Tennessee Personal Injury Verdicts | Average and Median Awards

This page will look at the trial and settlement value of personal injury cases in Tennessee. We will also look at key points of Tennessee law on personal injury and tort cases.

How much is a personal injury case worth in Tennessee? That depends on the injury, the evidence, the insurance coverage, and where the case is filed. But Tennessee adds a few problems that injured people in many other states do not have to deal with. There is a one-year statute of limitations for most injury claims, a harsh comparative fault rule, and statutory limits on pain and suffering damages that can take millions of dollars away from a jury’s verdict.

There is another problem that does not get nearly enough attention. Tennessee generally makes each negligent defendant responsible only for its own percentage of fault. If an insurance company can convince the jury that someone else caused part of the injury, even someone who is not in the courtroom, that can reduce the amount its insured has to pay.

We will look at actual Tennessee personal injury settlements and jury verdicts, including car accidents, truck accidents, medical malpractice, wrongful death, and other injury claims. Some of the examples below are particularly useful because we know both what the jury awarded and what the court ultimately allowed the plaintiff to recover.

If you were hurt in Tennessee and think you may have a personal injury, wrongful death, product liability, medical malpractice, or other tort claim, call our lawyers today at 800-553-8082 or contact us online. We offer a free, no-obligation consultation, and you do not owe us a fee unless we get compensation for you.

Average Tennessee Personal Injury Settlements and Verdicts

What is the average personal injury settlement in Tennessee? It is a reasonable question. Let’s look at some verdict statistics, and then we can talk about why they are useless in evaluating the settlement amount you might receive.

What have we learned from this?  Not much.  Certainly, we see that a handful of exceptionally large verdicts can push the average much higher than what most plaintiffs receive.

But these are verdicts, not settlements.  Settlements are a different animal. Verdicts are not a reliable marker for settlements because cases rarely go to trial. So when they do, they usually have unique aspects (both positive and negative) that make them different from cases that settle.

But let’s look at some more verdict statistics.

Of the 261 tort cases tried, only 61 were jury trials. The other 200 were tried without a jury. Of the 82 cases that awarded money, 51 awards were below $100,000, 25 were between $100,000 and $999,999, and six exceeded $1 million.

So what does that tell us? Very few Tennessee personal injury cases reach trial. Most are resolved, dismissed, or otherwise concluded without a jury ever hearing the evidence. Your case will most likely fall into this category.  Most cases settle.

The courts’ statistics also tell us something about location. Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, and Chattanooga have different jury pools, case inventories, and trial patterns. Insurers factor that in before offering victims a settlement.

Recent Tennessee Personal Injury Settlements and Jury Verdicts

2024 Nashville Concrete Truck Accident: $31,894,263 Jury Verdict

In May 2024, a Davidson County jury awarded nearly $32 million to a woman injured when a concrete truck operated by an employee of Smyrna Ready Mix Concrete struck her vehicle.

The case, Gooch v. Turner, arose from a September 2020 collision in Nashville. The plaintiff suffered significant back and ankle injuries. Her lawyers alleged that the company had hired and retained a driver with a troubling history of license suspensions and driving violations.

The jury awarded $1,894,263 in compensatory damages. It then awarded an additional $30 million in punitive damages against Smyrna Ready Mix Concrete.

According to contemporaneous reporting, the plaintiff had rejected a $70,000 settlement offer before trial.

That difference between the settlement offer and the jury verdict is staggering. The defense apparently saw a case it valued at $70,000. The jury heard the evidence about the collision, the plaintiff’s injuries, and the company’s decisions concerning its driver and reached an entirely different conclusion.

But there is an important distinction between the original jury award and the final judgment. The defendant filed a motion on July 8, 2024, asking the trial court to reduce the jury’s award. The reported verdict is therefore not proof that the plaintiff ultimately received $31.9 million.

There is no verified final post-trial or appellate recovery amount established by the publicly reported outcome discussed here. The case illustrates the potential exposure that can arise from reckless corporate decisions, but the original verdict should not be used as a confirmed settlement or payment figure.

