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Key Facts
- Minnesota state level: Owners of motor vehicles required to be registered in Minnesota generally must maintain no-fault security while the vehicle is operated or maintained for use in the state.
- Minnesota state level: Basic economic-loss benefits include medical-expense and income-loss benefits subject to the categories and limits in Minnesota Statutes section 65B.44.
- Minnesota state level: A person may recover noneconomic detriment in a motor-vehicle case only when one of the thresholds in section 65B.44, subdivision 5, is met.
- Minnesota state level: Minnesota comparative-fault law allows recovery only when the claimant’s fault is not greater than the combined fault of the persons against whom recovery is sought.
- Minnesota state level: Section 169.09 requires drivers involved in specified crashes to stop and imposes information, assistance, and reporting duties.
- Minnesota state level: Minnesota’s general limitations statute lists a six-year period for actions based on negligence, but specialized claims and accrual rules can differ.
Minnesota car accident law combines traffic duties, mandatory no-fault insurance, tort rules, and civil filing limits. A national overview of auto accident law provides broader context, while Minnesota statutes supply the operative state rules described here.
Minnesota uses a no-fault insurance framework
Section 65B.48 generally requires an owner of a motor vehicle required to be registered in Minnesota to maintain security while the vehicle is operated or maintained for use in the state. The statute identifies insurance and other authorized methods of furnishing that security.
Under section 65B.44, basic economic-loss benefits include medical-expense benefits, income-loss benefits, replacement-service loss, survivor’s economic-loss benefits, and funeral-expense loss within the statute’s terms. These benefits address defined economic losses and do not decide every question of tort liability.
Noneconomic claims use statutory thresholds
Section 65B.44, subdivision 5, limits recovery for noneconomic detriment unless the injury results in one of the listed conditions. The list includes death, permanent disfigurement, permanent injury, disability for 60 days or more, or medical expenses exceeding $4,000, subject to the statute’s exclusions and definitions.
Section 65B.51 preserves tort liability for economic loss that is not paid or payable as basic or optional economic-loss benefits. It also requires deduction of specified basic economic-loss benefits from a tort recovery.
Comparative fault can reduce or bar recovery
Minnesota Statutes section 604.01 provides that contributory fault does not bar recovery when the claimant’s fault is not greater than the fault of the person against whom recovery is sought, or the combined fault of multiple persons from whom recovery is sought. Any damages allowed are reduced in proportion to the claimant’s fault.
If the claimant’s fault is greater than the relevant opposing fault, section 604.01 does not permit recovery under that comparison. Fault allocation and the amount of proven loss remain separate questions.
Crash-scene duties are defined by statute
Section 169.09 requires a driver involved in a collision to stop when the crash causes bodily injury, death, or damage to an attended vehicle. The section also requires identifying information and reasonable assistance in the circumstances it specifies.
The same statute requires immediate notice to law enforcement for crashes involving bodily injury or death. For property-damage crashes, the written-report requirement applies when total damage is apparently $1,000 or more, unless the investigating officer submits the report.
Filing periods depend on the claim
Section 541.05 lists a six-year limitations period for an action based on negligence. The same section contains other categories and exceptions, so the correct period depends on the legal theory and accrual rule governing the action.
A limitations period controls when a civil action may be started; it is distinct from the shorter crash-reporting duties in section 169.09. The two deadlines serve different legal functions and should not be treated as interchangeable.
