Birmingham Personal Injury Attorney
If someone else’s carelessness hurt you, the most important decision you’ll make is who handles your claim. Alabama’s injury laws are harsher than most people realize, and the wrong first move can cost you the entire case.
Attorney Stephen Bulgarella handles personal injury matters for his clients, working with a network of expert attorneys to make sure you receive maximum compensation.
The consultation is free. You pay no attorney’s fee unless there’s a recovery.
Alabama Has One of the Harshest Injury Laws in the Country
This is the most important thing to understand about an Alabama injury claim, and most people don’t learn it until it’s too late.
Alabama is one of only a handful of jurisdictions that still follows pure contributory negligence. Under this rule, if you’re found even slightly at fault for the accident — even 1% — you may recover nothing at all. Not a reduced amount. Nothing.
In most states, being partly at fault only reduces your recovery. Not here.
What this means in practice: insurance companies operating in Alabama know this rule and build their entire strategy around it. Their goal in the days after your accident is to get you to say something — anything — that assigns you a sliver of blame. A recorded statement where you say “I might have been going a little fast” or “I didn’t see him” can end your claim before it starts.
So: be very careful what you say to the other driver’s insurance company, and talk to an attorney before you give a recorded statement.
You Have Two Years, and It's Strict
Under Alabama Code § 6-2-38, most personal injury claims must be filed within two years of the date of injury. Miss the deadline and the claim is generally gone, regardless of how strong it was.
Two years sounds like plenty. It isn’t, once you account for medical treatment, negotiation with the insurer, and investigation. And some claims carry far shorter deadlines — claims against city, county, or state entities can require formal notice within months, not years.
Don’t wait to find out which category you’re in.
What We Handle
We take personal injury cases of all kinds, including:
- Car, truck, and motorcycle accidents
- Pedestrian and bicycle accidents
- Slip, trip, and fall injuries
- Defective and dangerous products
- Dog bites
- Wrongful death
If someone else’s negligence caused your injury, call and describe what happened. If it’s not a case, we’ll tell you that too.
What to Do After an Accident
- Get medical attention, even if you feel fine. Adrenaline masks injury, and soft-tissue damage often doesn’t show up for a day or two. Beyond your health, a gap between the accident and your first treatment is the first thing an adjuster will point to.
- Document the scene if you’re able. Photos of vehicle positions, damage, the road, skid marks, weather, traffic signals. Names and numbers of witnesses. The police report number.
- Report it — but be careful what you say. You generally need to report the accident to your own insurer. You are not obligated to give a recorded statement to the other driver’s insurance company, and in a contributory negligence state you should think hard before doing so.
- Don’t accept a quick settlement offer. Early offers arrive before anyone knows the full extent of your injuries. Once you sign a release, you’re done — even if you need surgery six months later.
- Keep everything. Medical bills, treatment notes, prescriptions, mileage to appointments, missed work.
- Call before the two-year clock gets short. Good attorneys turn down cases that arrive too close to the deadline, because there isn’t time to build them properly.
Why Call Us First
You get an attorney who knows the Alabama bar.
Stephen practices in Alabama’s courts and works with a network of attorneys who focus on injury litigation — chosen for results, not for advertising budgets.
You'll talk to an attorney, not an intake screener.
At this firm, phone calls are answered by an attorney. Nothing gets handed to non-attorney staff.
We'll tell you if you don't have a case.
Alabama’s contributory negligence rule means some claims genuinely aren’t viable. You’ll get a straight answer rather than being signed up and quietly dropped later.
It costs you nothing to find out.
The consultation is free, and injury cases are handled on contingency — no recovery, no attorney’s fee.
If you also have debt problems, we can handle both.
This comes up more than you’d expect: someone is injured, can’t work, falls behind, and ends up facing a garnishment or repossession on top of the injury. That’s a situation where having a bankruptcy attorney involved from the start genuinely matters — timing a bankruptcy filing around a pending injury settlement is technical, and getting it wrong can cost you the settlement.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is my case worth?
Anyone who gives you a number before reviewing your medical records and the facts of the accident is guessing. Value depends on the severity and permanence of your injuries, medical costs, lost income, available insurance coverage, and how clean the liability picture is — that last one matters enormously in Alabama because of contributory negligence.
How long do I have to file a personal injury claim in Alabama?
Generally two years from the date of injury, under Alabama Code § 6-2-38. Claims against government entities often carry much shorter notice deadlines, sometimes only a few months.
Do I have to pay anything upfront?
No. The consultation is free, and injury cases are handled on a contingency basis — the attorney’s fee comes out of the recovery, and if there’s no recovery there’s no attorney’s fee.
What if the accident was partly my fault?
Tell us anyway, and tell us honestly. Alabama’s contributory negligence rule makes fault a serious issue, but what a client believes was “partly my fault” frequently isn’t legal fault at all. That’s a determination to make with an attorney, not on your own.
Should I talk to the other driver's insurance company?
Talk to an attorney first. Adjusters are trained, they’re recording, and in a contributory negligence state their job is to find one usable sentence.
What if the other driver had no insurance?
Your own uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage may apply. Many people carry this without realizing it. Bring your policy.
I was injured and now I'm behind on my bills. Can you help with both?
Yes — and this is worth getting in front of early. An injury that keeps you out of work can quickly become a garnishment, a repossession, or a foreclosure notice. How a pending injury claim interacts with a bankruptcy filing is technical, and the timing matters. Call and we’ll look at the whole picture.