Alabama car accident settlement calculator

Alabama filing deadlines

Wrongful death, 6-2-38(a): 'must be commenced within two years from the death.' Property damage is ambiguous: 6-2-34(2) gives 6 years for 'any trespass to real or personal property' (direct injury), while negligence-based damage not amounting to trespass falls under the 2-year catch-all in 6-2-38(l). Municipal claims, 11-47-23: 'Claims for damages growing out of torts shall be presented within six months from the accrual thereof or shall be barred.'

If you were partly at fault

Alabama follows contributory negligence. If you were even slightly at fault, you can be barred from recovering anything, subject to narrow exceptions such as last clear chance.

• With $100,000 in damages and 30% of the fault, you would recover $0.
• With 55% of the fault, you would recover $0, because the rule bars your claim.

Alabama is one of the few remaining pure contributory negligence jurisdictions; the Alabama Supreme Court has repeatedly declined to adopt comparative fault and no statute changes it.

Source: Alabama common law (e.g., Golden v. McCurry, 392 So. 2d 815 (Ala. 1980); Williams v. Delta Int'l Machinery Corp., 619 So. 2d 1330 (Ala. 1993)). Compare all states in the comparative negligence table.

At-fault (tort) state

In Alabama the driver who caused the crash is responsible for the damage, so you claim against their liability insurance or sue them. Your own medical payments or health coverage can pay bills while the claim is pending.

Traditional tort state; mandatory liability insurance only, no PIP or no-fault statute.

Minimum car insurance in Alabama

$25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident for injuries, $25,000 for property damage. Uninsured motorist coverage is optional or can be rejected in writing.

Many drivers carry only the minimum, so the bodily injury limit is often the most the at-fault driver's insurer will pay one person. Property damage limit is also $25,000 in the same subsection. UM coverage must be included in every policy at the 32-7-6(c) limits but 'the named insured shall have the right to reject such coverage' (32-7-23(a)), so it is not mandatory.

Damage caps

Alabama does not cap pain and suffering in ordinary car accident cases. Punitive damages: Greater of 3x compensatory or $500,000 generally; in physical injury cases greater of 3x compensatory or $1,500,000; small business defendants greater of $50,000 or 10% of net worth; fixed sums CPI adjusted every 3 years; does not apply to wrongful death or intentional infliction of physical injury (Ala. Code 6-11-21)

Alabama wrongful death damages are punitive only, and 6-11-21(j) excludes wrongful death from the punitive cap.

Dog bite law

Mixed rule. Strict liability applies only when the victim is on property owned or controlled by the dog's owner (or was just chased off it by the dog), was lawfully there, and did not provoke the dog. Bites elsewhere (e.g., public sidewalk) follow common law (owner knew of dangerous propensity).

Source: Ala. Code 3-6-1. Estimate a claim with the dog bite calculator.