This page was written, edited, reviewed & approved by JR Krebs following our comprehensive editorial guidelines. JR Krebs, the Founding Partner, has years of legal experience as a Personal Injury attorney. Our last modified date shows when this page was last reviewed.
An injury caused by someone else's negligence can leave you with medical bills, lost income, and an insurance adjuster asking questions. A Birmingham personal injury lawyer can take that pressure off you while you focus on treatment. Krebs Personal Injury Lawyers represents injured people and their families across Alabama, including Birmingham and Jefferson County.
Our practice covers car and truck wrecks, premises liability, dog bites, defective products, insurance bad faith, and wrongful death claims. Alabama law is unforgiving in ways that surprise people: Most injury claims must be filed within 2 years, and any fault on your part can bar recovery entirely. Call 205-634-1000 for a free case evaluation.
After a serious
Personal Injury
Choosing a firm is really a question of who handles the file and what gets done with it.
Krebs Personal Injury Lawyers is led by founding attorney J.R. Krebs. His practice emphasizes plaintiff-injury work, and he tailors strategy to the specific challenges of each case rather than applying a single approach to every file. Clients work directly with the attorney handling their claim.
Physical evidence degrades, surveillance video gets overwritten, and witness memories fade. Our team works to secure crash reports, photographs, maintenance records, and available video early in a claim. That timing matters more in Alabama than in most states, because a small share of contributory fault can end a claim outright.
Adjusters begin building a file within days of an injury, often well before treatment is complete. We handle that communication so a recorded statement or a casual remark does not become an argument about blame. You focus on medical care while the claim gets documented.
Insurance companies handle injury claims every day. Most people are injured once in a lifetime. That imbalance shapes how a claim gets valued and how quickly an adjuster moves to close it.
An attorney can:
Alabama's fault rules raise the stakes further. Because any contributory fault can defeat a claim entirely, how the facts are developed early can decide whether a claim survives at all.
Our practice covers the full range of injury claims arising in and around Jefferson County.
Collisions account for most injury claims in Alabama. We review crash reports, photographs, vehicle damage, and available video footage to determine how a wreck occurred. Because Alabama bars recovery for a plaintiff who shares fault, establishing the other driver's negligence clearly matters from the start.
Commercial vehicle claims involve federal safety regulations, driver logs, maintenance records, and electronic control module data. Trucking companies and their insurers often begin investigating within hours. We move quickly to request the preservation of records that would otherwise be overwritten under a routine retention schedule.
Riders often face assumptions about speed and risk-taking that have nothing to do with what actually happened. We build motorcycle claims based on physical evidence, sightlines, and witness accounts. Injuries in these cases are often severe, making thorough documentation of future care important.
Fall claims depend on what the property owner knew and when they knew it. We look for prior complaints, inspection logs, maintenance schedules, and surveillance video. Alabama premises law also turns on your legal status on the property, which affects the duty of care owed to you.
Beyond falls, property owners can be responsible for injuries caused by inadequate security, poor maintenance, and hazards they failed to correct. Our team examines whether the owner had notice of the dangerous condition and whether reasonable steps would have prevented the harm.
Alabama's dog bite statute is narrower than many people expect, and it depends on where the bite happened and whether the dog was provoked. A separate provision can limit recovery when the owner had no prior notice of dangerous behavior. We evaluate both questions early.
Defective products cause injuries through design flaws, manufacturing defects, and inadequate warnings. These claims often require that the product itself, along with its packaging, instructions, and purchase records, be preserved. Our attorneys work to identify every entity in the distribution chain that may share responsibility.
Alabama treats wrongful death differently from every other state, and that difference affects who can file and what may be recovered. We handle these claims for families and explain how Alabama's rules apply to their situation before decisions get made.
Insurers owe obligations to their own policyholders, including reasonable claim investigation and timely payment of covered losses. When a carrier denies or delays a valid claim without a legitimate basis, a separate bad faith claim may be available alongside the underlying injury case.
connect with our Personal injury team today.
Alabama statutes and Alabama case law govern a Birmingham injury claim. Several rules shape what is possible long before any negotiation begins.
Most personal injury claims in Alabama must be filed within 2 years. Under Alabama Code Section 6-2-38, actions for injury to the person or rights of another that are not otherwise specified must be brought within that period.
Missing the deadline generally ends the claim regardless of how strong it is. A separate provision, Alabama Code Section 6-2-8, suspends the clock for people who are under 19 or of unsound mind when the claim accrues, because it allows the shorter of 3 years or the underlying limitations period; an injured minor generally has until age 21 to bring a 2-year claim.
Alabama is one of the few states where any fault on the injured person's part can completely bar recovery. The Alabama Supreme Court declined to replace contributory negligence with comparative fault in Golden v. McCurry, holding that any change to the doctrine should come from the legislature. That rule still governs Alabama injury cases.
