Arkansas Car Accident Lawyers
What this page covers
This page covers passenger-vehicle collisions anywhere in Arkansas: the filing deadline, how Arkansas divides fault, what your own policy pays before fault is ever decided, and where the money usually comes from. If a commercial truck was involved, the rules are different and our Arkansas truck accident page is the right starting point. For motorcycle crashes, see our Arkansas motorcycle page.
We handle Arkansas matters from our Memphis headquarters, which sits roughly fifteen minutes from the Arkansas line. Local pages: West Memphis and Little Rock, along with our Arkansas overview.
How long do you have to file a car accident claim in Arkansas?
Three years
Arkansas Code Annotated § 16-56-105 sets a three-year limitation period covering negligence claims for bodily injury, and property damage claims arising from the same crash run on the same clock. A collision on 10 March 2026 means a complaint filed by 10 March 2029.
Three years is generous compared with Tennessee’s one year next door — which is exactly why people who cross the bridge get caught out in both directions. If your crash happened in Tennessee rather than Arkansas, the deadline is a year, not three. Where the crash occurred, not where you live, drives the analysis.
Why waiting is still a bad idea
The deadline to file is not the deadline that determines whether a case can be proven. Vehicles get repaired or scrapped. Businesses overwrite security footage within days or weeks. Witnesses move and stop answering the phone. Skid marks and debris fields are gone after the first rain. The strongest version of a case is assembled in the first month, not the third year.
Cases with shorter or different deadlines
Claims against a city, county or state entity, claims involving a minor, and wrongful death claims all follow their own rules on timing and notice. If any government vehicle or public entity is involved in your crash, treat the timeline as urgent and get advice quickly rather than assuming the three-year period applies.
How does Arkansas’s 50 percent bar actually work?
The statutory language matters
Arkansas Code Annotated § 16-64-122 provides that where the fault chargeable to the party claiming damages is of less degree than the fault chargeable to the parties from whom recovery is sought, that party recovers damages diminished in proportion to their own fault. Where the claiming party’s fault is equal to or greater in degree, that party is not entitled to recover.
Note what that means precisely: Arkansas is a 50 percent bar state, not a 51 percent bar state. At exactly 50 percent, recovery is gone. At 49 percent, the claim survives and is reduced by 49 percent. Neighbouring states are not uniform on this, and the difference is worth real money.
What the other side will try to pin on you
Speed, following distance, whether you were looking at a phone, whether your brake lights worked, whether you had been drinking, whether you were wearing a seat belt, whether you could have taken evasive action. In multi-vehicle pile-ups the arguments multiply. Adjusters routinely open with a fault split far less favourable than the evidence supports, because every percentage point they move onto you reduces what they pay — and at 50 they pay nothing at all.
Why an early recorded statement is risky
The other driver’s insurer will often call within days and ask for a recorded statement. You are not required to give one. People who are medicated, in pain, or simply being polite tend to say things like “I didn’t see him” or “I might have been going a little fast,” and those phrases come back later as fault percentages.
What does your own policy pay before fault is decided?
Arkansas first-party medical benefits
This is the part of Arkansas law most people do not know they have. Under Ark. Code Ann. § 23-89-202, every automobile liability policy covering a private passenger vehicle issued or delivered in Arkansas must provide minimum first-party benefits, including reasonable and necessary medical, hospital, nursing, dental, surgical, ambulance, funeral and prosthetic expenses incurred within 24 months of the accident, up to an aggregate of $5,000 per person. The statute also requires income disability and accidental death benefits.
These benefits can be rejected in writing, so not every Arkansas policy carries them — but many people who rejected the coverage do not remember doing so, and many who have it never claim it. Crucially, this money does not depend on proving who caused the crash. It is available while liability is still being argued about, which matters enormously if you are uninsured or have a high deductible and are trying to get treatment started.
Arkansas is not a no-fault state
Because of § 23-89-202, Arkansas is sometimes loosely described as a “no-fault” state. It is not. You retain the full right to pursue the at-fault driver for all of your damages. The first-party benefits are a floor for early treatment, not a substitute for a claim.
