Mistakes and Error in Reference to Kentucky “No Fault” Law

Kentucky certainly recognizes fault in any personal injury claim and all motor vehicle accidents.  The NO FAULT provisions of an insurance police guarantees that if you are injured, that your insurance will pay some amount of benefits for lost wages and medical bills. This is your PIP (Personal Injury Protection) on your insurance, often referred to as no fault.  This does not mean or imply that an at-fault party will not be legally responsible for damages.  Kentucky law does allow for pure comparative fault and the party who is at-fault will be required to pay for damage, medical expenses, lost wages and pain and suffering of the party that is not at fault.

Pure Comparative Fault

Per Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 411.182, Kentucky follows a Pure Comparative Fault rule of law. 12 states recognize said rule of law. Essentially, this rule allows an injured party to recover even if he or she is 99 percent at fault for the accident! Of course, though eligible for recovery, such recovery is to be reduced by the injured party’s degree of partial fault. The Kentucky Supreme Court, in establishing such a rule of law, did so for purposes of fairness. Kentucky’s pure comparative negligence takes into account the responsibility of all those involved in the accident and then determines how much a party at fault must pay the other party(s).

For example, say you are driving and a tractor-trailer hits you from behind. These cases normally settle before having to go to court, but suppose your case makes it to court. If the court finds that you were also at fault, the damage verdict will be reduced by your contribution to the accident.  There is no telling whether a jury will consider you were at fault for stopping suddenly or if the other vehicle is at fault, but there is a chance that the “fault’ is apportioned.  Even if you were primarily at fault, you can recover if the other party was partially at fault in the accident.