Tennessee Personal Injury Statute of Limitations

Tennessee has one of the shortest general personal injury filing deadlines in the country. As of 2026, Tennessee and Kentucky are among the very few states with a general one-year personal injury statute of limitations. Louisiana, which formerly had a one-year period, moved to a two-year period for claims arising on or after July 1, 2024.

Tennessee’s deadline is brutally unfair to people who have suffered serious injuries.

Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-104 generally establishes a one-year statute of limitations for personal injury cases. That includes most Tennessee car accident lawsuits, slip and fall claims, dog bite lawsuits, and ordinary negligence cases.

One year goes by quickly when someone is recovering from surgery, attending physical therapy, dealing with an insurance adjuster, and trying to get back to work. Tennessee gives injured people very little room to make mistakes.

Does Tennessee Have a Discovery Rule?

Yes. Tennessee recognizes a discovery rule in appropriate personal injury cases. Depending on the type of claim, the filing period may begin when the plaintiff knew or reasonably should have known of the injury and its connection to wrongful conduct.

But it saves fewer cases than you might think. Courts often decide “should have known” differently than you might. The rule does not pause the clock just because you do not know the full extent of your injuries, the exact details of your legal claim, or every fact about what happened.

The court looks at whether you had enough information to suspect that you might have a claim, even if you did not know everything.

Many plaintiffs believe they fall under this exception, but courts frequently find that they should have discovered their injury sooner. This means they lose their case because the deadline to file has already passed.

Health care liability cases have a specific statutory discovery provision in Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-26-116. That section should not be treated as the source of the discovery rule for every Tennessee personal injury lawsuit.

Tennessee Statute of Limitations Chart

Most Tennessee injury claims have a one-year deadline. These are the general deadlines.

Are these filing deadlines unfair to victims?  Absolutely.  Tennessee has some of the most oppressive statute of limitations rules in the country. Arguably, it is the worst state in the country in terms of allowing flexibility for victims to digest what happened to them before filing a lawsuit.

Tennessee Medical Malpractice Statute of Repose

Tennessee also has a statute of repose in medical malpractice lawsuits, which acts as yet another deadline. The law generally prevents a health care liability lawsuit from being filed more than three years after the negligent act or omission, even if the injury is discovered later.  Another truly oppressive rule.

There are statutory exceptions, including fraudulent concealment and a foreign object negligently left in the patient’s body, which apply to a very small number of cases. The particular timing rules for those exceptions are set out in Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-26-116.

These rules make medical malpractice cases particularly dangerous to delay. A patient may still be receiving treatment and trying to understand what went wrong as the filing deadline approaches.

Does Tennessee Have a Saving Statute?

Yes. Tennessee has a Saving Statute, codified in Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-1-105, which can allow a plaintiff to refile a timely commenced lawsuit within one year after certain dismissals that do not resolve the merits.

But, of course, the rule has traps. Not every dismissal qualifies. And in health care liability cases, the 120-day pre-suit notice extension does not automatically extend the separate one-year Saving Statute refiling period.

Tennessee Personal Injury Law

Proving Negligence in Tennessee

A Tennessee plaintiff alleging a negligence claim must establish the following elements: (1) that the defendant owed a duty of care to the plaintiff; (2) that the defendant’s conduct was below the applicable standard of care such that the defendant breached that duty; (3) that the plaintiff suffered an injury or loss; (4) cause in fact; and (5) proximate or legal cause.

That sounds straightforward until you get into a real lawsuit. The insurance company may admit that its driver made a mistake but deny that the accident caused the injuries. Or the defense may argue that the plaintiff’s preexisting condition, rather than the accident, is responsible for the medical treatment that followed.

Those fights are often what determine the settlement value of a Tennessee car accident or truck accident claim.

Tennessee Follows Modified Comparative Fault

Tennessee uses a modified comparative fault system, and it can make a huge difference in the value of a personal injury case. If the defense claims the injured person was partly responsible for the accident, the jury is asked to assign fault by percentage. Any recovery is then reduced by the plaintiff’s share of fault.

So if a jury finds that a plaintiff suffered $1,000,000 in damages but was 20 percent responsible, the verdict drops to $800,000.

