Litigation Process

February 21, 2013

Personal Injury Statistics for Sumner County, Tennessee – 2011-12

The Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts has released information about Tennessee personal injury and Tennessee wrongful death cases filed in Hendersonville, Gallatin and the rest of Sumner County, Tennessee for the year ended June 30, 2012.

Here is the data;

Total personal injury and wrongful death cases filed in court: – 220
Total personal injury and wrongful death cases resolved in court – 199
Total number of cases going to trial – 9
Total number of jury trials – 1
Total number of non-jury trials – 8
Total number of cases in which damages were awarded 3 (33.3%)
Total number of cases where damages awarded was between $1 and $99,999 – 1
Total number of cases where damages awarded was between $100,000 and $999,99 – 2
Total number of cases where damages awarded exceeded $1,000,000 – 0
Total damages awarded in all cases – $532,969
Average damages awarded – $177,656

The average success rate for plaintiffs at trial in Tennessee was 38.49% for 2011-12. Thus, the win rate for plaintiffs in Sumner County was a little lower than the statewide-average.

February 19, 2013

Murfreesboro and Rutherford County, Tennessee Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Statistics – 2011-12

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

The Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts has released information about Tennessee personal injury and Tennessee wrongful death cases filed in Murfreesboro and Rutherford, Tennessee for the year ended June 30, 2012.

Here is the data;

Total personal injury and wrongful death cases filed in court: – 432
Total personal injury and wrongful death cases resolved in court – 566
Total number of cases going to trial – 23
Total number of jury trials – 9
Total number of non-jury trials – 14
Total number of cases in which damages were awarded 6 (26.0%)
Total number of cases where damages awarded was between $1 and $99,999 – 6
Total number of cases where damages awarded was between $100,000 and $999,99 – 0
Total number of cases where damages awarded exceeded $1,000,000 – 0
Total damages awarded in all cases – $209,662
Average damages awarded – $34,944

The judges in Rutherford County are doing a good job of managing their dockets, as evidenced by the fact that more cases are being resolved than are actually being filed. In the 2010-2011 year, 479 cases were filed but only 436 were resolved. The number of trials also dropped from a year earlier- in 2010-11 there were 20 trials (9 of which were jury trials).

February 18, 2013

Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Lawsuit Statistics for Williamson County, Tennessee – 2011-12

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

The Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts has released information about Tennessee personal injury and wrongful death cases filed and resolved in Williamson County, Tennessee for the year ended June 30, 2012.

Here is the data;

Total personal injury and wrongful death cases filed in court: – 264
Total personal injury and wrongful death cases resolved in court – 240
Total number of cases going to trial – 3
Total number of jury trials – 3
Total number of non-jury trials – 0
Total number of cases in which damages were awarded 1 (33.3%)
Total number of cases where damages awarded was between $1 and $99,999 – 1
Total number of cases where damages awarded was between $100,000 and $999,999 – 0
Total number of cases where damages awarded exceeded $1,000,000 – 0
Total damages awarded in all cases – $2,000
Average damages awarded – $2,000

Shocked? Can’t believe that there aren’t more cases and more trials in Williamson County, a county of $185,000? These numbers are not that unusual – Nashville and Davidson County have more filings (1382) and more trials (69) but remember that it has more interstate highways and other roads (and thus more traffic and more wrecks) and much more other economic activity that can rise to personal injury and wrongful death claims.

February 17, 2013

Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Statistics for 2011-12

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

The Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts has released information about Tennessee personal injury and Tennessee wrongful death cases filed in Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee for the year ended June 30, 2012.

Here is the data;

Total personal injury and wrongful death cases filed in court: – 1,382
Total personal injury and wrongful death cases resolved in court – 1,455
Total number of cases going to trial – 69
Total number of jury trials – 47
Total number of non-jury trials – 22
Total number of cases in which damages were awarded 35 (50.7%)
Total number of cases where damages awarded was between $1 and $99,999 – 26
Total number of cases where damages awarded was between $100,000 and $999,999 – 6
Total number of cases where damages awarded exceeded $1,000,000 – 3
Total damages awarded in all cases – $9,031,623
Average damages awarded – $258,046

There a couple things of note about these numbers. First, you are probably surprised that there are so few cases actually going to trial – only 69 in a year or less than 6 per month. This is not only true in Nashville but across the state – the number of jury trials (and the number of lawsuits filed) has continued to decline.

