Tennessee Injury Law Center

March 28, 2012

Factors You Should Consider In Determining Which Personal Injury Lawyer to Hire – Part 6

Here are the final factor we think you should consider when you are trying to decide who to hire for your Tennessee personal injury or wrongful death attorney. Links to the other factors appear at the bottom of this post.

16. What about a lawyer who suggests that they have a special relationship with the judge and that you should hire them because they have such a relationship?

Answer: Lawyers who say such things are scumbags. 99.9% of judges would never allow their personal feelings for a lawyer to directly affect the outcome of the case. To do so would be unethical, and 99.9% of judges would never consider acting in such a fashion.

March 27, 2012

Factors You Should Consider In Determining Which Personal Injury Lawyer to Hire – Part 4

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

This six-post series discusses the factors you should consider in determining who you should hire as your personal injury or wrongful death lawyer.

Part 1, 2 and 3 identified nine factors. Here are three more:

10. Understand how the lawyer charges for time and expenses.

March 26, 2012

Factors You Should Consider In Determining Which Personal Injury Lawyer to Hire – Part 3

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

This is post 3 of of our series on what qualities you should be looking for in a personal injury lawyer. Post 1 and Post 2 concentrated on the important of professional recognition by the lawyer’s peers, discussing six different points of evaluation.

7. How many years has the lawyer been practicing personal injury or wrongful death law?

Answer: There are lawyers who have been practicing law for 20 or 30 or even 40 years who lack the experience to handle a complicated personal injury or wrongful death case. There are lawyers who have been practicing eight years who have been fortunate enough to have worked in an environment that has fostered their ability to handle complicated personal injury or wrongful death cases.

March 25, 2012

Women Seeking Damages For Problems Arising From Surgical Mesh

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

Surgical mesh is a medical device that is generally used to repair weakened or damaged tissue. It has frequently been used to reinforce a weakened vaginal wall to repair pelvic organ prolapse (POP) or to support the urethra to treat urinary incontinence.

Medical literature demonstrates a significant complication rate when used to repair pelvic organ prolapse. Erosion of mesh through the vagina is the most common and consistently reported mesh-related complication from transvaginal POP surgeries using mesh. Mesh erosion can require multiple surgeries can be debilitating to some women.

Mesh contraction is a another risk of transvaginal POP repair with mesh. Mesh contraction can give rise to vaginal shortening, vaginal tightening, and vaginal pain.

March 23, 2012

Factors You Should Consider In Determining Which Personal Injury Lawyer to Hire – Part 2

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

We continue with our discussion about the factors that you should consider in determining who to hire a personal injury lawyer for your wrongful death case. Part 1 included a more detailed discussion of these three factors:

1. Is the lawyer a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers?

2. Is the lawyer board-certified as a Civil Trial Specialist?

March 22, 2012

Defective Transvaginal Mesh Products Liability Litigation in Tennessee

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

Many women who have suffered from pelvic organ prolapse or stress urinary incontinence have been treated with transvaginal mesh implants. All too often, these mesh implants have caused painful complications because of mesh eroding, degrading, curling, rolling, migrating or shrinking.

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an alert in October 2008 about transvaginal mesh, warning doctors about the more than 1000 adverse event reports it had received in the previous three years. The reports included complaints of vaginal, bladder or bowel erosion, pelvic pain, bone and hip infections, inflammation, dyspareunia (painful sexual intercourse), bowel and bladder perforation, and recurrence of the underlying problem.

In July of 2100 the FDA issued a Safety Communication advising of 2,874 additional reports of complications. from 2008 to 2010.

March 22, 2012

Factors You Should Consider In Determining Which Personal Injury Lawyer to Hire – Part 1

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

Hiring a personal injury lawyer is an important decision. This is the first of six posts that will help you understand the factors that you should evaluate when making a decision about who to hire in a case involving a personal injury or wrongful death claim.

1. Is the lawyer a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers?

Answer: Look at the lawyer’s website and determine if he or she is a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers. The American College of Trial Lawyers is a very prestigious organization that has less than 200 members in Tennessee. A lawyer who is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers has gone through a very rigorous, confidential selection process and is elected to the organization by other outstanding lawyers in the state. There are fine lawyers who are not members of this organization, but a lawyer who has achieved the status of Fellow has been recognized by his or her peers as among the finest trial lawyers in the state.

March 20, 2012

What Happens If I Miss Physical Therapy Appointments After My Car Wreck?

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

I got hurt in an accident and my doctor said I should go to physical therapy. The therapist is 20 miles away and it is very inconvenient to go to therapy. Plus, it doesn’t seem to do any good. Will it hurt my case if I just stop going?

First, let me suggest you set the thoughts about your legal case aside for a moment. Your doctor prescribed physical therapy because he or she thought it would help you. It might not. But it might. And the progress you see might be small. But you still need to go to physical therapy because you want to do what you can to reach a full recovery.

Going to physical therapy may not help your case, but not going as the doctor asked you to do could hurt your case. Insurance adjusters and jurors may conclude that you may not have been having the problems you say you were having (or are having) if you failed to follow your doctor’s advice. If you have to go before a jury in your case the jury will be told that it is your responsibility to minimize your damages.

March 16, 2012

IsThe Jury Told About Settlement Offers?

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

I want to settle my personal injury case. I would take less money now that I would later at trial, but I don’t want to make an offer and have the jury know that I will take less money that I would want it the case were tried. Is the jury told about settlement offers?

Absent extraordinary circumstances, the jury is never told about any aspect of settlement discussions, must less the amount of any settlement proposal.

This is true even if the defense makes an offer before trial and then stands up and court and says you are entitled to nothing at all or an amount less than you were offered before trial. All settlement discussions are "off the record" and thus are rarely admissible into evidence.

March 15, 2012

Dividing Up Limited Insurance in Automobile Accident Cases

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

I was in a car wreck. My wife was also hurt in the wreck, as was a gentleman (Smith) in another car. The guy that caused the wreck only has $100,000 in liability insurance and he has no other assets. How will the $100,000 be divided?

First, the $100,000 will be paid only if all of the claims equal or exceed a total value of $100,000. Those who are injured in a wreck are not entitled to all of the insurance the at-fault driver has – they are only entitled to the amount demonstrated to be the value of their case. If the amount of the claim or claims is less than the amount of insurance, the insurance company gets to keep the difference. If the amount of the claims exceed the amount of the insurance, the insurance company need only pay the amount of the insurance and the injured persons have to pursue the excess funds from the individual who caused the wreck.

Let’s assume that your claim is worth $50,000, your wife’s claim is worth $50,000, and Smith’s claim is worth $100,000. Under these assumed facts, you would get $25,000, your wife would get $25,000, and Smith would get $50,000. In other words, each of would get a pro rata share of the total.