Garmer & Prather PLLC

KENTUCKY ATTORNEYS DEDICATED TO JUSTICE

Garmer & Prather is a firm of Lexington, Kentucky, trial lawyers, built on the principle that ordinary people deserve exceptional advocacy when powerful institutions cause harm. The firm devotes its practice entirely to representing individuals and families in serious personal-injury and wrongful-death cases, complex product liability matters, and wage-and-hour collective and class actions under both the Kentucky Wages and Hours Act (KWHA) and Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). When someone’s livelihood, health, or future has been upended by misconduct, Garmer & Prather is prepared to take the case to court.

The firm’s foundation was laid by the late William R. “Bill” Garmer, one of Kentucky’s most respected trial lawyers. His fearless advocacy shaped the firm’s identity, and his influence remains woven through its work every day. His legacy continues to set the standard for the level of care, seriousness, and trial readiness the firm’s lawyers bring to every case.

Today, the firm is led by Jay Prather. He and his colleagues carry that tradition forward. Jay has established himself as a formidable trial attorney, having tried numerous first-chair civil cases and successfully argued before both the Kentucky Supreme Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. His work includes a landmark Kentucky Supreme Court decision that overturned nearly seventy years of precedent governing police-chase liability. Christopher Jenkins brings nearly four decades of courtroom experience across catastrophic-injury, wrongful-death, products-liability, employment, and complex civil litigation in both state and federal courts. R. Branham Chandler, recently completed a prestigious judicial clerkship and contributes rigorous preparation and a sharp analytical approach to medical-negligence, trucking, product-defect, and wage-and-hour cases.

Garmer & Prather’s results reflect its trial-first philosophy. Since 2009, the firm has obtained more than $120 million in verdicts and settlements for its clients. Its work has included high-impact litigation, such as representing the Commonwealth of Kentucky in a consumer-protection action against a major pharmaceutical manufacturer that resulted in a $25 million recovery directed toward combating heroin addiction, and representing a consortium of horse owners whose priceless horses were killed and injured by contaminated feed. Whether prosecuting medical negligence, litigating a fatal trucking crash, challenging a defective product, or representing a group of workers deprived of lawful wages, the firm prepares every case as though it will be tried to a jury. That preparation changes outcomes.

Based in Lexington, Garmer & Prather serves clients across Kentucky. Individuals and families turn to the firm because they want their case handled with seriousness, diligence, and respect — and because they know the firm will not be outworked or outprepared. Garmer & Prather’s commitment is straightforward: to bring the full strength of its experience, resources, and trial-ready approach to every client who trusts the firm with a case.