The danger for plaintiffs is Tennessee’s 50 percent cutoff. A plaintiff can recover only if the plaintiff is found to be less than 50 percent at fault. At 50 percent fault, the case is lost completely. That creates a brutal dividing line. A plaintiff who is 49 percent responsible still gets 51 percent of the damages. A plaintiff who is 50 percent responsible gets nothing.

This is why comparative fault is such a common defense strategy in Tennessee injury cases. The defendant does not always need to convince the jury that the plaintiff caused the accident. Sometimes the defense only needs to push enough blame onto the plaintiff to reduce the verdict or, if it can reach the 50 percent mark, wipe out the claim entirely.

The Tennessee Supreme Court established this framework in McIntyre v. Balentine.

The 2025 dog bite verdict discussed above shows the law in action. The plaintiff received a damages award, but a 49 percent fault finding nearly cut it in half.

Tennessee Joint and Several Liability and the Empty Chair Defense

There is another aspect of Tennessee comparative fault law that can be even more damaging to plaintiffs.

In McIntyre v. Balentine, the Tennessee Supreme Court adopted comparative fault and largely eliminated the traditional doctrine of joint and several liability in ordinary negligence cases. Under the general rule, each defendant is responsible for its own share of the fault rather than automatically having to pay the entire judgment.

That sounds reasonable until you look at what happens when one of the responsible parties is broke, cannot be located, is immune from suit, or was never brought into the lawsuit.

In many cases, the plaintiff is left holding that part of the loss.

How the Empty Chair Defense Works

Suppose a Tennessee jury decides that a seriously injured plaintiff suffered $1 million in damages. The plaintiff was a passenger and did absolutely nothing wrong.

The jury finds that one defendant was 60 percent responsible and another negligent driver, who is not a party to the lawsuit, was 40 percent responsible.

Under Tennessee’s general several-liability rule, the defendant assigned 60 percent of the fault ordinarily pays $600,000, not the entire $1 million.

The plaintiff may have a right to pursue the other driver, but that does not mean the other driver has insurance, assets, or any practical ability to pay.

That is the empty chair defense. The defendant points to someone who is not sitting at the defense table and tries to convince the jury that the absent person deserves a significant percentage of the blame.

The defense cannot simply name another person and shift responsibility without evidence. But when the proof supports an allocation of fault to a nonparty, the consequences for the plaintiff can be significant.

There are exceptions to the general rule, including situations involving vicarious liability and other recognized grounds for holding a party responsible for another person’s conduct. But joint and several liability is no longer the ordinary starting point for Tennessee negligence cases.

The 90-Day Rule for Adding a Defendant

Tennessee lawmakers recognized a particular problem with this system. A plaintiff might file a lawsuit within the one-year statute of limitations, only to have the defendant identify another allegedly responsible person after the filing deadline expired. To address that problem, Tenn. Code Ann. § 20-1-119 provides a limited opportunity to add a newly identified party.

When the statute’s requirements are satisfied, the plaintiff generally has 90 days after the first qualifying answer or amended answer alleging the nonparty’s fault to amend the complaint or file a separate lawsuit against that person.

But this is not a general extension of Tennessee’s one-year filing deadline. The statute has conditions and does not override an applicable statute of repose. This is why identifying all potentially responsible parties early matters so much in Tennessee injury litigation.

Tennessee Pain and Suffering Damage Caps

Underlying many of the verdicts on this page is Tennessee’s statutory cap on non-economic damages.

Tennessee law does not generally cap economic damages, such as past and future medical expenses, lost wages, loss of earning capacity, and future care costs. Those damages can be awarded in full if they are proven.

The main cap applies to non-economic damages, which include pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, and similar harms. Under Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-39-102, non-economic damages are generally capped at $750,000 in most personal injury and health care liability cases.

That cap increases to $1 million when the plaintiff suffers a catastrophic injury or loss as defined by the statute.

The statutory definition includes certain spinal cord injuries resulting in paralysis, amputation of two hands, two feet, or one of each, serious third-degree burns, and the wrongful death of a parent leaving surviving minor children.

