Tennessee Injury Law Center

July 31, 2012

Damages in Medical Malpractice (Health Care Liability) Cases in Tennessee That Result in a Personal Injury

A person who suffers an injury giving rise to a Tennessee medical malpractice (now known as a health care liability) case has a right to recover damages for their injuries. As a Tennessee medical malpractice attorney i am fortunate to have represented many people who have been injured as a result of an error by a health care provider.

Tennessee law provides that a medical malpractice victim can recover damages for the following:

medical expenses
lost wages
pain
suffering
disfigurement
disability
loss of enjoyment of life.

If the injury results in future or permanent physical or emotional problems, additional damages may be recovered for

July 17, 2012

Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Lawsuits Against the State Of Tennessee

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

Suing the State of Tennessee in a personal injury or wrongful death case is different than suing a person or business in a personal injury case. Here are some of the major differences:

1. Formal notice must be given before a lawsuit is filed with the Division of Claims Administration. Failure to give written notice in the correct way will result in the loss of the right to bring a claim. Notice typically must be given within one year of the date of the incident causing injury or death, although this area of the law is very complicated. The actual deadline that applies in your case should be determined by an experienced Tennessee personal injury and wrongful death lawyer who has been made aware of all of the facts.

2. After notice is filed, the injured person must wait 90 days before taking other legal action. The State may settle or deny the claim during this 90-day period. (I have filed claims against the State of Tennessee many times over my 30+ years as a lawyer and they have never settled a claim in this 89 day period.) If the claim is not settled or denied, proper papers must be filed with the Tennessee Claims Commission.

July 16, 2012

Deadlines for Filing Personal Injury Cases in Tennessee

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

As a Tennessee personal injury lawyer, I receive at least one call every week from a potential personal injury client who has waiting too long to hire a lawyer to get help with filing a lawsuit. Recently, I had calls from three people in one week who called me too late for help.

There are lots of reasons you should call a lawyer quickly after a Tennessee auto accident or other event in which the negligence of another resulted in a serious injury, but one reason for prompt action is the delay can make it impossible to hire a lawyer who can help you.

Why do people wait to hire a lawyer? Some people think that they can resolve the personal injury case on their own, without any legal advice. Of course, sometimes that is true: a lay person may be able to settle a personal injury case without the assistance of a lawyer. For instance, car accident cases that involve only property damage, or that involve one trip to the emergency room and no other medical treatment frequently can be resolved without the help of a lawyer.

July 10, 2012

Past Medical History in Tennessee Personal Injury Litigation

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

People who have been injured in car or truck accidents and seek the services of a Tennessee personal injury lawyer frequently want to know if their medical history will explored by the insurance company of the person who caused their injuries.

The answer to that question is simple: it depends.

First, the nature and extent of the inquiry that is made into a person’s medical history is dependent on the nature of the injuries claimed. If you broke your arm in a car accident and it healed without much difficulty and with no long-term impact on your life, the insurance company will only want to confirm that you have not broken that arm in the past. Indeed, it may not even do that, since such information would probably be in the treating doctor"s records or visible on x-ray.

July 4, 2012

Damages in Car Accident Cases in Tennessee

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

A person who suffers an injury in Tennessee automobile or truck accident as a result of the negligence of another person has a right to recover damages for their injuries. As a Tennessee car accident attorney i am fortunate to have represented many people who have been injured in car and truck accidents.

Tennessee law provides that a car or truck accident injury victim can recover damages for the following:

medical expenses
lost wages
pain
suffering
disfigurement
disability
loss of enjoyment of life.

If the injury received in the car or truck accident results in future or permanent physical or emotional problems, additional damages may be recovered for

July 3, 2012

How Does Liability Insurance Work in Tennessee Automobile Accident Cases?

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

As Tennessee automobile accident lawyers the Law Offices of John Day, P.C. deals with automobile liability insurance policies on a daily basis.

