Articles Posted in Truck Accidents

Tennessee law requires that a personal injury lawsuit be filed within one year of the date causing an accident.  Failure to file a lawsuit on time against the person or company responsible for your injuries will result in a loss of your rights.

There are certain exceptions to the one year deadline for filing personal injury lawsuits, but you should not assume that any exception applies to you unless a competent lawyer familiar with all of the facts advises you that you have more than one year to file a lawsuit.  

Do not wait until the last few days before the one-year deadline to file a lawsuit expires to hire a lawyer. Delay in seeking a lawyer means that valuable evidence may be lost and it is likely that mistakes have been made that effect the value of the case.   

A "summary judgment" is a decision by a judge that an automobile accident, truck accident, or other type of case should not go to a full trial before a jury.  A judge can make a decision not to let a jury decide a case only if the judge determines that there is no dispute about the important facts of the case and that a reasonable jury could arrive at only one result in the case.  If that is true, the judge will grant summary judgment (that is, a judgment before trial) to the person who he or she thinks should win the case before permitting a full trial on the case before a jury.

Sometimes a judge will grant a "partial summary judgment."  Thus, the judge will determine that a car accident or truck accident was the sole fault of the defendant (the person or company sued in the case) but a jury must determine what damages were caused in the wreck and the monetary value  of the damages.

Summary judgments are very rare in auto accident and truck accident cases.  They are much more common in medical malpractice cases and in cases where people have been injured by defective or unreasonably dangerous products.

It is almost always necessary for an experienced Tennessee injury attorney to obtain an injured person’s medical records before a personal injury claim for a car or truck accident can be fully evaluated,  Also, the at-fault driver’s insurance company will also want to see the records before authorizing a settlement of the claim.

Many personal injury clients get frustrated at the delay in obtaining medical records.  It can often take a month or more to obtain medical records from doctors, hospitals, and physical therapists, and even more time from certain health care providers.  There is no good excuse for these delays – virtually every provider charges for this service and the delays are extremely frustrating, both for the lawyer and the lawyer’s client.

The delays are caused because the health care providers don’t have enough staff on hand to meet the demand for records, and put record requests by attorneys for clients at the bottom of the stack.  In other words, these health care providers give a higher preference for record-copying to other health care providers and insurance companies than they do lawyers.

Seventy-nine (79) more people died on Tennessee highways in 2012 than the total deaths reported in 2011, according to figures released by the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

Some 1016 people died on Tennessee highways in 2012, compared with 937 deaths in 2011.

Here are more statistics from the Tennessee Highway Patrol’s report:

Sleepy drivers pose a hazard on Tennessee roadways, not only to themselves put also to others using the roadway.  Drowsy drivers pose a risk to drivers of cars, trucks, motorcycles, bicycles and even pedestrians on Tennessee roads.

Drowsy drivers cause 2.5% of fatal motor vehicle crashes and 2.0% of all crashes, according to a study conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).  Techniques to stay awake while driving, such as turning up the radio, opening the window, and turning up the air conditioner, have not been found to be an effective way of preventing crashes.

A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) included a survey of drivers in 19 states and the District of Columbia.  In this study, 4.2% of drivers admitted to falling asleep while driving in the last 30 days.   Sleepy driving decreased with age.  The participating state with the highest percentage of people who admitted to falling asleep while driving was Texas (6.1%). Persons who reported snoring or usually sleeping ≤6 hours per day were more likely to report falling asleep while driving.

As lawyers who have represented people in Tennessee truck and car accidents for over thirty years, we cannot over-emphasize the need to seek prompt medical attention for injuries received in auto and truck accidents.

Here is the problem:  if you delay seeking medical attention, the at-fault driver’s insurance company will argue that you were not hurt, that your injuries were not serious, or that your complaints are related to something other than the motor vehicle accident.  

There is a tendency for good people NOT to seek medical attention promptly, out of fear that they will be deemed whiners.  This thought process, while admirable, actually works against a person when they later try to resolve a personal injury claim.

Tennessee law offers special protections to  pedestrians who are injured while crossing a Nashville street or highway within a crosswalk.  

Ordinarily, people within the crosswalk have the right-of-way, and  the operator of an automobile, truck, or other vehicle must yield the right-of-way.  Of course, a pedestrian cannot suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety and walk or run into the path of a vehicle which is so close that it is impossible for the driver to yield.  

Tennessee law also provides that whenever any vehicle is stopped at a marked crosswalk or at any unmarked crosswalk at an intersection to permit a pedestrian to cross the roadway, the driver of any other vehicle approaching from the rear shall not overtake and pass the stopped vehicle.  This law also protects pedestrians from injury.