After a deposition in a Missouri car accident case, the court reporter prepares your transcript, and you can review it and correct errors before signing. The insurer then reassesses your claim, often requests a defense medical exam, and negotiations restart. From there, the case moves toward mediation, settlement, or a trial date.
Here’s the exact sequence of events that typically follows your deposition:
- Transcript prepared: The court reporter delivers the written record of everything said. It typically takes a few weeks for the court reporter to finish the transcript. If the session was recorded on video, both the recording and the written transcript become part of your case record.
- Attorney review: We analyze your testimony, identify what the defense may try to use against you, and look for leverage to push the insurance adjuster toward a fair settlement.
- Possible defense medical exam: The insurance company may request their own doctor examine you.
- Renewed settlement negotiations: Both sides reassess their positions with fresh evidence on the table.
- Trial preparation continues: If no deal is reached, we keep building your case for court.
Can You Correct Your Deposition Transcript in Missouri?
Under Missouri Supreme Court Rule 57.03, unless you or the parties waive it, you get the chance to read the transcript, list any changes on an errata sheet, and sign it before a notary. Look for anything inaccurate: a misquoted answer, a misspelled street name, or a date that is wrong.
If you never review and sign it, the transcript can still be used at trial as if signed, errors and all.
What Types of Corrections Can You Make?
There are two types of changes, and they carry very different consequences:
- Form corrections: These fix clear transcription mistakes, such as typos, misspelled names, wrong dates, or words the reporter misheard. These are safe to make.
- Substance changes: These alter the actual meaning of something you said. Proceed carefully.
The defense will show substance changes to the jury and argue that you are changing your story. We only advise making these when something important was genuinely misstated, and always with our direct guidance.
Will My Deposition Move the Insurance Company to Settle?
Often, yes, but it depends entirely on how your deposition went.
If you came across as honest and clear about your injuries, the insurance company has a serious problem. They know a jury will believe you, which makes trial a financial risk they would rather avoid.
If your testimony was inconsistent or hard to follow, the insurer will use that to justify a lowball offer and dare you to fight it out in court. Insurance companies are trained to delay, deny, and minimize, and your deposition is where they decide how hard to push back.
What Makes an Insurance Company Offer More After a Deposition?
After your deposition, adjusters run one calculation: is it cheaper to settle or risk a trial? Three things drive that answer:
- Your credibility: Did you come across as believable and honest?
- Clarity of your injury story: Was the connection between the crash and your losses easy to follow?
- Their trial risk: How much might a jury award you if they heard your testimony?
When those three things align in your favor, better offers tend to follow quickly.
How Soon Do Settlement Negotiations Restart?
Talks can pick back up within days of your deposition. Sometimes the defense wants additional investigation first, which can push things back a few months. A settlement can happen at any point, before mediation, during it, or even the morning trial is set to begin.
One pattern we consistently see in cases pending in the St. Louis County Circuit Court and the Jackson County Circuit Court is that the defense lawyer’s report to the insurer after a deposition shapes the next offer more than anything else.
When a client’s testimony matches the medical records and the crash report, that report tends to describe the trial risk honestly, and serious negotiations often follow. That is why we spend so much time preparing clients to tell their story clearly and consistently.
Will You Have to Attend a Defense Medical Exam?
If your injuries are serious or disputed, expect this. The insurance company calls it an “Independent Medical Examination,” or IME. We call it what it really is: a Defense Medical Exam, or DME.
What Is a Defense Medical Exam?
A DME is a medical appointment ordered by the court or agreed to by the parties requested by the defense. The insurance company’s doctor reviews your records, examines you, and writes a report comparing their findings against what your own treating doctors have concluded.
How Should You Prepare for a Defense Medical Exam?
We walk every client through what to expect before this appointment. The rules are simple but important:
- Be completely honest: Do not exaggerate your symptoms. The doctor is watching for any sign of embellishment.
- Do not minimize your pain: Report your real limitations. This is not the time to act tougher than you feel.
- Answer only what is asked: Do not volunteer extra information or engage in casual conversation.
- Stay aware from the moment you arrive: Behavior in the waiting room and parking lot may be observed and noted.
What we see across the defense exams our clients attend in the St. Louis and Springfield areas is that the written report often describes a shorter, simpler visit than the client remembers, with conclusions that go well beyond the exam itself.
