injured drivers, passengers, and pedestrians in car accident cases throughout Alexandria, Douglas County, and the surrounding west-central Minnesota communities.
Minnesota Is a No-Fault State
Minnesota operates a no-fault auto insurance system under the Minnesota No-Fault Automobile Insurance Act, Chapter 65B of Minnesota Statutes. Every Minnesota auto policy must include Basic Economic Loss Benefits — generally called PIP, for Personal Injury Protection — that pay medical expenses and a portion of lost wages regardless of who caused the accident. The minimum coverage is $20,000 for medical expenses and $20,000 for wage loss and other economic losses, though many policies include higher limits.
PIP applies first. Your own auto carrier pays for medical bills and lost wages from the no-fault coverage before any claim against the at-fault driver becomes relevant. This affects nearly every aspect of how a Minnesota car accident case proceeds — what forms get filed, what deadlines apply, and how medical bills get handled during the claim.
The Threshold for Suing the At-Fault Driver
Minnesota’s no-fault system limits when injured drivers can step outside the system and sue the at-fault driver for pain and suffering. Under Minn. Stat. § 65B.51, the injured person can pursue a tort claim against the at-fault driver only if the injuries meet one of the statutory thresholds: more than $4,000 in reasonable medical expenses (excluding diagnostic X-ray costs), permanent injury, permanent disfigurement, sixty days or more of disability, or death.
The $4,000 medical threshold is the one most often contested. Soft-tissue cases involving neck and back strains often hover around the threshold, and whether the case can proceed depends on consistent medical treatment and credible documentation. Carriers fight threshold cases hard, and the cases that survive are the ones where the medical record was built carefully from the start.
Comparative Fault in Minnesota
Minnesota follows a modified comparative fault rule under Minn. Stat. § 604.01. The injured plaintiff can recover damages so long as their share of fault does not exceed the at-fault parties’ combined fault — typically expressed as the 50-percent bar. If the plaintiff is 50 percent or less at fault, recovery is reduced proportionally. If the plaintiff is more than 50 percent at fault, recovery is barred entirely.
This makes fault allocation a significant battleground in Minnesota car accident cases. Every percentage point matters financially. The difference between a 49 percent and 51 percent finding determines whether the case has value at all.
Car Accident Matters We Handle
Our car accident practice covers:
- Rear-end and chain-reaction collisions
- T-bone and intersection crashes
- Head-on collisions
- Distracted driving accidents
- Drunk and drugged driving collisions
- Hit-and-run cases
- Uber, Lyft, and rideshare accidents
- Uninsured and underinsured motorist claims under the rider’s own policy
- Pedestrian and bicycle collisions
- Multi-vehicle pile-ups on I-94, Highway 29, and other regional roads
- Wrongful death claims arising from fatal collisions
- Catastrophic injury cases involving brain or spinal cord damage
- Winter weather accidents and questions of road conditions
The Six-Year Statute of Limitations
Minnesota imposes a six-year statute of limitations on personal injury claims under Minn. Stat. § 541.05 — substantially longer than the two or three years that most states allow. The longer window provides flexibility, but it should not be confused with permission to wait. Evidence still disappears quickly, witness memories still fade, and a case investigated promptly is invariably stronger than the same case worked years later. Acting early preserves the case.
How We Approach the Work
Car accident cases run on contingency. There are no fees unless we recover compensation for the client. We advance the costs of investigation, expert witnesses where needed, medical record retrieval, and the development of the case necessary to make it strong at every stage — including, where appropriate, accident reconstruction and biomechanical analysis.
Contact Schoep & McCashin
If you or a loved one has been hurt in a car accident in Alexandria, Douglas County, or anywhere in west-central Minnesota, contact Schoep & McCashin for a free consultation. The earlier we get involved, the more we can do to protect the case and pursue full compensation.