Filing an Injury Claim in Kentucky: The One-Year Trap and the Two-Year Exception

Kentucky gives most injured people one year to file a lawsuit — one of the shortest windows in the country. Then it turns around and gives car crash victims two. Mixing up those two clocks, in either direction, is the most expensive mistake people make with Kentucky injury claims.

The one-year rule almost nobody expects

Most states allow two or three years to file a personal injury lawsuit. Kentucky generally allows one, under KRS 413.140(1)(a). A fall in a store, a dog bite, an injury on someone’s property, most claims that do not involve a motor vehicle — the clock typically starts the day you are hurt and runs out twelve months later.

That is far less time than it sounds like. People reasonably spend the first months after an injury on treatment, work, and recovery, and only start asking legal questions once life stabilizes. In a three-year state, that costs little. In Kentucky, waiting until you “feel ready to deal with it” can quietly consume most of the window — and once the deadline passes, even a strong claim is generally gone for good.

There are limited exceptions. Medical malpractice claims generally run one year from when the injury was discovered or reasonably should have been, with an outer limit of five years under KRS 413.140(2), and the clock can pause in some situations, such as for minors. But exceptions are narrow and fact-specific — never assume one applies to you without asking a licensed Kentucky attorney. You can see how unusual Kentucky’s window is in our overview of injury filing deadlines in every state.

The car-crash exception: two years, with a moving start date

Here is where Kentucky gets genuinely confusing. Injuries from motor vehicle accidents fall under the state’s Motor Vehicle Reparations Act, and under KRS 304.39-230 a tort suit generally must be filed within two years of the injury, the death, or the last no-fault benefit payment made on the claim — whichever comes later.

That last trigger matters. If your own policy has been paying no-fault medical benefits, the two-year clock can start from the final payment rather than the crash itself, which sometimes leaves more time than people fear. But the trap runs both ways:

• Crash victims sometimes panic at month eleven, assuming the general one-year rule applies to them. It usually does not.
• Fall and premises victims sometimes coast, because a national article told them “two years” — and that number simply is not Kentucky’s general rule.

Which clock governs, and when it started, depends on how you were hurt and how benefits were paid. It is a calculation worth confirming with a professional rather than a search engine.

Kentucky’s “choice” no-fault system

Kentucky is one of only a handful of states running a choice no-fault system. By default, every driver is inside it: your own policy’s basic reparation benefits — commonly called PIP — generally pay up to $10,000 toward medical bills, lost wages, and related expenses after a crash, regardless of who caused it.

The trade-off is a threshold. To sue an at-fault driver for pain and suffering, you generally must clear the bar set by KRS 304.39-060: more than $1,000 in medical expenses, or an injury involving a broken bone, permanent disfigurement, permanent injury, or death. Serious crashes usually clear it; minor ones may be resolved through PIP alone.

Drivers can opt out of the no-fault limits entirely by filing a written rejection on the Kentucky Department of Insurance’s form — keeping full rights to sue from the first dollar, but giving up guaranteed no-fault benefits. Few drivers do, and fewer remember which box they checked years ago. Whether you or the other driver opted out changes the rules of your claim, so it is one of the first things worth finding out.

Fault-sharing is unusually forgiving here

Kentucky follows pure comparative fault under KRS 411.182. Your recovery is reduced by your percentage of blame, but there is no cutoff that bars you completely. Someone found 70% responsible for their own accident can generally still recover the remaining 30% of their damages — a claim that would be worth nothing in many neighboring states.

That makes “it was partly my fault” a much weaker reason to stay silent in Kentucky than almost anywhere else. It does not make fault irrelevant: every percentage point an insurer pins on you reduces what they pay, which is exactly why adjusters argue fault so aggressively. An early phone call assigning you blame is a negotiating position, not a verdict.

No damage caps — by constitutional design

Many states cap non-economic damages, especially in medical malpractice cases. Kentucky cannot, at least not by ordinary legislation: Section 54 of the Kentucky Constitution generally denies the General Assembly the power to limit what can be recovered for injuries or death. Changing that would require amending the constitution itself, not just passing a bill.

That provision was tested again recently. Senate Bill 195, introduced in the 2026 session as a sweeping tort-reform package, became law in April 2026 in a much narrower form — largely focused on liability presumptions for road and bridge contractors — and did not impose damage caps or change the comparative fault rule. Reform efforts continue, so treat this as the state of play as of 2026 and confirm the current law when your claim arises.

The exception: claims against the government

The no-caps rule has one significant carve-out. Claims against the Commonwealth, its agencies, or its employees generally cannot go to ordinary court at all — they run through the Board of Claims process under KRS Chapter 49, must generally be presented within one year under KRS 49.120, and awards are generally capped at $200,000 per claim, or $350,000 arising from a single act of negligence, under KRS 49.040.

Cities have their own quirk: injuries caused by defects in streets and sidewalks generally require written notice to the city within 90 days under KRS 411.110. If a pothole, a public bus, a state road crew, or a government building is anywhere in your story, your deadlines may be far shorter than even Kentucky’s usual ones.

What to actually do with all this

1. Get medical care promptly and keep every record. In crash cases, billing records also determine whether you clear the no-fault threshold.
2. Note the dates of any PIP payments. In a car crash claim, the last payment date can affect when your filing window closes.
3. Do not guess which deadline applies to you. One year, two years, or 90 days — the answer depends on facts a professional can pin down quickly.
4. Move early. Kentucky’s short general window punishes waiting more than almost any other state’s rules do.

For the core numbers in one place, our Kentucky quick-reference page summarizes the deadlines and fault rules covered here.

If you were hurt in Kentucky and want to know where your situation stands before the clock becomes a problem, answer a few questions about what happened and we will connect you with a participating law firm that can evaluate it. Free, confidential, and no obligation.