Writing down how long the exam lasted, what tests were done, and what was said right after leaving gives us a record to compare against the report. That record is often what lets us challenge the doctor’s conclusions.
What Other Discovery Happens After Your Deposition?
Your deposition is usually one of the first witness examinations in your case, not the last.
After party depositions, both sides often need to question additional witnesses:
- The at-fault driver, if not already deposed.
- Eyewitnesses to the crash.
- The officer who filed the accident report.
- Your treating doctors and other medical providers.
- Expert witnesses, such as accident reconstructionists.
Medical expert depositions are expensive and typically scheduled close to trial. We time them strategically to keep your costs down while the case is still pending.
What Court Events Happen Next in Missouri?
While discovery continues, your case is also moving through the court’s schedule. Your attorney will attend case management conferences, respond to motions, and work toward a firm trial date.
Many Missouri judges order mediation before trial. Mediation is a settlement conference with a neutral third party whose goal is to help both sides reach an agreement, and many Missouri car accident cases resolve here before ever reaching a courtroom.
What Are Pretrial Motions and Why Do They Matter?
Pretrial motions are formal requests asking the judge to make specific rulings before trial:
- Motions in limine: Requests to keep certain evidence from being shown to the jury at all.
- Expert disclosure deadlines: Both sides must identify their expert witnesses and share the basis for their planned testimony.
Every favorable pretrial ruling strengthens your position and reminds the insurance company that we are fully prepared to go to trial.
How Long After a Settlement Do You Get Paid in Missouri?
Once you sign the settlement release, the official document that closes your claim, the insurance company typically issues the check within a few weeks. That check does not come directly to you. It goes into our firm’s client trust account first.
From there, we take care of everything:
| Where Settlement Money Goes | What It Covers |
| Medical liens | Payments owed to hospitals, providers, or your health insurer. We negotiate these down before paying them |
| Case costs | Filing fees, deposition transcripts, and expert witness fees |
| Attorney’s fees | The agreed contingency percentage. You owe nothing if you don’t win |
| Your net recovery | What remains after all deductions. This is your money |
Negotiating your medical bills and liens down before disbursement is one of the most important things we do. It directly increases what you take home.
How Fast Is Payment After Signing the Release?
Most delays come from lien negotiations, not from the insurance company’s processing time. Once we resolve what is owed to your medical providers, we move fast to get your money to you.
Injured? Get Legal Help Today
The time after your deposition is when insurance companies decide whether to pay you fairly or fight you to the end. You need an attorney they know is ready for both.
At Beck & Beck Missouri Car Accident Lawyers, we are the only law firm in Missouri that handles exclusively auto accident cases. With decades of combined experience and a strong track record of securing recoveries for injured clients, we know how insurers think and how to make them pay.
Every case is handled personally by a founding partner, never a paralegal. We work on a strict no-win, no-fee basis, connect clients with pre-settlement funding when needed, and maintain a network of doctors who will treat you without health insurance and wait for payment until your case resolves.
Our promise: we handle everything. All you have to do is work on getting better.
We have offices across Missouri in St. Louis, Florissant, O’Fallon, Jefferson City, Independence, and Springfield, and offer fully remote representation statewide. Contact us for a free, no-obligation case evaluation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do Most Missouri Car Accident Cases Settle after a Deposition?
Yes. Depositions are often the turning point that pushes both sides toward a deal, and most Missouri car accident cases settle before ever reaching trial.
How Long After a Car Accident Deposition Do You Get Paid in Missouri?
Payment comes only after a settlement is reached and the release is signed. From that point, the insurance company typically sends the check within a few weeks.
Can the Defense Reopen Your Deposition in Missouri?
It is uncommon, but if significant new information surfaces, the defense can ask the court for permission to bring you back for additional questioning.
What Is the Purpose of a Defense Medical Exam After a Deposition?
The insurance company’s doctor examines you to produce a report challenging your injuries, giving the insurer documented grounds to dispute what your own treating physicians have concluded.
Will Medical Liens Slow Down Your Settlement Payment?
They can, which is why we negotiate hospital and provider bills down before disbursing your settlement, so your money reaches you with as little delay as possible.
Is There an Average Settlement for Missouri Car Accident Cases?
No reliable average exists. A settlement depends on the severity of your injuries, the available insurance coverage, how clear the liability is, and what you have lost in income and quality of life.