There are also exceptions to the non-economic damages cap. For example, the cap may not apply in certain cases involving intentional serious physical injury, deliberate concealment of material evidence, intoxication causing the injury, or qualifying felony convictions.

The rules are specific. The fact that a truck accident involved reckless conduct does not automatically mean every exception applies.

The Tennessee Supreme Court Upheld the Noneconomic Damages Cap

In 2020, the Tennessee Supreme Court considered the constitutionality of the state’s non-economic damages cap in McClay v. Airport Management Services, LLC.

The case involved a plaintiff injured at Nashville International Airport. A jury awarded her $444,500 in future medical expenses and $930,000 in non-economic damages.

The defendant sought to apply the $750,000 statutory limit on non-economic damages. The plaintiff challenged the law under the Tennessee Constitution.

The Tennessee Supreme Court upheld the statute against the constitutional challenges presented.

That decision matters because it established that the ordinary $750,000 non-economic damages limit is enforceable under Tennessee law. A plaintiff cannot simply assume that a large jury award for pain and suffering will survive because the jury found the damages justified.

The medical malpractice verdict discussed above is an example. The jury put the plaintiff’s non-economic damages at $7.5 million. The court reduced that portion of the award to $750,000.

How Damage Caps Affect Tennessee Truck Accident Settlements

Does Tennessee cap damages in a truck accident lawsuit? The answer depends on what category of damages we are talking about.

There is generally no $750,000 cap on proven medical bills, lost earnings, or future medical care under the non-economic damages statute. The limit applies to non-economic damages in ordinary cases unless an exception or higher catastrophic-injury limit applies. So a Tennessee truck accident victim with millions of dollars in future medical expenses may still have a claim worth well over $1 million. But a seriously injured person whose largest loss is pain and suffering may be hit much harder by the statutory cap.

That difference is one reason settlement valuation in Tennessee requires us to examine the categories of damages rather than simply compare the total medical bills with a settlement calculator.

Tennessee Punitive Damages and the $23.5 Million Verdict

Punitive damages are different. They are intended to punish particularly wrongful conduct, not simply compensate the injured person.

Under Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-39-104, the statutory punitive damages limit is generally the greater of twice the compensatory damages or $500,000. The law contains important exceptions involving certain intentional conduct, concealment of evidence, intoxication, and felony convictions.

There is also a constitutional issue.

In Lindenberg v. Jackson National Life Insurance Co., the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that Tennessee’s statutory punitive damages cap violated the Tennessee Constitution’s right to a jury trial.

But Lindenberg was a federal appellate decision. It does not bind the Tennessee Supreme Court.

In McClay, the Tennessee Supreme Court expressly noted that distinction, rejected the Sixth Circuit’s reasoning as unpersuasive in the context of the non-economic damages cap, and declined to decide the constitutionality of the separate punitive damages cap.

So plaintiffs should not assume that either Tennessee damages cap has disappeared. The $750,000 noneconomic damages cap was upheld in McClay. The punitive damages cap remains in the Tennessee Code, although its constitutional treatment can depend on the forum and controlling precedent.

2020 Tennessee Verdict: $23.5 Million Reduced to a $2.25 Million Judgment

This case may be the best illustration of Tennessee’s damages caps anywhere on this page.

In Johnson v. Stericycle, Inc., a woman was injured when an employee of a medical waste disposal company drove a truck into the rear of her stopped vehicle. The plaintiff alleged that the driver had ingested drugs while working. She later developed serious psychological injuries, including post-traumatic stress disorder and the aggravation of preexisting anxiety and depression. Her psychiatry expert testified that she would require psychiatric treatment for life.

After a five-day trial in Sullivan County in February 2020, the jury awarded the plaintiff $1 million in compensatory damages and $22.5 million in punitive damages.

That was a total jury verdict of $23.5 million.

But the court entered judgment for only $2.25 million.

We have the actual Sullivan County Circuit Court judgment (PDF). It states that both parties agreed the jury verdict was subject to the damages limitations in Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 29-39-102 and 29-39-104.

