Jefferson County, Alabama | August 25, 2026
Two people were killed early Sunday morning when the Honda Civic they were riding in was involved in a two-vehicle collision on southbound Interstate 65 at the Green Springs exit in Birmingham. The Jefferson County Coroner’s Office identified the victims as a 24-year-old Birmingham man and a woman whose age and hometown were not released. Birmingham Police are investigating.
Our hearts are with both families. Losing two people in a single moment, on a stretch of interstate that thousands of Birmingham drivers use without a second thought, is a loss no family should have to absorb. Nothing written below changes that, and nothing here is meant to. It is offered only for families who find themselves needing to understand what Alabama law allows them to do next.
What Happened on Interstate 65 at Green Springs
According to Birmingham Police and the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office, the crash happened at approximately 4:39 a.m. on Sunday, August 23, 2026, in the southbound lanes of Interstate 65 at the Green Springs exit. Two vehicles were involved. A man and a woman riding in a Honda Civic were both killed.
As of the most recent update from investigators, several facts remain unreleased. Authorities have not said which of the two occupants of the Civic was driving. They have not described the second vehicle, identified its driver, or said whether anyone in that vehicle was hurt. They have not stated how the two vehicles came together, and no determination of fault has been announced. The coroner’s office noted that family notifications were still in progress at the time the victims were identified.
That is an unusually thin public record, and we want to be straightforward about it rather than fill the gaps with guesses. What is confirmed is the location, the time, the number of vehicles, and the number of deaths. Everything else is still open.
The Green Springs interchange is a demanding piece of road. Southbound traffic on I-65 is negotiating an exit-and-merge sequence on a curve, and at 4:39 a.m. drivers are doing it in the dark. Those conditions matter to a reconstruction, but they are context, not conclusions.
Who May Be Liable
Because investigators have not said how the collision occurred, liability in this crash is genuinely undetermined. There are, however, a limited number of directions it can go, and families are entitled to understand them.
The driver of the second vehicle. If the other driver crossed into the Civic’s lane, followed too closely, entered the interstate improperly, was speeding for conditions, or was impaired or distracted, that driver may be legally responsible for both deaths. This is the most common posture in a two-vehicle interstate collision, and it is where a claim would ordinarily begin.
The driver of the Civic. This is the harder possibility, and it deserves to be said plainly. If the person driving the Civic caused the collision, then the passenger’s family may have a claim against the driver’s own insurance policy and estate. Families are often surprised and unsettled by this, particularly when the two people who died knew each other. It is not an accusation. It is simply how the law allocates responsibility, and it is why the identity of the driver, still unreleased, is a consequential fact rather than a detail.
An employer or vehicle owner. If the second vehicle was being driven for work, or was a commercial vehicle, the employer may share responsibility. At 4:39 a.m. on an interstate, commercial and shift-work traffic is a real possibility. That question is answered by the crash report and the vehicle’s registration, not by speculation.
A third party who left the scene. Investigators have described a two-vehicle collision. If evidence later shows that a third vehicle contributed and departed, that changes the analysis considerably.
One point of vocabulary matters here. When police or the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency say one vehicle “struck” another, they are describing the physical sequence of the collision. They are not assigning legal fault. A vehicle can be struck and its driver still bear responsibility, and a vehicle can do the striking with its driver bearing none. Insurance adjusters sometimes read those words as though they settle the question. They do not.
Anyone evaluating this crash should also understand Alabama’s contributory negligence rule, because it is unusually severe. Under the common law rule reaffirmed in Golden v. McCurry, 392 So. 2d 815 (Ala. 1980), a person whose own negligence contributed to their injuries, even slightly, is barred from recovering anything at all. Alabama is one of only a handful of states that still applies this rule. It is the single most important reason that early, independent investigation matters in an Alabama crash case: the defense does not need to prove the other driver was mostly at fault, only that they were at fault to some degree.
One thing that cannot be used this way is seat belt use. Under Alabama Code § 32-5B-7, evidence that someone was not wearing a seat belt is not admissible as contributory negligence and does not limit an insurer’s liability. If an adjuster raises it, they are raising something the statute forecloses.
Wrongful Death Rights Under Alabama Law
Alabama’s wrongful death statute, Ala. Code § 6-5-410, works differently from every other state’s, and the differences are not technicalities.
First, only the personal representative of the deceased person’s estate may bring the claim. Not a spouse in their own name, not a parent, not an adult child, but the personal representative, appointed through the probate court. Families sometimes lose months discovering this. Opening an estate is usually straightforward, but it has to happen before a lawsuit can be filed.
Second, the filing deadline runs two years from the date of death, not the date of the crash. Section 6-5-410(d) is explicit about this. Where death is immediate the two dates are the same, but where someone survives for a period before dying, they are not, and the distinction can decide whether a case exists at all.
