Car Wrecks · Paintsville, Kentucky
Car wreck cases, from the first call to the courtroom.
Most of the work at Teeters & May is car and truck wreck cases. If you were hurt on US 23, the Mountain Parkway, or a county road you've driven your whole life, here's what to do next, how Kentucky's rules work, and how our office will handle your claim.
- Free consultations on personal injury cases
- No fee unless we win on contingency fee cases
Contingency fees are charged only if there is a recovery. Clients may still be responsible for court costs and case expenses regardless of outcome. Fee arrangements are explained in a written agreement.
Car wrecks
Paintsville office
Serving Eastern Kentucky
After a Wreck
What to do after a wreck.
The first few days set up everything that follows. None of this needs a lawyer, but all of it helps one.
Stop, and check on everyone.
Kentucky law requires a driver in a wreck that hurts someone or damages property to stop, see how bad it is, and give reasonable help, including getting an injured person to a doctor or hospital when it's needed or asked for.
Call 911.
When someone is hurt or a vehicle can't be driven, Kentucky law requires the driver to notify 911 or law enforcement right away if they're able to. The officer's crash report gives everyone the same starting point. Kentucky State Police reports can be requested through the online service linked from the KSP website.
Trade information, and take pictures.
Get the other driver's name, address, insurance and plate number. Photograph the vehicles, the road, any skid marks or debris, and your injuries. Write down the names and phone numbers of anyone who saw it.
Get checked out.
Go to the emergency room, urgent care, or your own doctor, and tell them everything that hurts. Follow through on the care they recommend, and keep the paperwork.
Tell your own insurance company.
Report the wreck to your own insurer. Your policy's personal injury protection, or PIP, can help with medical bills and lost wages no matter who caused the wreck.
Be careful with the other driver's insurance company.
Their adjuster may call quickly and ask for a recorded statement or a signature. Call us before you give either one.
Keep a file.
The crash report number, medical bills, the days you missed work, photos, and a few notes about how you're doing week to week. Bring it with you, or tell us about it when you call.
Kentucky's duty-to-stop and reporting rules: KRS 189.580. Crash reports: Kentucky State Police.
Kentucky Law
How Kentucky's wreck rules work.
A handful of Kentucky rules shape almost every wreck claim. Here they are in plain terms.
No-fault and PIP
Kentucky's Motor Vehicle Reparations Act is a no-fault system. Personal injury protection, called “basic reparation benefits” in the statute, pays certain economic losses from a wreck: medical expenses, lost wages, and replacement services, plus survivors' losses when a wreck causes a death.
Basic benefits are capped at $10,000 for one person in one accident. Some people buy added coverage on top of that.
Source: KRS 304.39-020; Kentucky Department of Insurance PIP overview
When you can claim pain and suffering
Under the no-fault law, you can recover from the at-fault driver for pain, suffering, mental anguish and inconvenience only if your medical expenses are more than $1,000, or the injury includes a broken bone, permanent disfigurement, loss of a body member, a permanent injury within reasonable medical probability, permanent loss of a bodily function, or death.
Kentucky also lets a person reject these limits on their tort rights by filing a form with the Department of Insurance. It only counts if it was filed before the wreck.
Source: KRS 304.39-060
The filing deadline
A lawsuit against the driver who caused a wreck generally has to be filed within two years after the injury, or two years after the last PIP payment, whichever comes later. Claims for the PIP benefits themselves have their own time limits.
Other kinds of claims can have shorter deadlines. Don't wait to call.
Source: KRS 304.39-230
If you were partly at fault
Kentucky uses pure comparative fault. Being partly at fault doesn't automatically end your claim. When more than one person is at fault, the jury assigns each a percentage, and what you can recover is reduced by your share.
Source: Hilen v. Hays, 673 S.W.2d 713 (Ky. 1984); KRS 411.182
This is general information about Kentucky law, not legal advice about your situation. Every case turns on its own facts and policies.
Your Case
Who handles your case, and how.
You'll know the people working on your claim by name, and they'll know you.
Before a lawsuit
Most wreck claims start with records, bills and phone calls. That's the work of our Personal Injury Division, who work alongside Brad Teeters and Brandon May on every wreck case.
- Gathering the crash report, medical records and bills
- Dealing with the insurance companies, including your own PIP carrier
- Keeping you informed as your claim moves forward
- Michelle Bailey-WellsCertified Kentucky Paralegal, Lead Paralegal, Personal Injury Division
- Kimberly ScottPersonal Injury Paralegal & Office Administrator
- Hailey CaudillPersonal Injury Case Manager
If it goes to trial
Many injury claims settle. When one shouldn't, because the insurance company won't pay what it's worth, we don't hand your case off to another firm. We take it to trial ourselves, with the same trial team that handles the firm's trial work.
- Brandon MayPartner, leads the trial practice
- Heather RayLead Trial Paralegal
- Sandy BlairParalegal to Brandon May
The people who walk through our door aren't strangers. They're the folks I see at the ballgame, at church, and in line at the grocery store.Brandon May, Partner
Fees
What it costs.
We'll explain the fee before you sign anything, in a written agreement.
Free consultations
Consultations on personal injury cases are free. Call the office and tell us what happened.
No fee unless we win
On contingency fee cases, you don't pay an attorney's fee unless we win.
Contingency fees are charged only if there is a recovery. Clients may still be responsible for court costs and case expenses regardless of outcome. Fee arrangements are explained in a written agreement.
Where
Wreck cases across Eastern Kentucky.
We have one office, on College Street in Paintsville. From there we handle wreck cases for people in Johnson County and the counties around it. Each area page covers the main roads, where that county's courthouse sits, and the drive to our office.
- Paintsville · Johnson County
- Prestonsburg · Floyd County
- Pikeville · Pike County
- Ashland · Boyd County
- Louisa · Lawrence County
- Inez · Martin County
- Salyersville · Magoffin County
- All areas we serve
- Related
Truck wrecks
Tractor-trailers and other commercial trucks bring federal rules and more parties into the case.
Read more - Questions
Wreck FAQ
Plain answers to the questions people ask us most after a wreck.
Read the FAQ - Attorney
Brad Teeters
Army veteran. Nearly two decades on car and truck wreck cases.
Meet Brad
Contact
Hurt in a wreck? Call the office.
We don't take case details through the website. The best way to reach us is by phone during office hours, or in person on College Street. Consultations on personal injury cases are free.
You don't have to live close by. We can handle most of a case by phone, video, and electronic signing. If a court date requires you to be there in person, we'll tell you ahead of time.
(606) 264-5955Office
Teeters & May, PLLC228 College Street
Paintsville, KY 41240
Hours
- Monday–Friday
- 8:00 AM–4:00 PM
- Saturday–Sunday
- Closed
Please don't send confidential details about your case through Facebook or any other website. Contacting the firm does not by itself create an attorney-client relationship.