KY
Whiplash settlements
in Kentucky.
Kentucky is a no fault state, and that shapes every whiplash claim. Your own PIP coverage pays the first $10,000 of losses, and you can sue the other driver for pain and suffering only if your medical bills pass $1,000 or the injury is one of the serious types the statute lists.
Facts that decide a whiplash claim in Kentucky
| When you can sue for pain | Only if medical expenses exceed $1,000, or the injury includes permanent disfigurement, a fracture, loss of a body member, permanent injury, permanent loss of bodily function, or death.KRS 304.39-060(2)(b) |
|---|---|
| Deadline to sue the other driver | Two years after the injury or after the last PIP payment, whichever is later.KRS 304.39-230(6) |
| Minimum liability insurance | $25,000 per person, $50,000 per accident, and $25,000 property damage, or a $60,000 single limit.KRS 304.39-110(1)(a) |
| Fault rule | Pure comparative fault: you recover even if mostly to blame, reduced by your share. Contributory negligence stopped being a bar in 1984.KRS 411.182; Hilen v. Hays (Ky. 1984), as noted in Maupin v. Tankersley (Ky. App. 2018) |
| Damages caps | None. The Kentucky Constitution forbids the legislature from limiting the amount recovered for injury to person or property.Ky. Const. § 54, in the LRC Citizens’ Guide to the Kentucky Constitution |
| Seat belt use | A jury may assign fault for not wearing one if the evidence shows it caused or worsened the specific injury.Wemyss v. Coleman (Ky. 1987); MyClaimWorth seat belt chart |
| Insurance payments in evidence | The jury may hear about collateral source payments such as health insurance, except life insurance.KRS 411.188(3) |