The math is instructive. A $750,000 compensatory award, combined with punitive damages at twice that amount, produces a $2.25 million judgment:

That arithmetic matches the court’s judgment. The order itself does not separately itemize the final compensatory and punitive components, so the calculation should be understood as an explanation of how the statutory limits produce the reported amount.

There is another question worth asking. If the truck driver was impaired by drugs, why did the intoxication exception not prevent the reduction?

The judgment was entered against Stericycle, the corporate defendant. Tennessee’s statutory exceptions must be evaluated as to the particular defendant and the required findings. A driver’s alleged intoxication does not automatically establish that every defendant is exempt from the damages caps.

More importantly, the court order establishes that the parties agreed the statutory limits applied. We should not assume a different result from the allegations alone.

A jury awarded $23.5 million. The court entered judgment for $2.25 million. That is a reduction of more than 90 percent. It is hard to come up with a more striking example of how Tennessee’s tort laws can change the value of a serious personal injury case.

Tennessee Wrongful Death Settlements and Lawsuits

Tennessee wrongful death law is a little different from what many people expect. A wrongful death lawsuit is not treated as a brand-new claim created only for the surviving family members. Instead, Tennessee law treats the claim as the continued existence of the injury claim the deceased person would have had if he or she had survived. That right of action passes to the proper statutory beneficiaries after death.

The Tennessee Supreme Court has explained that Tennessee’s wrongful death statute does not create a new and independent cause of action for survivors. It preserves and passes forward the decedent’s own right of action.

So the wrongful death claim is derivative of the decedent’s claim, which can affect issues such as arbitration agreements, defenses, comparative fault, and other limits that could have applied to the decedent’s case.

At the same time, Tennessee’s wrongful death system is broader than a traditional survival action. The Tennessee Supreme Court has described the state’s wrongful death scheme as a hybrid. It resembles a survival statute because the claim comes from the decedent’s own injury claim. But it also resembles a pure wrongful death statute because damages can include both what the decedent could have recovered and the losses suffered by the surviving beneficiaries because of the death.

What Damages Can Be Recovered in a Tennessee Wrongful Death Case?

A Tennessee wrongful death lawsuit may include damages for the decedent’s medical expenses, funeral expenses, conscious pain and suffering before death, lost earning capacity, and the value of the decedent’s life.

The claim may also include damages for the surviving family members’ loss of companionship, guidance, care, society, and support, subject to the applicable rules governing wrongful death damages. This is why Tennessee wrongful death cases can involve both survival-type damages and traditional wrongful death damages in the same lawsuit.

The settlement amount depends on the circumstances. A wrongful death claim involving a young parent with minor children, substantial lost earnings, and clear liability may be valued differently from a case involving an older person, disputed fault, and limited insurance coverage.

But Tennessee’s damages caps and comparative fault law can also affect wrongful death compensation. Identifying the proper beneficiaries, preserving evidence, reviewing any arbitration agreement or release, and filing before the deadline are critical.

Tennessee Medical Malpractice Settlements and Lawsuits

Tennessee medical malpractice cases have additional procedural hurdles that do not apply to most ordinary car accident claims.

The general one-year filing deadline is already unforgiving. Plaintiffs must also address pre-suit notice requirements and, in many cases, expert certification before they can properly file a lawsuit.

Certificate of Good Faith Required in Many Medical Malpractice Cases

In Tennessee, medical malpractice plaintiffs are generally required to provide a certificate of good faith under Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-26-122 when expert testimony is required.

This legal hoop requires the plaintiff’s lawyer to certify that qualified medical experts have reviewed the claim and support a good-faith basis for the lawsuit. The expert support addresses the applicable standard of care, the alleged breach, and the relationship between the breach and the patient’s injuries.

The certificate must generally be filed with the complaint, subject to the statute’s limited exceptions and extensions. Failure to comply can result in dismissal.

On its face, the certificate of good faith aims to weed out frivolous lawsuits, but it creates real obstacles for injured patients seeking justice. First, it forces plaintiffs to locate and pay for a qualified expert before filing their case, often costing thousands of dollars, an expense that can prevent many valid claims from ever being brought.

Second, it shifts the initial burden to plaintiffs before they even have the opportunity to conduct discovery or fully understand what went wrong in their care.

