Can a wife file suit for her husband's personal injury if it's not a workman's comp claim?

Not unless he is deceased. If he is, then you need to take out an estate and let the estate prosecute the claim.

If a third party was negligent in causing his injuries - both you and your husband may have a separate cause of action above and beyond the workers compensation claim. Yours would be for loss of consortium. However if the claim is limited to workers comp he would be entitled to lost wages and med expenses / bills.

The spouse of a person with a personal injury claim has the right to assert a claim for loss of consortium which is a derivative claim of the injured person's claim but the spouse does not have the right to recover the same damages as the injured person, only for loss of services, companionship, affection, etc. There is a 1-year statute of limitations in Kentucky to pursue a claim for loss of consortium.

The wife's claim is a derivative claim for loss of consortium in most States. the husband must file in the majority of States for the wife to have a proper loss of consortium claim.

The lawyer handling his claim can explain it to you in full.

You have an independent right to pursue loss of consortium, but such a claim would be dependent on "third-party liability," i.e., some other person or corporation being responsible for the injuries sustained. If this was a workers' compensation claim with no element of third-party negligence, you will only have a right to pursue damages if your husband was killed as a result of the incident. Regardless, it would be a good idea to hire one attorney to pursue both you and your husband's claims for damages so that he or she can properly evaluate every possible avenue of recovery available to you.