Tennessee Injury Law Center

February 14, 2011

What Does It Mean When You Have Liability Insurance Policy Limits of $50,000 / $100,000?

I was in a car wreck yesterday. It was probably my fault. I looked at my automobile liability insurance policy and it says that I have liability limits of $50,000 / $100,000. What does that mean?

It means that for any one car wreck that is your fault your insurance company will pay a person injured in the wreck up to $50,000 in losses and damages they suffer. If more than one person is injured in the wreck, the company will pay, on your behalf, up to $100,000 but no more than $50,000 for any one person.

So, if one person was hurt in the wreck, the insurer will pay no more than $50,000 in damages. If two people were hurt, the insurer will pay up to $100,000, but no more than $50,000 per person. If three people were hurt, the insurer will pay up to $100,000, but no more than $50,000 per person. Note that each person who is injured does not automatically get $50,000 – they must demonstrate amount of their damages and can recover up to $50,000 each.

February 12, 2011

I Was Hurt By a Big Truck in Tennessee? What Damages May I Recover?

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

I was hurt in a wreck with a big truck in Tennessee? What damages are available in a trucking accident claim?

Answer: In a personal injury cases, 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.

A significant part of many personal injury claims in the recovery of the reasonable medical bills necessarily incurred as a result of the incident. To the extent that the injuries likely require on-going medical bills in the future, those future medical expenses can also be recovered.

February 11, 2011

Does Tennessee Have PIP Coverage?

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

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).