Pre-Suit Notice Required in Tennessee Medical Malpractice Cases

Tennessee medical malpractice cases have another procedural hurdle before a lawsuit can be filed. In addition to the certificate of good faith, Tennessee law requires a plaintiff to give written pre-suit notice to each health care provider who will be named as a defendant at least 60 days before filing a health care liability lawsuit.

This notice requirement is a trap in a state that already makes it difficult to file medical malpractice claims. The notice must include specific information, including the patient’s name and date of birth, the claimant’s information, the attorney’s information if a lawyer is sending the notice, a list of all providers receiving notice, and a HIPAA-compliant medical authorization that allows the providers to obtain relevant medical records from one another.

If proper pre-suit notice is given, Tennessee law can extend the statute of limitations and statute of repose by 120 days. But plaintiffs should not assume this extension automatically saves the case.

Tennessee courts have taken these notice requirements seriously, and defects in the notice package, especially defective medical authorizations or failure to notify the correct provider, can create statute of limitations problems.

What you want to keep in mind is that medical malpractice lawsuits in Tennessee cannot be handled like ordinary personal injury lawsuits. The one-year deadline, pre-suit notice requirement, certificate of good faith, medical authorization rules, and expert review requirement make early investigation critical.

Tennessee Nursing Home Lawsuits

Nursing home lawsuits in Tennessee usually involve claims that a facility failed to provide the basic care, supervision, staffing, and medical attention that vulnerable residents need.

These cases are often brought after serious injuries such as falls, broken hips, pressure sores, dehydration, malnutrition, medication errors, infections, choking, wandering or elopement, assaults by other residents, or wrongful death.

The core allegation in many Tennessee nursing home lawsuits is that the resident was known to be vulnerable, the facility knew or should have known what precautions were needed, and the nursing home failed to take reasonable steps to protect the resident.

There are a host of things that can go wrong. That failure may involve understaffing, poor training, ignored care plans, failure to monitor a high-risk resident, failure to prevent falls, failure to reposition a bedbound resident, or failure to send the resident to the hospital when the warning signs were obvious.

Many Tennessee nursing home negligence lawsuits are treated as health care liability claims. Those cases must comply with the special statutory requirements we discussed above, including pre-suit notice and, when expert testimony is required, the certificate of good faith.

But not every nursing home injury claim is the same. Some cases involve medical or nursing judgment and clearly require expert testimony. Other cases may involve ordinary negligence that a jury can understand without an expert, such as a broken chair or an unsafe walkway.

Families often call after they see a sudden decline in a nursing home resident’s condition. Warning signs can include unexplained bruising, repeated falls, bedsores, weight loss, dehydration, infection, poor hygiene, overmedication, fearfulness, or a facility that gives vague or changing explanations about what happened.

The earlier these cases are investigated, the better the chance of preserving records, photographs, witness accounts, care plans, staffing records, and surveillance footage.

Tennessee Workers’ Compensation Settlements and Third-Party Injury Claims

If you were hurt on the job in Tennessee, your first question is probably whether you have a personal injury lawsuit. In most cases, not against your employer. But you do have a potential workers’ comp case.

Tennessee workers’ compensation is generally the exclusive remedy for an employee injured on the job. If your employer has workers’ compensation coverage, you usually cannot sue the employer in civil court, even when the employer was careless and even when everyone knows the injury should not have happened.

That is the hard bargain workers get with comp. Workers’ compensation pays for medical treatment and part of your lost wages. It does not pay pain and suffering. For a seriously injured person, that is a big deal. Pain and suffering is usually a substantial part of our personal injury cases.

So a worker can suffer a life-changing injury and still be boxed into the comp system against the employer. Sometimes there is a path around it, but usually there is not.

What Tennessee Workers’ Compensation Settlements Pay

Tennessee workers’ compensation generally covers reasonable and necessary medical treatment for the work injury. It can also pay temporary disability benefits while you are unable to work and permanent disability benefits if the injury leaves you with lasting impairment.

Temporary total disability benefits are generally based on two-thirds of the worker’s average weekly wage, subject to the state maximum. Permanent partial disability benefits usually depend on the impairment rating assigned by a doctor and the formula Tennessee law applies to that injury.

