An uninsured motorist claim arises when you are injured by a driver who carries no liability insurance at all, or by a hit-and-run driver who cannot be identified. An underinsured motorist claim arises when the at-fault driver has liability coverage, but the amount of that coverage is insufficient to fully compensate your injuries. In both situations, the claim is made against your own automobile insurance policy rather than the at-fault driver’s carrier, and the compensation available depends on the UM/UIM limits you purchased and the specific terms of your policy. Under KRS 304.20-020, Kentucky auto liability policies must include uninsured motorist coverage unless a named insured rejects it in writing, and under KRS 304.39-320, Kentucky law requires insurers to make underinsured motorist coverage available upon request. If the at-fault driver did carry adequate coverage, a Kentucky car accident lawyer can pursue that liability claim alongside any UM/UIM benefits.
What makes UM/UIM claims categorically different from standard third-party liability claims is the identity of the opponent. When you file a UM/UIM claim, you are not suing the driver who injured you. You are making a claim against the insurance company that collected your premiums for years and promised to protect you in exactly this situation. That company has a financial interest in paying as little as possible on your claim, and it has experienced claims teams, legal departments, and adjustment strategies specifically designed to minimize UM/UIM payouts. The fact that you are their own insured does not make them cooperative. It makes them aware of how much your case might be worth, and it gives them the same incentive to undervalue your claim that any liability carrier would have. An underinsured motorist lawyer who understands this from the first phone call handles the claim differently from the outset. Louisville’s high-volume traffic corridors including I-64, I-65, I-71, and the downtown street network generate a significant volume of collisions in which the at-fault driver’s coverage is either nonexistent or wholly inadequate relative to the severity of the injuries sustained. Whether the driver who hit you had no insurance at all, carried only Kentucky’s minimum liability limits, or has simply disappeared from the scene, Forman & Associates evaluates your full UM/UIM coverage position from the moment we take your case and pursues every dollar your policy is obligated to pay.
If an underinsured driver hit you while you were driving or riding in your employer’s vehicle, there may be more than one source of underinsured motorist coverage, and workers’ compensation is usually involved too.
Company-vehicle crashes can involve three or four policies and a comp carrier, so get every policy in hand before you give a statement or sign anything.
If you were seriously injured by an uninsured or underinsured driver in Louisville or anywhere in Kentucky, speak with our team today. Every case is reviewed at no charge and we never collect a fee unless we win.
Most people who need to make a UM/UIM claim do not fully understand what they are walking into until they are already in it. Your insurance company assigns an adjuster to your claim just as they would to any other, but that adjuster’s job is to minimize the payout, not to maximize what you recover. They will request recorded statements, obtain your medical records, have their own medical review team evaluate your treatment, and apply the same playbook they use to minimize every liability claim they ever process, except now they are applying it to you. The insurer knows exactly what coverage limits you carry. They know what you paid for the policy. And they know that many policyholders, overwhelmed after a serious collision, will accept a low offer rather than fight their own carrier through the process necessary to get full value.
The steps you take immediately after a collision with an uninsured or underinsured driver determine the strength of your UM/UIM claim. You must report the collision to your own insurer promptly, but you are not required to provide a recorded statement before speaking with an underinsured motorist lawyer, and doing so almost always results in a statement that is used against you later. Gather all evidence from the scene that would support a standard liability claim, because your UM/UIM carrier will evaluate the at-fault driver’s negligence independently and will look for reasons to argue the crash was partially your fault in order to reduce the payout. Obtain the at-fault driver’s insurance information, or document the absence of it. And seek medical attention immediately, because the same gap-in-treatment arguments that liability insurers use to minimize injury claims are used identically by UM/UIM carriers against their own policyholders.
What many people do not realize is that in underinsured motorist cases, the timing of settling with the at-fault driver’s liability carrier matters significantly. KRS 304.39-320 establishes specific procedural requirements that must be followed before settling with the tortfeasor’s carrier if you intend to preserve your UIM claim, including providing notice to your own UM/UIM carrier before the settlement is finalized. An underinsured motorist lawyer who understands this procedural landscape protects your UIM claim while the liability settlement is being negotiated, rather than discovering after the fact that a procedural misstep eliminated your right to pursue additional coverage.