The practical effect is significant. Insurers regularly argue that the injured person contributed to the incident, because even a small share of fault can defeat an entire claim. Careful development of the facts is the defense against that argument.
Claims against a municipality run on a much shorter clock than ordinary injury claims. Under Alabama Code Section 11-47-23, tort claims for damages must be presented within six months of accrual or they are forever barred.
Alabama Code Section 11-47-191 sets out what that notice must contain: A sworn statement describing how the injury happened, the date and time, the place where it occurred, and the damages claimed. If your injury involves a city vehicle, city property, or a hazard a municipality was responsible for maintaining, this six-month window applies rather than the two-year deadline.
Alabama Code Section 6-5-410 allows only the personal representative of the estate to bring a wrongful death action, and the action must be commenced within 2 years of the death. Any recovery is distributed to the heirs under the statute of distributions rather than held by the estate to pay its debts.
The Alabama Supreme Court held in Tatum v. Schering Corp. that damages in these actions are punitive rather than compensatory. Alabama wrongful death claims therefore do not compensate survivors for lost financial support or grief the way most states allow, which makes early legal guidance important for families.
Alabama requires drivers to carry liability coverage. Alabama Code Section 32-7-6 sets the minimums at:
Those minimums are low relative to the cost of a serious injury. When the at-fault driver's coverage does not reach the losses, uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage on your own policy may apply, and we review every available policy as part of the claim.
Alabama Code Section 3-6-1 makes an owner liable when a dog bites or injures someone without provocation. The injured person must have been lawfully where they had a right to be, and the injury must have occurred on property owned or controlled by the owner. That standard is narrower than strict liability.
Alabama Code Section 3-6-3 further narrows it. An owner who pleads and proves no prior knowledge that the dog was dangerous may be liable only to the extent of actual expenses, which can exclude pain and suffering from the recovery.
Damages in an Alabama injury case fall into recognized categories. What may be available depends on the evidence, the injuries, and the conduct involved.
Economic damages cover documented financial losses:
Non-economic damages address harm that arrives without an invoice:
Punitive damages address conduct that goes well beyond ordinary negligence. Alabama Code Section 6-11-21 limits them in most cases, setting the ceiling in physical injury cases at the greater of 3 times compensatory damages or $1.5 million, subject to the periodic adjustment described in the statute.
That limit does not apply to wrongful death actions or to intentional infliction of physical injury. An earlier version of the cap was struck down in Henderson v. Alabama Power Co., so whether and how a cap applies is a case-specific question worth asking about directly.
The steps you take early can affect what evidence survives and how a claim is evaluated months later.
A claim generally requires that someone owed you a duty of care, failed to meet it, and caused injuries that produced real losses. Whether those elements are present depends on the facts. Our attorneys evaluate the incident, the available evidence, and the applicable deadline at no cost.
We handle injury cases on a contingency fee basis, which means attorney fees are paid from a recovery under the signed fee agreement. There is no charge for the initial case evaluation. Ask about the specific fee terms before you sign anything.
No attorney can value a claim responsibly on a first phone call. Value depends on the severity of the injuries, the cost of past and future treatment, lost income, the available insurance coverage, and the clarity with which fault can be established. Cases with similar facts can be resolved very differently.
Timelines vary widely. A claim with clear liability and completed medical treatment may resolve in months, while a disputed claim that requires filing suit can take considerably longer. Settling before treatment is complete risks leaving future medical costs uncovered.
Most injury claims resolve without a trial. Preparing a case as though it may be tried still affects how thoroughly it is investigated and documented, and it affects your position during negotiation.
Alabama's contributory negligence rule makes this question critical. Because any fault on your part can bar recovery, a claim with disputed fault needs careful factual development from the beginning. Tell us honestly what happened, including anything that worries you, so that the issue can be assessed accurately.
Alabama's deadlines do not wait, and the contributory negligence rule rewards early, careful preparation. If you were injured in Birmingham or elsewhere in Jefferson County, a Birmingham personal injury lawyer at Krebs Personal Injury Lawyers can review what happened and explain the legal options available to you.
We handle injury claims on a contingency fee basis, and the case evaluation is free. Call 205-634-1000 or reach us through the Krebs Personal Injury Lawyers contact page to get started.
J.R. is dedicated to providing personalized representation, avoiding a one-size-fits-all approach. He tailors his strategy to the unique challenges and needs of each client and case, ensuring focused and individualized attention.
His practice mainly covers Plaintiff’s Personal Injury, including car and 18-wheeler accidents, slips and falls, dog bites, defective products, and wrongful death. He also handles commercial disputes on contingency, with experience in contracts, construction, and probate. For any dispute headed toward litigation, J.R. develops an aggressive strategy to maximize your recovery through negotiation, arbitration, or trial.
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