Injury · Kentucky
the short answer
You have two years from the day of the crash to file, and no amount of talking to an insurer extends it. Being partly to blame does not end your claim; it reduces what you collect by your share and nothing more. Your own insurer pays the medical bills first, and whether you can sue for pain and suffering turns on which option your policy took.
source ↗Not yet checked against the statute.
governing statute
KRS 304.39-230(6)
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who pays first
Kentucky lets you choose, and the choice was already made in the policy you bought. Under the limited option your own insurer pays the medical bills and you may sue the other driver for pain and suffering only if medical expenses exceed $1,000, or the injury is a permanent disfigurement, a fracture, loss of a body member, permanent injury, permanent loss of a bodily function, or death; under the full option no threshold applies at all. (KRS 304.39-060)
source ↗Not yet checked against the statute.
Across the country. 3 of the 51 states written up answer this the same way as Kentucky. Compare every state →
your share of the fault
Your share of the blame costs you that share and never the claim itself. Forty percent at fault means you collect sixty percent of the damages, and a driver mostly to blame still recovers what is left. (KRS 411.182)
source ↗Not yet checked against the statute.
Across the country. 11 of the 51 states written up answer this the same way as Kentucky. Compare every state →
limit
2 years
source ↗Not yet checked against the statute.
Across the country. 25 of the 51 states written up answer this the same way as Kentucky. The shortest is 1 year, as in Tennessee; the longest is 6 years, as in Maine. Compare every state →
which court
Small claims division of the District Court
source ↗Not yet checked against the statute.
small claims limit
$2,500
source ↗Not yet checked against the statute.
exceptions: The lowest limit in the country, and it has not moved since 1976. Libel, slander, alienation of affections, malicious prosecution and abuse of process cannot be heard here at any amount. Above $2,500 the case goes to the District Court itself, not nowhere.
source ↗Not yet checked against the statute.
also
The two years does not always run from the crash. Where no-fault benefits have been paid, it runs from the date of the last payment, which can leave the real deadline years out — and can also make it hard to work out without the payment records.
source ↗Not yet checked against the statute.
your situation
Everything above is the law as it reaches everyone in Kentucky. What it means for you turns on facts only you have. Tell us what happened and we'll ask the same questions a lawyer would — about 90 seconds, free, and anonymous.
This is legal information, not legal advice. Written by an AI model, which can be wrong. Not a lawyer, and not a prediction about your case. Terms · Privacy
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