Liability against the State or Municipal sub-divisions is controlled by statute. Sovereign Immunity is only waived in the cases of dangerous conditions of property or negligent operation of motor vehicles. In addition, municipalities can be liable when they act as commercial enterprises and when not performing a governmental function. Their employees may be entitled to official immunity or the benefits of the public duty doctrine. There damages are capped by statute, except when certain types of insurance comes into play or the employee of the state can be sued independently. The liability of governmental agencies often lies in areas of very specific technical knowledge like highway design and construction or how a storm water sewer system's anti-backflow valves work.
Our lawyers represent the Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission, the Bi-State Development Transportation District, Lambert St. Louis International Airport, the Missouri Sewer District along with various municipalities and school districts throughout the state of Missouri. We represent them in all types of litigation like personal injury and condemnation matters as well as other areas including insurance and self-insurance plans, administrative functions and lobbying efforts. Some of the entities are insured either by regular insurance or cooperative plans. Other entities are self-insured and come back to us year after year because of our experience and expertise in representing their unique interests.