The hours and days following a collision with an uninsured or underinsured driver are simultaneously the most critical period for your physical recovery and for the legal and procedural steps that preserve your UM/UIM claim. Evidence from the collision scene, including vehicle positions, road conditions, traffic camera footage, and witness accounts, is just as critical in a UM/UIM case as in a standard third-party liability case, because your own carrier will conduct an independent fault evaluation that mirrors what any liability insurer would do. Traffic camera footage is typically overwritten within 24 to 72 hours. Skid marks fade. Witnesses become difficult to locate. Black box data from both vehicles can be lost without a legal preservation demand. Every piece of liability evidence that disappears is a piece of ammunition your own insurer uses to argue comparative fault and reduce your UM/UIM payout.
UM/UIM claims require the same liability investigation as any collision case, plus an additional layer of coverage analysis that most general personal injury attorneys are not equipped to navigate. Your underinsured motorist lawyer must evaluate every applicable policy in the coverage stack, including your own automobile policy’s UM/UIM limits, any umbrella coverage that may provide additional UM/UIM protection, and any stacking provisions that allow multiple vehicle policies to be combined to increase available coverage. Simultaneously, the attorney must manage the liability settlement with the at-fault driver’s carrier in a manner that complies with the procedural requirements of KRS 304.39-320 without inadvertently compromising the UIM claim. And the attorney must build the same full damages case that any serious personal injury claim requires, because the UM/UIM carrier will dispute the value of your claim using the same experts and strategies that any liability insurer would deploy.
At Forman & Associates, we take control of the UM/UIM claims process from the moment we are retained. We issue evidence preservation demands for all collision scene evidence before it disappears. We conduct a full coverage stack analysis to identify every applicable UM/UIM policy and every potential stacking provision. We manage all communications with your own insurer so that you are not providing recorded statements or making admissions that damage your own claim. We handle the liability settlement with the at-fault driver’s carrier in full compliance with Kentucky’s procedural requirements to preserve your UIM rights. And we never advise a client to accept any UM/UIM offer until the full damages picture has been built by the right medical and economic experts and the complete coverage position has been evaluated by an experienced underinsured motorist lawyer.
Uninsured and underinsured motorist claims arise across every category of vehicle collision and every coverage scenario. If any of the following circumstances apply to your situation, contact us for a free case evaluation.
When the driver who caused the collision leaves the scene and cannot be identified, Kentucky's uninsured motorist coverage framework provides a recovery avenue through your own policy. These cases require prompt police reporting, independent witness collection, and immediate legal preservation demands for any available surveillance footage that might capture the fleeing vehicle.
When the driver who caused your injuries was operating a vehicle with no liability insurance at all, your own UM coverage becomes the primary source of civil recovery. Your underinsured motorist lawyer builds the full liability case against the uninsured driver and simultaneously pursues the coverage your own policy provides, maximizing recovery from every available source.
Kentucky's minimum liability coverage requirements are frequently insufficient to compensate serious injuries. When the at-fault driver carries only minimum coverage and your injuries produce medical expenses, lost wages, and other damages that substantially exceed those limits, your UIM coverage steps in to cover the gap. For other places compensation can come from, see what happens when an accident exceeds policy limits. The procedural requirements for pursuing UIM coverage after an underinsured liability settlement are specific and must be managed carefully by an experienced underinsured motorist lawyer.
Motorcycle collision injuries are frequently severe enough to exceed even moderately sized liability policies, making UM/UIM coverage particularly important for injured riders. These cases also require specific attention to whether UM/UIM coverage was properly offered under the motorcycle policy, because Kentucky's offering requirements under KRS Chapter 304 apply to motorcycle policies in ways that insurers do not always comply with fully. For related claims, see our Louisville motorcycle accident lawyer page.