Med-pay and health insurance interact
Which source pays first, and what has to be paid back at the end, depends on your policies and on whether a health plan asserts subrogation. Getting the order right can meaningfully change what reaches you at the end of a case.
What insurance actually covers an Arkansas crash?
The at-fault driver’s liability coverage
Arkansas minimum limits are 25/50/25: $25,000 per person for bodily injury, $50,000 per crash, and $25,000 for property damage. A minimum-limits policy is exhausted by a single ambulance ride, an emergency department work-up and a short admission. When people ask why a serious injury settled for less than it was worth, the answer is very often that there was no more coverage to reach.
Uninsured motorist coverage
Under Ark. Code Ann. § 23-89-403, uninsured motorist coverage must be offered and can only be excluded by a valid written rejection. Insurers sometimes cannot produce a compliant rejection when asked. That is worth checking rather than assuming, because it can create coverage where everyone assumed there was none.
Underinsured motorist coverage
Section 23-89-209 governs underinsured motorist coverage. UIM cannot be issued unless uninsured motorist coverage is issued in coordination with it, and it is not available unless the insured elected UM coverage under § 23-89-403. It too may be rejected in writing. UIM is what fills the gap when the at-fault driver carries 25/50/25 and your damages are a multiple of that — it is frequently the single most valuable coverage in a serious Arkansas case.
Other places coverage hides
Resident relatives’ policies, employer vehicles and non-owned vehicle coverage, umbrella policies, and rideshare or delivery coverage where the other driver was working. Identifying every applicable policy is ordinary early case work, and it is often where the difference between a modest and an adequate recovery is found.
Liens and reimbursement
Health insurers, ERISA plans, Arkansas Medicaid and Medicare may assert reimbursement rights against a recovery. Hospitals may file liens. These are negotiated rather than simply paid, and the result directly affects the net figure.
How dangerous are Arkansas roads?
The state’s own numbers
The Arkansas Department of Transportation publishes running fatality counts. ARDOT’s figures show 637 traffic fatalities in 2022, 596 in 2023, 603 in 2024, and 569 in 2025, with 229 recorded year-to-date in 2026 at the time of ARDOT’s July 2026 update. ARDOT notes that current-year numbers are unofficial and subject to change. Source: Arkansas Department of Transportation, “Monthly Fatalities in Arkansas.”
The direction is modestly encouraging and the absolute numbers are not. A state of roughly three million people losing well over five hundred lives a year on the roads is a serious public health problem, and the pattern behind it — heavy interstate freight on I-40, I-30 and I-55, long rural two-lane stretches, and long emergency response times outside the metros — also shapes what injury cases look like here.
What that means for a claim
Rural crashes tend to produce thinner documentation: fewer witnesses, no traffic or business camera coverage, and longer gaps before a report is filed. That places more weight on physical evidence and on getting to the scene and the vehicles quickly.
What should you do after an Arkansas car accident?
- Get checked out, even if you feel fine. Adrenaline masks injury, and a gap between the crash and the first medical visit is the most common argument used to devalue a real injury.
- Get the crash report. It identifies the investigating agency, the other driver’s insurer and any witnesses.
- Photograph the vehicles before they are moved or repaired. Damage patterns are evidence, and they disappear at the body shop.
- Ask your own insurer about first-party medical benefits under § 23-89-202, and about UM and UIM coverage.
- Do not give the other insurer a recorded statement before you have advice.
- Keep a simple written record of missed work, medications, and what you can no longer do.
Which court hears an Arkansas car accident case?
Circuit court
Arkansas circuit courts have general jurisdiction over personal injury claims, and venue is normally in the county where the crash occurred or where a defendant resides. A crash on I-40 in Crittenden County is ordinarily a Crittenden County Circuit Court case; a crash in Pulaski County is a Pulaski County case.
Federal court
Where the parties are citizens of different states and the amount in controversy exceeds the statutory threshold, a defendant may remove to the United States District Court for the Eastern or Western District of Arkansas. This comes up often in eastern Arkansas, where out-of-state drivers and out-of-state trucking companies are common.
What is an Arkansas car accident claim worth?
