Tennessee Injury Law Center

February 11, 2011

Does Tennessee Have PIP Coverage?

I was hurt in a car wreck. I used to live in Kentucky and we had PIP coverage. Is there PIP coverage in Tennessee?

Answer: No. Tennessee does not have a no-fault system and therefore does not have PIP (Personal Injury Protection) coverage as a part of automobile or truck liability insurance policies issued in Tennessee. So, if your bought your auto insurance coverage after you moved to Tennessee you do not have PIP coverage.

Note to those people who live in a state that has no-fault and PIP coverage and who are injured in a wreck in Tennessee: your insurance policy may give you benefits not available to Tennessee residents. If you are from out-of-state but were injury in a car or truck wreck in Tennessee, the attorneys at Law Offices of John Day, P.C. will be happy to review your insurance policy and determine what benefits it provides under the circumstances.

February 10, 2011

Are Insurance Companies Afraid To Go To Trial In Personal Injury Cases?

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

I am thinking about filing a personal injury case. I think I have a solid case that the insurance company will be afraid to try in front of a jury. Are insurance companies afraid to try cases?

Not really. For the typical insurance company, the analysis is all about money.

In other words, insurance companies evaluate risk. At the end of the day, they determine whether they will likely win a case or lose a case. They look at how much a jury might award, how much a jury is likely to award, and how little a jury might award. They have lots of statistics from which to make this judgment, and they often have very good lawyers help them evaluate a case.

February 9, 2011

Can I Hire an Out-of-State Lawyer for a Medical Malpractice Claim?

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

I think I have a medical malpractice claim in Tennessee. I live in Tennessee and the malpractice occurred in Tennessee. Can I hire an out-of-state lawyer to represent me in this case?

Yes, although the out-of-state lawyer must either have a Tennessee law license or must work with a Tennessee lawyer on the case.

The more important question is why would you hire an out-of-state lawyer to represent you? There is a real advantage to hiring a lawyer who is familiar with Tennessee law (the law of every state is a little different, and Tennessee has some very unusual aspects to its medical malpractice law) and who knows the way our legal system works. There are some very good medical malpractice lawyers in this state who have experience in a wide variety of medical malpractice cases, and thus it rarely makes sense to go to the trouble of finding an out-of-state lawyer to work on a case.

February 9, 2011

Placing Caps On Damages in Medical Malpractice Cases Will Lower Doctor Malpractice Insurance Rates, Right?

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

I keep hearing that Tennessee doctors pay a lot of money for malpractice insurance and that if we limit the right of patients to bring lawsuits doctors will save money on insurance. Is that right?

There is no reason to believe that malpractice rates will be dramatically or even materially reduced if the Tennessee Legislature caps damages in medical malpractice cases.

Here are a few statistics that address the issue. In 2010 an internist in Tennessee paid $7076 for $1,000,000 worth of medical malpractice insurance. This provided the doctor for up to $1,000,000 for any single act of malpractice and total payments for three or more claims of $3,000,000 in any year. The rate for this insurance was 23.11% less than it was in 2009.

February 8, 2011

Can My Personal Injury Lawyer Increase Her Fee?

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

I hired a Tennessee personal injury lawyer to represent me in a car wreck. She said she was going to charge a one-third contingent fee and the fee agreement says just that. The case did not settle and she says she wants to charge forty percent of the recovery since she has to prepare for trial. Can she do that?

No, not unless the contingency fee agreement says that she can charge more in the event the case goes to trial. If the agreement is silent on this issue, she can charge you more than one-third only if you agree to revise the contract.

If the contract does give her the right to charge more if the case is tried but the higher amount is not specified she can only charge a reasonable fee. Whether forty percent is a reasonable fee depends on the circumstances.

February 8, 2011

Status of DePuy ASR Hip Implant Litigation

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

I live in Tennessee and have a DePuy ASR hip implant that has been recalled. What is the status of the litigation?

