Montgomery Personal Injury Lawyer

Montgomery Injury Claims Against Drivers, Employers, and the State of Alabama

If you were seriously hurt in Montgomery, your first question is who caused it, because that decides where your claim goes.

A private driver or company can be sued in court within two years, and any negligence of yours that helped cause the injury can bar the claim.

The State of Alabama cannot be sued at all, so a crash with a state vehicle goes to the Board of Adjustment.

The Board's deadline is one year, and a claim against the City of Montgomery can run out in six months.

Don Worley, admitted in Alabama, takes serious injury and death cases from Montgomery and across the River Region.

You owe no fee and no costs unless we recover, so call (888) 713-6653 for a free review.

Crashes With State Vehicles and the Alabama Board of Adjustment

Montgomery is the capital, and state cars, trucks, and agency crews are part of everyday traffic. When one of them hurts you, the constitutional sentence above means you cannot sue the State in circuit court.^[1] Your route is the Alabama Board of Adjustment, made up of the Director of Finance, the State Treasurer, the Secretary of State, and the State Auditor.

Its notarized form goes to the Alabama State Capitol, 600 Dexter Avenue, Suite E-302, and you have one year to file, or two years for a death. A late claim cannot be heard.^[2] Awards are capped at the workers' compensation maximums, far below what a serious injury can cost.

That is why we look past the State for someone else who shares responsibility. A private contractor working for the State can be sued in court, and so can another driver. A state employee may also be sued personally in some cases, though state-agent immunity protects many decisions made on the job, unless the employee acted willfully, maliciously, in bad faith, or beyond their authority.

Our page on injury claims against the State, cities, and counties goes through each route, including school bus injuries.

Crashes, Medical Errors, and Falls Behind Montgomery County Injury Claims

Montgomery County recorded 9,598 crashes and 44 traffic deaths in 2024.^[3] Crashes make up many Montgomery County injury claims, along with injuries in plants, hospitals, nursing homes, and stores. Our pages on Alabama car accident claims and Alabama truck crash claims cover the road cases.

A claim against a doctor, hospital, or nursing home runs under the Alabama Medical Liability Act, which our page on Alabama malpractice claims explains. Baptist Medical Center South is the area's Level I trauma center on the state's list, and Jackson Hospital is Level III, so your first records likely sit in one of them.^[4]

A fall at a store or apartment complex turns on what the owner knew, and a family that loses someone has a wrongful death claim set by the wrongdoer's conduct. See Alabama slip and fall claims and a family's wrongful death claim in Alabama.

I-65, I-85, Eastern Boulevard, and the Hyundai Plant Traffic in Montgomery

I-85 begins at I-65 in Montgomery, so trucks from the Port of Mobile, Birmingham, and Atlanta all meet here. Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama employs about 4,200 people and expected to build about 358,000 vehicles in 2025, which means commuters and parts trucks on the same roads.^[5]

A crash on the interstate often puts a company vehicle into the claim, along with its insurer and its records. On Eastern Boulevard and other commercial roads, a crash at a signal can turn into a dispute over whose light it was. Under Alabama's contributory negligence rule, that small dispute can decide the whole case, so we ask early for video and signal records.

A plant worker hurt on the job usually has a workers' compensation claim, and may also have one against a machine maker, a contractor, or, in narrow cases of willful conduct, a co-worker. Our page on who else can be sued after a work injury covers it.

Maxwell Air Force Base, Federal Drivers, and the Two-Year FTCA Claim

Maxwell Air Force Base brings military and civilian federal employees onto Montgomery's roads. If a federal employee hit you while on the job, the claim runs against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act. You must present a written administrative claim to the agency within two years, and you cannot sue until the agency has denied it or six months have passed. If the agency denies the claim, you have six months from the mailing of the denial to sue.^[6]

The Act does not cover independent contractors, so a contractor's truck is usually an ordinary Alabama claim. A service member's own on-duty injury generally cannot be brought against the United States at all. Ask us early, because the first decision is which of those you have.

How Much Compensation Can a Montgomery Injury Claim Recover?

Against a private defendant, you can seek your medical care, your lost income and earning ability, and your pain, disfigurement, and mental anguish, and no Alabama statute caps those damages. The largest recoveries come when a permanent injury meets clear fault and enough insurance. Punitive damages can be added on clear and convincing proof of wantonness.

Government claims are limited. A city or county pays no more than $100,000 per person, and the Board of Adjustment pays no more than the workers' compensation maximums. Those limits make any private defendant, and your own underinsured motorist coverage if it applies, far more important, so we look for both before valuing the claim.