Economic damages
Medical expenses already incurred and reasonably expected in future, lost wages, lost earning capacity, and out-of-pocket costs including vehicle damage and rental.
Non-economic damages
Pain, suffering, mental anguish, permanent impairment, disfigurement, and loss of the ability to do things you did before.
The three things that actually drive value
The medical proof, the available insurance coverage, and the fault percentage a jury would assign. A serious injury caused by a driver with a 25/50/25 policy and no UIM behind it is worth what can be collected, not what it should be worth. Anyone who quotes you a settlement figure before reading your records and confirming coverage is not in a position to know.
Frequently asked questions about Arkansas car accidents
How long do I have to file a car accident lawsuit in Arkansas?
Three years from the date of the crash under Ark. Code Ann. § 16-56-105, for both bodily injury and property damage. Claims against government entities and claims involving minors follow different rules, so get advice early if either applies.
Is Arkansas a no-fault state?
No. Arkansas is a fault state. It requires certain first-party benefits under Ark. Code Ann. § 23-89-202, which is why it is sometimes miscalled no-fault, but you keep the full right to pursue the at-fault driver for all your damages.
Can I recover if the crash was partly my fault?
Yes, if your fault is of less degree than the fault of the party you are suing. Under Ark. Code Ann. § 16-64-122 your damages are reduced by your percentage, and you recover nothing once your fault is equal to or greater than theirs. That is a 50 percent bar, not a 51 percent bar.
What are the minimum car insurance limits in Arkansas?
25/50/25 — $25,000 per person for bodily injury, $50,000 per accident, and $25,000 for property damage. Serious injuries routinely exhaust those limits, which is why underinsured motorist coverage matters so much.
Does my Arkansas policy pay my medical bills even if the crash was not my fault?
Usually yes, at least to a point. Ark. Code Ann. § 23-89-202 requires private passenger policies issued in Arkansas to include at least $5,000 per person in medical and hospital benefits for expenses incurred within 24 months of the accident, along with income disability and accidental death benefits, unless the coverage was rejected in writing. It pays regardless of fault.
What if the other driver has no insurance?
Uninsured motorist coverage on your own policy may respond. Under Ark. Code Ann. § 23-89-403, UM coverage must be offered and can only be excluded by a valid written rejection, so it is worth confirming whether a compliant rejection actually exists before accepting that you have no UM coverage.
What if the other driver’s insurance is not enough?
Underinsured motorist coverage under Ark. Code Ann. § 23-89-209 is designed for exactly that gap. It cannot be issued without uninsured motorist coverage alongside it, and it can be rejected in writing.
Should I give the other driver’s insurance company a recorded statement?
Not before you have advice. You are not obliged to give a statement to the other side’s insurer, and statements given early, while you are in pain or on medication, are regularly used later to argue that you were partly at fault.
How much is my Arkansas car accident case worth?
It depends on the medical evidence, the insurance actually available, and the fault percentages a jury would likely assign. No lawyer can responsibly give you a number before reviewing your records and confirming the coverage.
How long does an Arkansas car accident case take?
It varies widely. Cases generally should not be settled before the treating physicians can say whether an injury is permanent, because settling early usually means settling for less than the injury is worth. Some resolve in months; disputed liability or serious injury cases take considerably longer.
Does Southern Injury Attorneys have an office in Arkansas?
No. We are licensed in Arkansas and handle Arkansas matters from our Memphis headquarters at 5865 Ridgeway Center Parkway, Suite 390, which is a short drive from West Memphis and the Crittenden County courthouse. Consultations are free and available 24/7 at 901-300-5001.
What does it cost to hire an Arkansas car accident lawyer?
We work on a contingency fee, so there is no attorney fee unless there is a recovery. The fee agreement is provided in writing and explained before you sign it.
This page is legal information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Statutes and case law change; every case turns on its own facts. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Responsible attorney: Larry “Jimmy” Peters, Arkansas Bar No. 2020103. Southern Injury Attorneys does not maintain an office in Arkansas; Arkansas matters are handled from our Memphis, Tennessee headquarters at 5865 Ridgeway Center Parkway, Suite 390.
