Truck Wrecks · Paintsville, Kentucky
A truck wreck is a different kind of case.
A wreck with a tractor-trailer, dump truck, or other commercial vehicle can involve a trucking company, its insurer, and sometimes other businesses, not just a driver. Our office handles truck wreck cases across Eastern Kentucky, from the first call through trial if it comes to that.
- 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.
Truck wrecks
US 23 · US 460 · I-64
Eastern Kentucky
What's Different
Why truck cases are different.
There can be more people involved, and more paperwork on the other side.
More than one party.
The driver, the company the driver works for, and sometimes the owner of the truck or trailer or the business that loaded it may each have a part in what happened. Sorting that out early matters.
Federal safety rules.
Most commercial truck drivers have to follow federal hours-of-service rules, which limit how long they can drive and require rest. Property-carrying drivers generally get no more than 11 hours of driving inside a 14-hour window.
Driving logs.
Trucking companies covered by those rules have to record each driver's duty status, usually with an electronic logging device.
Records don't last forever.
Federal rules require motor carriers to keep drivers' duty-status records and supporting documents for at least six months. That's one more reason to call early instead of waiting to see how things go.
Sources: FMCSA, Hours of Service; 49 CFR 395.8 (records of duty status, electronic logging devices, and six-month retention).
After a Truck Wreck
After a wreck with a truck.
Everything on our car wreck checklist applies. A few things matter more with a truck.
- Write down the company. Note the company name and any numbers painted on the truck's door or trailer, and take a picture of them.
- Photograph the truck and the scene before the vehicles are moved, if it's safe to do so.
- Get witness names. Other drivers who stopped may have seen how the truck was being driven before the wreck.
- Don't talk with the trucking company's insurer about fault or your injuries until you've talked with us.
- Get medical care and keep every record and bill.
Kentucky Law
The same Kentucky rules still apply.
A truck wreck in Kentucky is still a Kentucky motor vehicle case. No-fault PIP, the threshold for pain and suffering, the filing deadline and comparative fault all work the way they do in a car wreck.
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 it.
Our Personal Injury Division
Michelle, Kim and Hailey gather the records, deal with the insurance companies, and keep you informed, working alongside Brad Teeters and Brandon May.
- Michelle Bailey-WellsCertified Kentucky Paralegal, Lead Paralegal, Personal Injury Division
- Kimberly ScottPersonal Injury Paralegal & Office Administrator
- Hailey CaudillPersonal Injury Case Manager
Across the table from the insurers
I've spent my career across the table from the big insurance companies. I know how they value a claim, where they cut corners, and what it takes to make them pay what a case is truly worth.Brad Teeters, Partner
If a truck case doesn't settle fairly, it stays here. Our trial team, led by Brandon May, tries it.
Fees & Roads
What it costs.
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.
The roads we all share
Big trucks run the same roads we drive every day: US 23 through Paintsville, Prestonsburg and Pikeville; US 460 and the Mountain Parkway toward Salyersville; I-64 and US 60 around Ashland; and US 119 in Pike County.
Contact
Hurt in a truck 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.