If a person survives a crash and brings a claim for their own injuries, the deadline is different again: two years from the date of the crash, under Ala. Code § 6-2-38(l).
How Alabama Wrongful Death Damages Are Assessed
This is where Alabama departs most sharply from what families expect, and it is worth stating clearly before anyone builds expectations on the wrong foundation.
In an Alabama wrongful death case, damages are punitive only. A jury is not asked to calculate the income the person would have earned, the medical bills incurred before death, the funeral expenses, or the value of the companionship the family lost. Those categories, which form the core of a wrongful death verdict almost everywhere else, are not recoverable here.
Instead, the jury is asked to assess the wrongfulness of the defendant’s conduct and to set an amount that punishes it and deters others. The measure is the quality of the conduct that caused the death, not the measurable financial loss to the survivors.
Two practical consequences follow. A case involving a modest earner and a case involving a high earner are valued the same way, because earnings are not part of the calculation. And evidence about how the at-fault driver behaved, including speed, impairment, phone use, hours awake, and prior warnings, carries far more weight than it would in another state. It is not background. It is the damages case.
Any recovery passes to the heirs under Alabama’s intestacy statutes and, notably, is not subject to the claims of the estate’s creditors.
What Families Should Know
In the days after a fatal crash, families are usually contacted by at least one insurance company, sometimes several. Those calls are not neutral, and it helps to know what they are for.
The recorded statement. An adjuster will often ask for one within the first week, framed as routine paperwork needed to move things along. In a state with contributory negligence, a recorded statement is an opportunity to capture a sentence that can later be characterized as an admission. There is no legal obligation to give one to another driver’s insurer.
The early offer. A quick settlement offer arriving before the investigation is complete is not generosity. It is a bet that the family does not yet know what the claim is worth. Any release signed in exchange closes the matter permanently, including against parties who have not yet been identified.
Your own coverage may matter more than you think. If the at-fault driver carried Alabama’s minimum liability limits, those limits can be exhausted almost immediately when two people have died. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage on the victims’ own policies, and sometimes on a resident relative’s policy, often becomes the meaningful source of recovery. UM and UIM claims carry their own notice requirements and their own deadlines, and missing them forfeits the coverage.
Evidence disappears quickly. Vehicles get released to salvage and crushed. Event data recorders are overwritten or lost with the vehicle. Interstate and business security footage is typically recycled within days to weeks. Where the vehicles came to rest, and what the roadway looked like, stops being documentable almost immediately. A preservation letter sent early is often the difference between a provable case and a plausible theory.
Families can request the official crash report once it is completed; our guide on how to get your Alabama crash report walks through the process.
Taking the First Step Toward Answers
“When a family calls us after a crash like this one, they are almost never asking about money,” says attorney Fob James IV. “They want to know what happened to the person they love. In a case where the police haven’t yet said who was driving or how the vehicles came together, that question has a real answer. It just takes someone doing the work to find it. Our job is to get the facts first and let the family decide what to do with them.”
If your family lost someone in this crash, or if you were involved in it, you are entitled to an independent look at the evidence before you talk to anyone’s insurance company. Our Birmingham car accident attorneys and Birmingham personal injury team handle these cases across Jefferson County, including Homewood, Hoover, and Vestavia Hills.
Consultations are free, and we are paid only if we recover for you. Call 205-407-6009. If it is easier to have someone come to you, we will.
Local Resources for Jefferson County Crash Victims and Families
- Jefferson County Coroner / Medical Examiner: 205-930-3603
- Birmingham Police Department (non-emergency): 205-328-9311
- Birmingham Police Department (headquarters): 205-254-1700
- Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office: 205-325-5700
- UAB Hospital: 205-934-3411
- Alabama Crime Victims Compensation Commission: 1-800-541-9388
This post is based on reporting from WBRC FOX6 News and ABC 33/40 and on information released by the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office and the Birmingham Police Department. Details of an ongoing investigation frequently change. We have deliberately not named the people who died. Nothing here is legal advice or a statement of fault by any party.
Fob James, IV
Fob James obtained a B.S., in software engineering from Auburn University and then continued his education by getting his J.D. from Vanderbilt University School of Law. After working for a large national firm for several years, Fob found that his passion was fighting for individuals who have been seriously injured or wronged by others. Fob believes that the jury is the great equalizer to the power and influence that large corporations have in society. Many of Fob’s cases are high profile and have been featured in, among others: Bloomberg News, PlanAdvisor, AL.com, PlanSponsor, InsuranceJournal, and BusinessInsider. For his work in obtaining numerous multi-million dollar outcomes for his clients, Fob has been recognized by: National Trial Lawyers Top 100, SuperLawyers Rising Star (2020-2025), Birmingham Business Journal Who’s Who in Law (2023-2025), and TrustAnalytica – Top Personal Injury Lawyers in Alabama.