No-fault laws are statutes (laws) enacted by state legislatures (elected representatives) that limit a motor vehicle driver’s ability to seek recovery from a negligent driver for personal injuries and property damage.

No-fault laws are based on the idea that all drivers are required to have insurance coverage for their own personal injuries and property damage sustained in motor vehicle accidents. These laws are designed to reduce the number of lawsuits for personal injuries and property damage sustained in motor vehicle accidents.

No-fault laws vary from state to state in the states that have some form of these laws. No-fault laws usually require a driver who sustains personal injuries and property damage in a motor vehicle accident to recover the losses from the driver’s own insurance company (insurer) through Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage. Noneconomic damages such as pain and suffering are usually not recoverable in no-fault states.

In some states a driver or passenger who has sustained personal injuries and property damage may file a mini-tort claim with the negligent driver’s no-fault insurance carrier and receive a limited amount of proceeds (money) to cover the losses. And in some state's the injured driver's insurance company (insurer) may require the injured driver to file a mini-tort claim with the negligent driver's no-fault insurer.

But if a driver or passenger in a motor vehicle accident suffers severe and permanent personal injuries (known as the tort liability threshold) they may be able to file a lawsuit against the negligent driver that caused the accident. The tort liability threshold may be defined in descriptive terms such as “death or significant disfigurement” (known as the verbal threshold) or in monetary terms (a dollar amount of medical bills known as the monetary threshold).

And if a claim exceeds the tort liability threshold in a no-fault state the injured driver or passenger may be able to recover noneconomic damages (pain and suffering, etc.) as well.

Laws are subject to change at any time and may vary from state to state, but jurisdictions (states and the District of Columbia) with some form of no-fault laws include:

• District of Columbia

• Florida

• Hawaii

• Kansas

• Kentucky

• Massachusetts

• Michigan

• Minnesota

• New Jersey

• New York

• North Dakota

• Pennsylvania

• Utah

Kentucky is one of the states that have adopted no-fault car insurance laws. Under Kentucky's Motor Vehicle Reparations Act, drivers are generally required to carry Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage as part of their auto insurance policy. This coverage allows a driver, regardless of who is at fault for the accident, to receive benefits from their own insurance company for medical expenses, lost wages, and other out-of-pocket costs up to a certain limit. Kentucky's no-fault system is designed to reduce the number of lawsuits by limiting the ability to sue for pain and suffering unless the injuries meet a certain threshold. This threshold includes a monetary threshold of $1,000 in medical expenses or injuries that involve permanent disfigurement, fracture of a weight-bearing bone, compound, compressed, or displaced fracture of any bone, any permanent injury, or any permanent loss of a body function. If injuries meet or exceed this threshold, the injured party may pursue a claim against the at-fault driver for additional compensation, including noneconomic damages. It's important to note that Kentucky also allows drivers to opt out of the no-fault system by choosing 'full tort' rights, which gives them the unrestricted right to sue negligent drivers, but this choice must be made in writing.