Filing a car accident lawsuit in Kentucky

A crash in Kentucky drops you into a system most drivers never think about until they need it. Kentucky is a no-fault state by default, so your own insurance pays first and you can only sue the other driver once your case clears a specific legal bar. The rules below are the ones that decide whether and when you can file, and how much you can collect.

The deadline is two years, and it can start later than the crash

Kentucky gives you two years to file a car-accident injury lawsuit. The unusual part is when the clock starts. Under KRS 304.39-230, the two years runs from the date of the accident or from the date of the last basic or added reparation benefit payment on your claim, whichever comes later.¹ Because no-fault benefits often get paid for months after a wreck, your real deadline can sit well past two years from the collision itself. A 2017 amendment closed one gap: a "replacement" payment, meaning an insurer reissuing a lost or stolen check in the same amount, does not push the date back.¹

This two-year window is specific to motor-vehicle cases and overrides Kentucky's general one-year limit for personal injury. Miss it and the court will throw the case out no matter how strong it is.

Vehicle damage runs on its own clock. A claim for damage to your car must be filed within two years of the loss under KRS 413.125, and unlike the injury deadline, no-fault payments do not extend it.² If your car lost resale value even after a clean repair, our Kentucky diminished value guide covers that claim separately.

You have to clear the no-fault threshold before you can sue

Every standard Kentucky auto policy includes Basic Reparation Benefits (BRB), the state's name for PIP. BRB pays up to $10,000 per person, per accident for medical bills, lost income, and the cost of services you can no longer perform yourself, no matter who caused the crash (KRS 304.39-020).³ Those benefits are meant to move fast. An insurer that receives reasonable proof of a loss has 30 days to pay, and an overdue payment collects 12% annual interest, or 18% if the delay had no reasonable foundation (KRS 304.39-210).⁴

The tradeoff is that no-fault limits when you can sue. Under KRS 304.39-060, you can bring a tort claim against the at-fault driver for pain and suffering only if your medical expenses exceed $1,000, or your injury involves a bone fracture, permanent disfigurement, permanent injury, loss of a body member, permanent loss of a bodily function, or death.⁵ The $1,000 threshold is low on purpose. Most injuries that need real treatment clear it, but a light fender-bender with a couple of clinic visits might not, and that case stays inside the no-fault system.

Motorcycle passengers are an exception. They are not bound by the no-fault threshold, because motorcycle coverage is treated differently under the same statute.⁵

Kentucky lets drivers opt out of no-fault

Kentucky is a "choice" no-fault state, which is rarer than the plain no-fault label suggests. KRS 304.39-060 lets any driver reject the no-fault limitations in writing, on a form filed with the Department of Insurance before a crash happens.⁵ A driver who rejected no-fault keeps the full right to sue for any injury with no $1,000 threshold, and can also be sued that way by someone they hit. Most people never file the rejection and stay in the default system, but it changes everything if either driver did.

Minimum coverage, and the coverage that comes built in

Kentucky sets low minimum liability limits: $25,000 for bodily injury to one person, $50,000 per accident, and $25,000 for property damage, written as 25/50/25 (KRS 304.39-110). A single-limit policy of at least $60,000 covering everything from one accident is an allowed substitute.⁶ The property-damage figure was raised for policies issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2018, so older references to a lower number are out of date.⁶

Those limits cap what you can collect from the at-fault driver's insurer, which is why your own policy often matters more than the other driver's. Uninsured motorist (UM) coverage is built into every Kentucky auto policy at limits matching your liability coverage, and it stays there unless you signed a written rejection (KRS 304.20-020).⁷ If an insurer cannot produce a signed rejection, Kentucky treats the UM coverage as in force regardless of what the declarations page shows.

Underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage is different. It is not automatic, but every insurer has to make it available on request, and it pays your uncompensated damages when a judgment against the at-fault driver exceeds that driver's liability limits (KRS 304.39-320).⁸ One trap lives here: before you settle with an at-fault driver for their policy limits, your UIM insurer must get written notice by certified or registered mail and has 30 days to either consent or pay you the settlement amount to keep its subrogation rights.⁸ Settling without that notice can wipe out a UIM claim. The statute was updated April 2, 2024, so the current procedure is what governs.

How your own share of the fault changes the payout

Kentucky follows pure comparative negligence. The Kentucky Supreme Court adopted it in Hilen v. Hays in 1984, scrapping the older rule that any fault of your own barred recovery completely.⁹ Under pure comparative fault, your damages drop by your percentage of blame and nothing more. A jury that finds you 30% at fault for a $100,000 injury still awards you $70,000. Even a driver found mostly at fault recovers the share that belongs to the other side. Kentucky sets no cutoff on this, unlike states that bar you once you cross 50%.

Kentucky does not cap your damages

Here Kentucky is unusually favorable to injured people. Section 54 of the state Constitution says "the General Assembly shall have no power to limit the amount to be recovered for injuries resulting in death, or for injuries to person or property."¹⁰ Ratified in 1891 and never amended, that provision blocks the legislature from writing the damage caps that many states impose. It reaches medical malpractice too, so Kentucky has no med-mal cap either.

Punitive damages are available and uncapped. In Williams v. Wilson, which grew out of a DUI crash, the Kentucky Supreme Court relied on Sections 14, 54, and 241 to strike down a statute that tried to narrow when punitive damages could be awarded.¹¹ In a drunk-driving injury case, punitive damages stay on the table under a gross-negligence, clear-and-convincing standard, with no statutory ceiling on the amount.

Before you file

Two documents carry a lot of weight early in a Kentucky claim. The police crash report fixes who was where and what the responding officer found; you can pull yours through our Kentucky crash report page. And if your car is worth less on paper after repairs, the diminished-value claim runs on the separate two-year property track described above.

The decisions that matter most in a no-fault state are easy to get wrong: whether your injury clears the threshold, when your specific deadline actually falls, and how much coverage is really available across every policy in play. A lawyer who handles Kentucky motor-vehicle cases can sort that out before the clock runs. You can find one through the thatcarhitme.com legal directory.

This article is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

1. Kentucky Legislature, KRS 304.39-230, Limitations of actions. https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=45816

2. Kentucky Legislature, KRS 413.125, Actions relating to personal property. https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=17867

3. Kentucky Legislature, KRS 304.39-020, Definitions for subtitle (Basic Reparation Benefits). https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=57854

4. Kentucky Legislature, KRS 304.39-210, Obligor's duty to respond to claims. https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=57856

5. Kentucky Legislature, KRS 304.39-060, Acceptance or rejection of partial abolition of tort liability. https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=30030

6. Kentucky Legislature, KRS 304.39-110, Required minimum tort liability insurance. https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=46758

7. Kentucky Legislature, KRS 304.20-020, Uninsured vehicle coverage. https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=45815

8. Kentucky Legislature, KRS 304.39-320, Underinsured motorist coverage. https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=54466

9. Hilen v. Hays, 673 S.W.2d 713 (Ky. 1984). CourtListener. https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/2455891/hilen-v-hays/

10. Kentucky Constitution, Section 54, No restriction on recovery for injury or death. https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/Law/Constitution/Constitution/ViewConstitution?rsn=58

11. Williams v. Wilson, 972 S.W.2d 260 (Ky. 1998). CourtListener. https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/2441386/williams-v-wilson/