If you have not filed a case the status of the litigation is irrelevant to you. By that I mean that if you live in Tennessee and had your surgery in Tennessee and you don’t have a lawsuit filed within one year of the time you knew or should have known that the implant was defective you will lose your legal rights under Tennessee law. If you have not hired a lawyer you need to hire one as soon as possible.

We have a significant number of these cases pending. We have some of our cases filed in federal court and will probably file the rest of our cases there. The federal court cases have been consolidated for pretrial purposes before a federal judge in Ohio. That judge has just appointed the lawyers who will be managing the litigation for DePuy and for the persons who have filed a lawsuit claiming the ASR product is defective and caused them an injury. The litigation is just getting underway. In fact, there was a hearing yesterday in West Palm Beach that addressed several case management issues.

February 4, 2011

Can I Make My Lawyer Try My Case and Get More Money than the Settlement Offer?

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

I was hurt in a car accident that wasn’t my fault. I filed a lawsuit with the help of a lawyer. We have a trial in two weeks. I was offered some money but I don’t think it is enough. My lawyer thinks it is and he has advised me to settle the case. Can I make him go to trial and get more money?

Yes, you can reject the settlement and say that you want a trial. However, just because you go to trial you will not necessary get more money and your lawyer will not be able to promise you that you will get more. In fact, it is always possible that you could get less.

I obviously don’t know whether the amount of money you have been offered is a fair amount or not. I do know if you hirer the right lawyer, that is, if you did the work necessary to identify the right lawyer to handle your case, you should have confidence in his or her judgment about what is in your best interest. You have the right to reject that lawyer’s advice, just like you have the right to reject the advice of a doctor or any other professional, but when you do so you are substituting your judgment as a person unexperienced in the legal process for that of someone who is experienced in the process.

February 2, 2011

How Much Work Does It Take To Prepare for Trial?

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

I have a medical malpractice case. There are two doctors and a hospital that have been sued. My lawyer says the case won’t be tried for two years. Why is that? How much work is involved?

It doesn’t surprise me that it would take two years to get your case to trial in Tennessee and, depending on where you live in the state, that may be a relatively quick amount of time to get to trial.

Your question requires much more information to give a more accurate answer, but let me say this generally. The main factors that affect how quickly a case gets to trial are the diligence, expertise, and experience of the lawyers involved, the number of parties to the case (more parties = more lawyers = more scheduling difficulties), the nature of the dispute (more complicated = more time), the ability of the trial judge to control the lawyers, the amount of cases pending before the trial judge (more cases increases the time to get to trial because more cases are contributing for the same trial dates), and whether the county where the case is pending is urban or rural (in rural areas judges sit in multiple counties and may hold trials in a small county only a couple times per year).

February 1, 2011

How Much Does A Videotaped Deposition Cost?

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

My deposition was taken today and it lasted all day. There was a court reporter and a videographer there. How much does it cost to have a deposition recorded by the two of them?

In my experience in Tennessee, court reporters have several types of charges. The main charges are the per diem charge, which is the charge for showing up, using billed in full-day or half-day increments, and a per-page charge, which is the cost of each page of transcript. There are two types of per page charges, one for the "original" transcript on and one for each copy. The person taking the deposition pays for the original and the per diem. The person whose deposition is taken pays for the copy.

Videographers typically charge a base fee plus and hourly charge to the person taking the deposition. The person whose deposition was taken pays for a disc containing the deposition.

January 31, 2011

Should I Give A Statement to My Insurance Company About How the Accident Happened When it was the Other Driver’s Fault?

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

I was in a car wreck last week. It was not my fault. 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 but I know I should not talk to him. Now my insurance company is calling me and they want to take a statement from me about how the wreck happened. Is there anything wrong with me giving a statement to my insurance company before I talk to a lawyer?

We do not recommend that our clients give a statement to either the other driver’s insurance company or their own insurance company without adequate preparation for the interview. Under most auto insurance policies in Tennessee, you have a duty to give your insurance company a statement, but you need to be adequately prepared first.

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.