Auto liability insurance (a) provides you will a lawyer in the event you are claimed to have caused a auto accident and (b) provides you some dollar of insurance protection in the even that you are determined to have caused the accident and someone else is injured or killed . Conversely, if you are injured in a wreck because of the fault of another driver. the liability insurance he or she has purchased will be the typical source of any financial recovery you can make for your medical bills, loss of income, and other damages recognized under Tennessee law.

In Tennessee, all drivers are required to carry a minimum amount of automobile liability insurance, specifically $25,000 per person with a cap of $50,000 for each wreck. This is usually expressed as a “25/50” policy.

June 26, 2012

Does Life Insurance Impact Damages Awarded in Tennessee Wrongful Death Cases?

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

As Tennessee wrongful death lawyers who represent the families of wrongful death victims, we are occasionally asked whether the fact that victim’s family received life insurance as a result of the death impacts the amount of money that is awarded by a jury in a wrongful death case. That answer is no – the person or corporation who caused the death does not pay less money in damages because the decedent had life insurance.

There is only one group of people and corporations who argue to the contrary, and that is health care providers. They argue that a special law passed by the Tennessee General Assembly gives them the right to a "credit" for any life insurance paid as a result of the death. This argument is made when the life insurance is not paid for out of the decedent’s personal money and instead is provided by an employer or some other person or entity. We believe this argument is not supported by Tennessee law and, in fact, there is no decision of the Tennessee Supreme Court that has addressed this specific issue.

For more information about Tennessee wrongful death litigation, click on any of the following links:

June 24, 2012

Calling An Injury Lawyer Too Late Can Destroy Your Case

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

Twice in the last couple of weeks I have had to turn away potential Tennessee personal injury clients because they called me too late.

People do not contact a personal injury attorney promptly after an accident for several different reasons. Some think that the injury they have is minor or temporary. Others believe the insurance adjuster when he or she says that they will be fair. Still others think that they can avoid an expense of a lawyer by taking care of their claim by themselves.

Candidly, there are some personal injury cases where you will not benefit from the help of a lawyer. At our firm, we tell many people every year that we do not think that they would benefit from our ongoing assistance and that they would be better served handling the matter on their own.

June 21, 2012

Medical Malpractice Claims Against Internal Medicine Doctors

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

As Tennessee medical malpractice lawyers, we are often asked to evaluate claims against doctors who practice in the specialty of internal medicine. (For an understanding of what is necessary to prove a medical malpractice claim in Tennessee, read our Legal Guide titled "Understanding Medical Malpractice Cases in Tennessee."

The Doctor’s Company, a insurance company that insures doctors for medical malpractice claims, has published a study that looks at past medical malpractice claims against internists. Here are some of the results of the study:

58 percent of the allegations in these claims were related to diagnosis
23 percent were related to medical treatment
9.5 percent were related to improper medication management,
2.2 percent involved ordering errors
1.6 percent involved patient monitoring
5.7 percent were miscellaneous.

The diagnosis related claims were further broken down into two separate categories – failure to diagnose (79%) and delay in diagnosis (21%). The largest number of failure to diagnose claims were cardiovascular disorders, while the great number of claims in the delay in diagnosis category had to do with delay in diagnosing tumors.

June 20, 2012

Damages in Wrongful Death Cases in Tennessee

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

Our Nashville wrongful death attorneys have been called upon to represent the families of many people who have died as a result of the mistakes of another. One question we are frequently asked in these cases is what type of damages may be recovered.

Tennessee law permits the following damages to be recovered in wrongful death cases arising from automobile accidents, truck accidents, medical malpractice, or any other type of event where negligence causes death:

medical expenses
lost wages from the date of injury to death
funeral expenses
pain, suffering, disfigurement, disability and loss of enjoyment of life from the date of injury to the date of death

Damages can also be recovered for what is called the "pecuniary value of life." This includes damages for the present value of future earnings (reduced by the amount of expenses that would have been incurred by decedent to keep the decedent alive so that he or she would have been able to work) plus damages for loss of love, society and affection between the decedent and certain family members.