Tennessee Injury Law Center

June 29, 2010

Will Filing Bankruptcy Affect My Personal Injury Case?

I have a personal injury lawsuit pending in court. I am 3 months behind on my mortgage and the company is threatening foreclosure. My credit card bills are way behind. I think I need to file bankruptcy. How will filing bankruptcy affect my personal injury claim?

Your pending personal injury lawsuit will become an asset in the bankruptcy proceeding and the value of your case will be taken into account in determining whether you are in fact insolvent and the payment to your creditors.

More importantly, the bankruptcy trustee assumes control of your case and decides whether it should be settled or tried and, if it should be settled, how much it should be settled for. You will have the right to speak your opinion about such matters, but at the end of the day the bankruptcy trustee and the bankruptcy judge will make these important decisions.

Thus, filing bankruptcy will cause you to lose control over you case.

June 24, 2010

What Happens in a Trial?

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

I have never filed a lawsuit and don’t know anything about what happens in a trial of a personal injury or wrongful death suit. Can you explain it?

Sure. In fact, we have written this Legal Guide that I think will answer your questions

June 21, 2010

Aribag Failure

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

I was in an automobile wreck. The front airbag did not work. I received injuries to my chest and face. Do I have a case against the auto manufacturer?

You might. Airbags are designed to fire under certain circumstances, the most important of which include the speed at impact and the angle of impact. An airbag is not designed to fire in every accident.

An experienced product liability lawyer can tell you whether it makes economic sense to investigate a claim against the auto manufacturer. Be sure to preserve the car and do not alter it in any.

June 17, 2010

Yet Another Reason Who Should not Cheat on Your Income Taxes

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

My income tax returns do not include income from a second job I have been working over the last few years. I was hurt in a wreck and missed 6 weeks of work from both jobs. Am I going to be able to recover my lost income from both jobs?

You might, but if you push too hard you may find yourself in the situation where the IRS finds out that you are been cheating on your taxes and you may face criminal and civil penalties for your failure to report income. Also, if the jury finds out that you have not been paying taxes as you should it may hurt your case.

Defendants in cases frequently ask for income tax returns to prove loss of earnings claims, and it your income is not reported it makes it very difficult to recover it. This is often a problem in cases involving small business owners, who all too often understate their income and overstate their expenses in an effort to reduce their taxes. Doing so is not only illegal but also hurts your ability to prove your true damages in a personal injury or wrongful death case.

June 16, 2010

Truck Wrecks in Tennessee

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

I was hurt in a truck wreck, and someone told me that truck drivers and trucking companies have special rules to follow. Is that true?

Yes. In addition to the normal rules of the road (stopping a stop signs, driving the speed limit, etc.) truck drivers and trucking companies have a large number of federal regulations and state laws that they must follow. These special laws are designed to make our highways more safe.

To learn more about this subject, read our Legal Guide called "Understanding Truck Wrecks in Tennessee."

June 15, 2010

My Lawyer is Charging Me For His Private Plane!

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

I hired a lawyer to help me with a personal injury case. The case has settled. I agreed to pay him one-third of my recovery and his expenses. He has sent me his expenses and it includes 3 flights on his plane to and from the city where I live. The cost of these flights was $1500 each way – a total of $9000. A commercial flight is only a couple hundred dollars per trip. Do I have to pay this money?

A key factor is the language of your contract. Did the lawyer disclose that he would be traveling on his private plane and the cost of each trip? If all of this was disclosed and you agreed in advance to pay these charges, you are probably stuck with the charges (although there is no harm in asking the lawyer to waive a portion of the charges).

Private plane flight is very expensive, and many lawyers who fly their own plane will not charge the cost of using the plane but instead will only charge the amount that it would have cost to fly the same trip on a commercial flight.

June 14, 2010

Lawyer Offers Potential Client Money for Living Expenses

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

I got hurt in a truck wreck. I spoke to a Tennessee lawyer and he said I had a really good case. I have lost my job as a result of the wreck and my finances are a complete mess. This lawyer said that if I would hire him to help me on the case he would loan me $1000 per month while the case was pending and that I could pay him back, without interest, when the case was over. Is there any reason I shouldn’t do that?

Yes. You should not do it because the lawyer’s offer of money to you was a violation of Tennessee ethics rules for lawyers. A lawyer can advance the costs of pursing the case, but cannot give a client money for living expenses or a fee for hiring the lawyer for the case.

So, you might ask, why should you care? The lawyer’s ethics are not your problem. You need money. The lawyer is willing to loan it to you. Whether he or she violates ethics rules is really none of your concern.

June 11, 2010

Number of Tennessee Medical Malpractice Trials

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

How many medical malpractice trials are there per year in Tennessee?

The Tennessee Jury Verdict Reporter gathers this data. For the 12-month period ending November 30, 2009, there were 32 medical malpractice trials in the state of Tennessee. The patient won nine cases and the health care providers won 23.

Davidson County (Nashville) had seven of those trials. Shelby County (Memphis) had five. In each county the providers won one more case than the patients.

June 10, 2010

How Does A Jury Know What The Law Is?

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

How does a jury know what the law is?

The judge tells the jury what the law is. The judge does this twice – once at the beginning of the case and once at the end of the case. The jury is told that it is its job to determine the facts based on the law given to them by the judge.

To see how jury instructions fit into the entire trial picture, read our Legal Guide called “Understanding What Happens At Trial of Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Cases in Tennessee.”

June 9, 2010

Should I Settle My Case on My Own?

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

I was hurt in a car wreck last year. I having been talking with the other driver’s insurance company and they tell me that they are going to make me a settlement offer. How much time do I have to file a lawsuit in the event I don’t get the case settled on my own?

In Tennessee you ordinarily have one year from the date of a car or truck accident to file suit against the responsible parties. Do not assume you have more time unless a lawyer familiar with all of the facts advises you that you have more than one year. Failure to file suit on time will result in a loss of your rights.

However, you should not wait until the eve of the one-year deadline to contact a lawyer. A lawyer needs time to conduct an investigation and do the paperwork necessary to file a lawsuit.