Tennessee Injury Law Center

June 9, 2011

My Lawyer Wants Me to Sign a New Contingency Fee Agreement

I was hurt in a car wreck about a year ago. I hired a lawyer and signed an agreement to pay him on a contingent fee. Now, he wants me to sign a new agreement. What should I do?

Is there a difference in the terms of the agreement? Is the difference material?

Technically speaking, your lawyer must complete the job he was hired to do under the terms of the original agreement. However, sometimes circumstances can change and it your lawyer may seek to re-negotiate the agreement. Whether you should agree depends on the circumstances.

June 7, 2011

What Does “Policy Limits” Mean?

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

I have heard about people seeking "policy limits" in car wreck cases. What does that mean?

"Policy limits" refers to the sum total of liability insurance policy dollars that are applicable to a given case.

So, if a person has $300,000 of insurance on their car and they cause a wreck that injures someone else, a policy limits demand by the injured party is a demand that the insurance company pay $300,000 to settle the case.

June 6, 2011

How Many Jurors Must Agree in a Car Accident Case?

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

I am involved in a car accident case in Tennessee state court . How many jurors must agree to a given result?

Unless the parties to the lawsuit agree otherwise, twelve jurors will decide the case and all twelve must find in favor of the plaintiff (the person bringing the lawsuit) or the defendant (the person or entity that has been sued.) If less than twelve people agree on the outcome, the judge will declare a mistrial and the case will have to be tried again.

June 3, 2011

Can A Doctor Charge $1500 for a Deposition?

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

I have a personal injury case in Tennessee. My doctor has to give a deposition in my case and my lawyer just told me that the doctor charges $1500 per hour for a deposition. What is going on? I have already paid this doctor over $15,000 to care for me and now he wants to charge $1500 per hour to talk about it!!!

Unfortunately, this is getting to be a bigger and bigger problem. A doctor is permitted to charge for their time when asked to give a deposition involving care which he or she gave to a patient who is involved in a lawsuit. The charge must be "reasonable."

So, the question is $1500 per hour "reasonable?" Part of it depends on how much the doctor ordinarily charges for his time. In a 2000 hour year a charge of $1500 per hour results in revenue of $3,000,000 per year.

June 2, 2011

Number of Jurors Who Must Agree to Result in Tennessee Personal Injury Trials

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

My truck wreck case is coming to trial before a Nashville, Tennessee jury soon. There will be a 12-person jury. Must they all agree on the result?

Yes, unless the lawyers agree otherwise, all 12 jurors must reach an agreement on the result in the case.

In some states, the law permits jurors to reach a result based on the votes of a "super majority" of the jurors. For example, some states allow 9 jurors to agree or 10 to agree on one result and the other 3 or 2 jurors can reach a different result. That is not true in Tennessee – all 12 must agree.

June 1, 2011

Use of Police Report As Evidence

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

The police accident report says that I was not at fault in my wreck and that the other driver was at fault. Can I used the police report as evidence at a trial to prove the wreck was not my fault?

Not in Tennessee state court. A rule of evidence specifically excludes police accident reports from the types of public records that can be admitted into evidence at trial to show how an accident occurred.

Why? Because unless the officer actually saw the accident the police report is only the officer’s opinion about what happened. That opinion may be based on solely on whether the officer believes one person or the other and may have little value in determining what actually happened.

May 31, 2011

Damages for High School Student Injured in Wreck

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

My daughter, a high school student, was run off the road by a tractor trailer. She was badly hurt and had to miss a semester of school. It looks like she will have permanent injuries as a result of the wreck. What damages can she recover?

At the outset, let me remind you that no damages can be recovered unless you can prove that the truck driver negligently caused your injury. The case you describe can be difficult, particularly if there was no impact between your vehicle and the truck and if there are no witnesses to the event. An experienced personal injury lawyer can help you determine the likelihood of success of your case.

Now, back to your question. In a personal injury cases arising from accidents with trucks, you can recover monetary damages for past and future medical bills incurred because of the injuries, past and future physical pain and suffering, past and future mental or emotional pain and suffering, loss of earning capacity, disability, lost capacity for the enjoyment of life, and disfigurement.

May 30, 2011

How Can I Find Out How Much Insurance The Other Driver Has?

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

I was in a car wreck several months ago. The other driver’s insurance company called me and asked me some questions. I then asked him how much insurance his driver had, but he refused to tell me. He said that in Tennessee I could not find out how much insurance the other driver had, even if I filed a lawsuit. Is that true?

Yes. Tennessee is the only state in the nation that does not require an insurance company to disclose the amount of liability insurance in place for an accident. This is a result of a powerful lobbying effort in the Legislature, led by Tennessee Farmers Mutual Insurance Company.

Sometimes an insurance company will voluntarily disclose the amount of coverage it has. However, in the ordinary situation, the only way you can discover how much insurance the other driver has is to win a lawsuit and start the process to collect the money you are due.

May 27, 2011

Why Won’t the Police Issue a Ticket to the At-Fault Driver?

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

My car was hit at a local intersection. The guy that hit me ran the red light – and admitted that he did so – but he police officer didn’t even give him a ticket! Why not? I have called the officer four times to ask why but she won’t return my call.

Police officers have discretion about when they write a ticket, and sometimes they simply choose not to do so. I must confess that I don’t always understand why tickets are issued in some cases and not in others,but the fact of the matter is that police officers do not issue tickets in many automobile wreck cases when they would have the perfect right to do so.

The fact that no ticket was written will almost certainly not hurt your case, especially if the police report indicates that the other driver admitted fault. A statement by a police officer in a police report that the other driver admitted fault will carry a lot of weight with his insurance company as it decides whether or not to promptly resolve the claim.

May 26, 2011

Statement to Insurance Adjuster for the At-Fault Driver?

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

I was in a car wreck last week. I spent five days in the hospital and am now recovering at home. I am getting a couple calls a day from the insurance adjuster for the driver that hit me. The message he left for me is that he wants to take a statement from me about how the wreck happened. Should I talk to him and give him a statement?

We do not recommend that our clients give a statement to the other driver’s insurance company. There are several exceptions to this general rule, but even then we do not permit our clients to give a statement without adequate preparation for the interview.

We do not prepare our clients by telling them what to say or encouraging them to lie. In fact, just the opposite is true: we encourage our clients to tell the truth about the circumstances giving rise to the wreck, the nature and extent of their injuries, and everything else. Preparation is necessary because insurance adjusters are trained in asking questions, and may ask questions in such a way that the unprepared witness will make mistakes. These statements are almost always tape-recorded and can be used against the person in court.