Injured in a car accident? Understand these rules before your start your personal injury case….

Tennessee courts have an abundance of legal laws and regulations which come into play with regards to accident insurance claims and personal injury lawsuits. These statutes play a major role in deciding how a settlement negotiation will unfold in a car accident case, say Knoxville, TN accident lawyers.

Knoxville, TN accident lawyers know that distracted driving is as bad as driving drunk. If someone hits you, you need legal help. Do not expect them to make the right phone calls for you. Do not sign anything with anyone until you have legal assistance. This is where USAttorneys.com should make an entrance into your life. 

Time Limits for Tennessee Personal Injury Lawsuits

Tennessee like many other states in the country has a statute of limitations when it comes to personal injury claims. This is a deadline within which you can file your claim with the county or state court clerk. The clock starts ticking from the time of the accident and/or from when the damages /injuries have occurred due to the car accident. From this point onwards you have one year within which you will need to file a personal injury lawsuit.

Shared Fault Law in the State of Tennessee

When it comes to car accident laws, most states in the country predominantly follow one of these three laws – fault laws, no fault laws or comparative fault laws. Tennessee accident attorneys reiterate that in fault insurance states the driver who is determined to be in fault for the accident will be held liable and will have to pay for the damages caused from his or her own or the respective auto insurer. 

No fault laws are where irrespective of who was at fault for the auto accident, all drivers involved and seeking compensation should turn to their own auto insurers for damages. In no fault states, you cannot file a civil lawsuit against the fault driver unless and until the amount of damages or the injuries caused meet a certain amount or severity as may be defined by the state.

Comparative fault laws are different from both of the above and this is what is in effect in the state of Tennessee. These laws may are also known as shared fault laws. The logic here is that all the parties who were at fault in the auto accident will be responsible or liable for the damages and how much money they are liable for will depend on the extent of their fault in causing the car accident.

For example, if two drivers, A and B were involved in a car accident and it was determined that A was 40% at fault and B was 60% at fault then B will be responsible for 60% of the damages and A will be responsible for 40% of the damages accordingly.

Now in the movie Jason Bourne with the eponymous character Jason Bourne (Matt Damon), in the final action scene, you saw the Asset (Vincent Cassel) run over and run through dozens of automobiles and probably injured all sorts of people in Las Vegas. Now the Asset was not anti-American, he did not put America at risk like the Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013 did, but the Asset was violent and if innocent people had to be smashed out of the way to finally kill Jason Bourne, then so be it.

In his mind Bourne was anti-American and causing all sorts of mayhem and getting into one car accident after another was worth it (but the Asset was wrong and he was the one working for an immoral boss).

This is fiction though! If you drive recklessly and run into all types of cars, you will be held accountable and your insurance company will despise you. Unless you have an extremely good reason (and the Asset’s reason was not good enough as already indicated), you are probably going to face the wrath of society.

Need legal help? Did someone hit you? Press right here Accident.USAttorneys.com.

Cap on Damages

According to Knoxville, TN accident lawyers, the state also has certain limits on how much money can be awarded as non-economic damages in personal injury lawsuits. In accordance with the Tennessee Civil Justice Act of 2011, an injured person can recover 100% in economic damages such as medical expenses and loss of income due to the inability to work.

However, the cap on non-economic damages such as permanent impairment, and pain and suffering is capped at $750,000 in most cases while punitive damages is also limited to twice the amount of compensation awarded or $500,000.

If you are injured in an auto accident, to make the most of your claim make that first positive step and call a Tennessee accident lawyer today. Contact us if you have any concerns.