When a collision involves a commercial vehicle and questions arise about which policy applies, whether the driver was acting within the scope of employment, or how multiple commercial and personal policies interact, the UM/UIM coverage analysis becomes particularly complex. These cases frequently involve coverage disputes between multiple carriers that require an underinsured motorist lawyer who understands both commercial vehicle liability and UM/UIM coverage law simultaneously. For related claims, see our truck wreck page.
When a policyholder has multiple vehicles on their policy, Kentucky law may allow stacking of UM/UIM coverage limits across those vehicles, but only to the extent separate coverage was bought and paid for. If the premium was charged per vehicle, stacking may be available. If the insurer charged a single, actuarially based premium and the policy clearly limits you to one recovery, it generally isn't (Marcum v. Rice, 1999). An underinsured motorist lawyer reviews the declarations page, the premium and the policy language to find out, and pursues stacked coverage when it's available.
CALL NOW — Free Case Evaluation Request Your Free Consultation
UM/UIM claims provide access to the same categories of damages available in any personal injury case, but the recovery is limited by the coverage limits available in your policy stack rather than by the at-fault driver’s liability limits. The quality of the legal team building the damages case determines how much of the available coverage is actually recovered, because your own insurer will dispute the value of your claim using the same strategies any liability carrier would deploy.
In a Kentucky UM/UIM lawsuit, recoverable damages typically include:
Future damages are among the most consistently undervalued components in UM/UIM settlements, for the same reason they are undervalued in any insurer’s early offer. Your own carrier is making the offer based on what your injuries look like today, not what they will cost you over the next decade. A herniated disc that requires surgery next year, a traumatic brain injury whose cognitive impact will not be fully apparent for months, and a soft tissue injury that transitions to chronic pain all produce future costs that the first offer does not reflect. Our firm works with medical specialists and economic experts to establish the full forward-looking damages picture before any UM/UIM settlement discussion begins.
Do not accept your own insurer’s first offer on a UM/UIM claim. Your carrier’s first offer is calibrated to resolve your claim quickly and cheaply, not to reflect the full value of your injuries and your policy’s obligation to cover them. Once you accept a settlement and sign a release, your claim is permanently closed regardless of how your medical condition develops. Speak with an underinsured motorist lawyer before you sign anything, even with your own insurance company.
Insurance companies settle UM/UIM claims differently depending on whether the attorney on the other side has ever actually taken a case against a carrier to trial. When they know your underinsured motorist lawyer has tried 50+ jury trials, the adjuster’s calculation about what it costs to fight your claim versus paying full value changes immediately.
Larry Forman has actually stood before juries. That track record is known in Kentucky legal circles — and it changes how the other side negotiates.
Collision scene footage, black box data, police reports, witness accounts, and all documentation of the at-fault driver's coverage position are all time-sensitive. We issue preservation demands from the moment we take your case and build the full liability case that your own carrier will use to independently evaluate what happened.
The procedural requirements of KRS 304.39-320, the stacking provisions available under Kentucky policy law, the insurer's obligations under KRS 304.20-020, the bad faith framework that applies when carriers improperly deny or undervalue UM/UIM claims, and the specific procedural steps required before settling with an underinsured tortfeasor are not abstract concepts to our team.
From expert witness retention to pattern-of-misconduct research, we build cases designed to win at trial — not just settle quickly to move to the next file.
You pay nothing out of pocket. Our firm advances all costs, and we only collect if we secure a recovery on your behalf. Zero financial risk to you.
Larry Forman is one of the most-watched legal voices online. He knows how to tell your story — in front of a jury, a judge, or a national audience.
CALL NOW — Free Case Evaluation Request Your Free Consultation
Kentucky sets a specific procedure before you settle with the at-fault driver’s insurer when that settlement will not cover your damages (KRS 304.39-320). You must send written notice of the proposed settlement by certified or registered mail to every underinsured motorist insurer that covers you.
The UIM insurer then has 30 days to consent or to preserve its rights. If it refuses, it must pay you the amount of the liability insurer’s written offer within those 30 days. If it consents or does not respond in time, you can settle and still pursue the UIM claim.
