Author: Anthony Proffitt

An individual or business could be responsible for your catastrophic personal injury even when this third party has not committed a criminal act. In this case, you can file a civil lawsuit to recoup associated medical costs and lost wages as well as damages for pain and suffering.

If you are struggling with medical bills and can no longer work after a serious injury, learn more about filing a personal injury lawsuit in Tennessee.

Understanding negligence

You do not have to prove the other party acted purposefully to win a personal injury suit, but you do need to prove negligence. This means that the other party failed to fulfill his or her responsibility to refrain from injuring another person, that this failure directly led to your injuries and that you suffered financial loss or damages as a result of the incident.

Modified comparative fault

Tennessee uses a modified comparative fault standard to award damages in a successful personal injury case. With this law, you can share up to 50% of fault for your injury and still receive partial damages. For example, if you slip and fall in a store that did not post wet floor caution signs but you were also texting when the fall occurred, the judge could find you 20% at fault and you would receive 80% of the legally allowed damages.

Statute of limitations

Tennessee residents have one year after the injury to file a civil personal injury lawsuit. After this date, the court will dismiss your case and you are no longer eligible to sue for damages. If the injury occurs before an individual turns 18, the one-year clock begins running on his or her 18th birthday. If the responsible party also faces criminal charges, you will have two years to file a civil lawsuit.

In addition to economic damages such as lost wages and medical expenses, you can collect noneconomic damages in Tennessee. The state limits this category to a cap of $750,000 for most personal injury cases.

One common type of trauma that often occurs in motor vehicle collisions, slip-and-fall incidents and other types of accidents is traumatic brain injury. Unlike other types of accident and personal injuries, such as broken bones, lacerations and bruises, brain injuries often result in long and difficult recoveries.

TBIs affect victims on multiple levels, including their psychological, physical, social and financial well-being.

How TBIs occur

The skull protects the brain but is not always ample enough shield against trauma. All it may take for a brain to become damaged is a blow to the head or the forceful back-and-forth movement of whiplash to bump the brain against the skull.

TBI can also occur when the brain is deprived of oxygen; the longer the loss of oxygen, the greater the severity of trauma.

Traumatic brain injury symptoms

Signs of mild TBIs which often result in short-term distress include loss of consciousness, forgetfulness, confusion, sleeplessness and mood changes. Mild TBIs often heal on their own.

Some TBIs are much more severe and the prognosis for recovery is not as optimistic. They can affect multiple body systems, cause paralysis and disability, impair cognitive and mental functions and reduce victims to a shell of their former selves.

There are circumstances when traumatic brain injuries are not immediately obvious. Some people who have them do not suffer a loss of consciousness. Gradual swelling from bruising or bleeding can lead to pressure inside the skull that causes damage days or weeks after the accident. Instead of immediate problems, victims may experience seizures or convulsions in the days after their accidents. Some TBI victims experience delayed symptoms of blurred vision, headaches, nausea, vomiting and weakness.

Because there may not be any outward symptoms, any person who sustains a blow to the head or whiplash may want to seek medical attention.

Motorcyclists in Tennessee understand that motorcycle accidents can be devastating. On a motorcycle, riders have little protection from the elements. A rider may choose to have a helmet and leather riding gear, but he or she is still more vulnerable than a person is in an average motor vehicle. Practicing safe driving habits can decrease the chance of serious or fatal injuries, including traumatic brain injuries. Drivers are not the only group of people at risk for TBIs, however. Passengers may be, on average, more prone to TBIs than drivers are.

According to Reuters, a study of 80,000 motorcycle drivers and 6,000 passengers revealed that drivers are more likely to wear helmets than passengers are. No matter the reason for the accident, the study also revealed that TBIs are the most common injury for both riders and drivers. Without a helmet, both driver and passenger are at a serious risk for TBI. When riding, a passenger is less likely to wear a helmet. In fact, two-thirds of drivers wear helmets, whereas 57.5% of passengers wear one.

For those passengers who do wear helmets, they are still more at risk of TBI. Passengers turn up with a TBI at a rate of 36%, whereas drivers have a rate of 31%. The leading theory as to why it is more dangerous for a passenger is that during an accident, passengers are more likely to eject from the vehicle. When launched off a motorcycle at high speeds, the helmet may not help.

None of the above information is legal advice. It is for educational purposes.

As Tennessee lawmakers fight to decrease accidents, injuries and deaths caused by distracted driving, a new law recently took effect. According to NWTN Today, legislators mostly intended to make it possible for law enforcement officials to stop distracted drivers based on no other driving violations and hope that long term it will reduce deaths and crashes caused by  manual, cognitive and visual distracted driving.

According to the new law, drivers should not be holding any stand-alone electronic or wireless device while driving. As the 19^th state to put such a law into effect, officers can now issue a citation simply for driving while operating an electronic device, rather than having it be a secondary charge to another traffic issue. One exemption to the rule is when a driver is making an emergency call for a medical emergency or life-threatening emergency.

The law makes distracted driving a primary stop offense. The state formerly made texting while driving illegal and there has been a ban on using electronic devices in school zones since 2017. Drivers are still able to use earpieces, dashboard mounts, devices worn on wrists or headphone devices while driving. National statistics state that over 30% of drivers talk on the phone daily, so lawmakers formerly made it illegal for anyone with a learner’s permit to use a cell phone while driving.

Tennessee has the highest number of distracted driving related deaths, and the average is almost five times the national one. Drivers can be fined $50, but in a second or third offense or one that leads to an accident, the fine doubles. Violations in school zones when flashers are on or in work zones where workers are there increase the fine to $200.