February 4, 2013

How Long Will It Take To Get My Personal Injury Case to Trial in A Tennessee Federal Court?

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

One question asked by many people with Tennessee personal injury or Tennessee wrongful death cases is how long it will take to get their case to trial. There are lots of variables that impact the answer to that question, including whether the case is in Tennessee federal court or Tennessee state court and then in which federal or state court the case is pending. The complexity of the case also makes a material difference, as does the number of parties who bring suit or who are sued in the case.

The federal government recently released statistics about how long it gets a civil case to get to trial in federal court in Tennessee and the rest of the nation.

First of all, it is important to note that most cases do not ever get to trial – they are settled or otherwise resolved before trial. Here are the statistics for the average (median) time to get an average civil case resolved in Tennessee federal court:

February 2, 2013

Consumers Doing Legal Research on the Internet

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

The National Conference of State Legislators has a list of the laws of each state that addresses whether carbon monoxide detectors that will help prevent carbon monoxide poisoning are legally required by statute.

This list of laws should be a starting place, not an end point, for research. For example, the list does not include a new law in Tennessee that mandates the use of functioning carbon monoxide detectors in certain recreational vehicles. Likewise, it is possible that state regulations (not statutes) and local ordinances can require the use of carbon monoxide detectors in certain settings. More importantly, the fact that a statute or ordinance does not require carbon monoxide detectors does not mean that the duty to use reasonable care may not require them under the circumstances.

The NCSL’s website is just one example of the limitations of attempting to do legal research on the Internet. I encourage consumers to educate and thus empower themselves by any means, including Internet research, but if you have a true legal issue that will materially affect you please consult with a qualified lawyer.

January 15, 2013

Carbon Monoxide Poisoning At Drexel Prep in Nashville Latest in Series of Similar Incidents in Schools

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

Drexel Preparatory Academy in Nashville saw some three dozen students from its school being treated for carbon monoxide poisoning and will be closed on Tuesday, January 15, 2013.

Often called “the silent killer,” carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless and tasteless toxic gas produced by incomplete combustion in fuel-burning devices such as furnaces, boilers and heaters for water and swimming pools. One news report indicates that the site of the Drexel leak is the central heating and air unit.

The incident at Drexel follows a rash of other carbon monoxide exposure events in other schools, including a recent incident at Finch Elementary School in Atlanta, where over 500 people were evacuated and some 49 were hospitalized.

December 13, 2012

What is Subrogation?

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

As lawyers who represent people in Tennessee car accidents and Tennessee truck accidents, we are frequently asked about subrogation.

What is subrogation? In the context of auto and truck accident cases, subrogation most frequently arises because the injured person’s health insurance company has language in the health insurance contract which provides that the insurer has an interest in (is "subrogated’) a portion of any recovery that the injured person receives in a personal injury settlement or after a trial.

An example will tell you how subrogation works. Let’s assume that your health insurance policy has a subrogation provision. Assume further that you are in a car wreck and your health insurance company pays $15,000 in medical bills, If you recover $60,000 from the at-fault driver, you will have re-pay your insurance company up to $15,000 because it is "subrogated" to your recovery. The exact amount you will have to pay is depending on multiple circumstances.

December 12, 2012

How Many Jury Trials Are There in Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Case in Tennessee Per Year?

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

In the year ending June 30, 2011 (the most recent year for which statistics are available) there were 499 trials in Tennessee personal injury and wrongful death cases.

Only 222 of these trials were jury trials. The other 277 trials were non-jury trials.

Shelby County had 44 jury trials in personal injury and wrongful death cases, the most jury trials of any county in the state. Davidson County was next with 31 jury trials. Knox County had 28 jury trials and Hamilton County had 19 jury trials.

November 19, 2012

John Day Selected to Top 100 Lawyer List by Super Lawyers

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

John Day of the Law Offices of John Day, P.C. has been named to the Tennessee Super Lawyers list as one of the top attorneys in Tennessee for 2013, No more than 5 percent of the lawyers in the state are selected by Super Lawyers.

In addition, John was again named to the Top 100 Lawyers in Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi in the 2013 Super Lawyers publication.

We are also proud to announce that two of the firm’s other lawyers, Brandon Bass and Laura Baker, were named to Super Lawyer’s Rising Star List.