Skipping this step can put the UIM claim at risk. Kentucky insurers must also include uninsured motorist coverage unless the named insured rejects it in writing (KRS 304.20-020).
Claims from a motor vehicle crash follow the no-fault law instead: generally two years after the injury or after the last personal injury protection payment, whichever is later (KRS 304.39-230(6)).
Talk with our team about what happened. The consultation is free.
Over $5,000,000 recovered for injured people.
Past results do not guarantee, predict or warrant a similar outcome in any future case. Each case depends on its own facts and the law.
Your own insurer has the same financial incentive to minimize every claim payout that any other insurance company has, and that incentive does not disappear because you are their policyholder. UM/UIM claims are paid by your insurer from its own reserves, so paying you less means the company retains more. Adjusters assigned to UM/UIM claims are evaluated and compensated based on claim closure efficiency, not on policyholder satisfaction. Your insurer's cooperation with your claim is not something you can count on simply because you have paid premiums for years. An underinsured motorist lawyer manages the entire relationship with your carrier so that your own words and actions are not used to minimize what your policy owes you.
Under KRS 304.39-230(6), a lawsuit against the at-fault driver after a Kentucky car crash generally must be filed within two years of the collision or the last PIP payment, whichever is later, and your UIM policy may impose its own deadline for the underinsured motorist claim. However, your automobile insurance policy may contain its own notice and claim filing requirements that impose shorter deadlines than the statutory limitations period, and some policies require specific forms of notice to preserve UM/UIM rights. In underinsured motorist cases, the procedural requirements of KRS 304.39-320 related to settling with the tortfeasor's carrier must be met before finalizing any liability settlement. Missing either the statutory deadline or the procedural requirements can eliminate your UM/UIM claim entirely. Contact an underinsured motorist lawyer immediately after a collision with an uninsured or underinsured driver.
Possibly. It depends on what you actually paid for. Kentucky lets you combine, or “stack,” UM/UIM coverage when you bought more than one unit of it, for example when the premium was charged per vehicle or varied with the number of vehicles on the policy. But in Marcum v. Rice, 987 S.W.2d 789 (Ky. 1999), the Kentucky Supreme Court held that when an insurer charges a single, actuarially appropriate UIM premium no matter how many vehicles are insured, you have one unit of coverage, and clear policy language limiting you to one recovery will be enforced. The Court also held that no separate notice or waiver is required when the policy language is clear, unless an unannounced change misleads you. Whether you can stack depends on your declarations page, how the premium was calculated and the policy wording. Send us your policy and we’ll review it.
Kentucky law and most automobile insurance policies extend UM/UIM coverage to insureds who are injured by uninsured or underinsured drivers even when the insured was not in a vehicle at the time of the collision. If you were struck as a pedestrian or as a cyclist by a driver with insufficient coverage, your own automobile policy's UM/UIM coverage should apply, subject to the specific terms of your policy. These situations also frequently involve direct negligence claims against the at-fault driver alongside the UM/UIM claim, and an underinsured motorist lawyer evaluates both simultaneously.
Under KRS 304.39-320, before you finalize a liability settlement with an underinsured driver's carrier, you must provide written notice to your own UIM carrier and give them the opportunity to either consent to the settlement or preserve their subrogation rights by paying you the liability settlement amount themselves. If you settle with the tortfeasor's carrier without following this procedure, you risk compromising or eliminating your UIM claim entirely. This procedural requirement is one of the most consequential and most commonly mishandled aspects of underinsured motorist claims in Kentucky, and it is one of the most important reasons to involve an underinsured motorist lawyer before any settlement discussions with the at-fault driver's carrier are finalized.
Yes. Forman & Associates represents UM/UIM claimants throughout Kentucky and handles cases nationally. Whether the collision occurred in Louisville, Lexington, Bowling Green, Northern Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky, or anywhere else in the Commonwealth, we are available to evaluate your coverage position and your legal options at no cost. Contact us for a free consultation regardless of where in Kentucky the collision occurred or which insurer is handling your claim.