What workers’ compensation does not pay is just as important. No pain and suffering. No separate emotional distress damages. No punitive damages. No jury deciding what the injury really took from you.

Tennessee Workers’ Compensation Deadlines

The deadlines in Tennessee workers’ compensation cases are easy to miss and hard to fix later.

Tennessee law generally requires an injured employee to give written notice of the injury to the employer within 15 days after the accident. The statute recognizes exceptions and issues involving actual knowledge, reasonable excuse, and injuries caused by gradual or cumulative trauma. Still, the safest approach is to give written notice immediately.

There is also a filing deadline. If no workers’ compensation benefits have been paid, the worker generally must file a Petition for Benefit Determination within one year of the accident. If the employer or insurance company has voluntarily paid benefits, the deadline may run from the later of the last authorized medical treatment or the date the employer stopped paying compensation benefits.

Workers miss these deadlines for normal reasons. They are trying to get treatment. They are waiting to see if the injury improves. They are worried about missing work or losing the job. But the law shows little sympathy after the deadline passes.

Third-Party Claims: Where a Personal Injury Lawsuit May Still Exist

The biggest mistake injured workers make is assuming the workers’ comp claim is the whole case. Sometimes it is, but not always.

Workers’ compensation may block a lawsuit against the employer, but it does not protect everyone else. If someone other than your employer caused or contributed to the injury, you may have a separate personal injury lawsuit while the workers’ compensation claim is also moving forward.

Our lawyers see these cases all the time. A delivery driver gets hit by a careless driver while making stops. A subcontractor leaves a dangerous condition on a construction site. A machine fails because it was defectively designed or poorly guarded. A worker is sent onto another company’s property and gets hurt because the premises were unsafe.

Those are not just workers’ compensation cases. They may also be third-party liability cases.

The third-party lawsuit is where the larger recovery often comes from. Workers’ compensation does not pay for pain and suffering. It does not pay full lost income. It does not pay for loss of enjoyment of life. A civil lawsuit can.

There is one catch. If the workers’ compensation carrier paid medical bills or wage benefits, it will usually claim a lien or reimbursement right against any third-party recovery. That lien has to be negotiated and handled correctly. Otherwise, too much of the settlement can end up going back to the insurance company instead of to the injured worker.

Do not make the mistake of assuming a workers’ compensation check is your only option just because the injury happened on the clock.

Other Tennessee Personal Injury Lawsuits

Tennessee Dog Bite Law

Tennessee’s dog bite law imposes a duty on dog owners to keep their dogs under reasonable control and to keep them from running at large.

If an owner breaches that duty, the owner can be held liable for injuries caused by the dog when the injured person is in a public place or lawfully on private property covered by the statute, regardless of whether the dog had previously shown dangerous tendencies.

That rule appears in Tenn. Code Ann. § 44-8-413. However, there are important exceptions. One major exception is the residential property rule. When a dog injures someone on residential, farm, or other noncommercial property covered by that provision, the injured person generally must prove that the dog owner knew or should have known that the dog was dangerous.

The 2025 Davidson County verdict above is a good example of how the location of a dog attack and the plaintiff’s own conduct can affect liability and compensation.

Tennessee Product Liability Lawsuits

Claims relating to defective or dangerous products that cause injury or harm to consumers are governed by Tennessee product liability law. The applicable law is derived from a combination of case law and statutory law.

Under Tennessee law, a manufacturer or seller of a product may be held liable if that product is defective or unreasonably dangerous and that condition causes injury.

The general personal injury statute of limitations is often one year, but Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-28-103 also imposes outside limits tied to the injury and the product’s original purchase, subject to statutory exceptions.

That matters in medical device and pharmaceutical cases. A person may have used a product for years before the injury becomes apparent. In addition to determining when the injury was discovered, we have to examine whether a statute of repose or another rule limits the claim.

Additional Tennessee Personal Injury Verdicts and Settlements

Below are additional Tennessee car accident settlements, truck accident verdicts, and other personal injury case results. These examples cover different injuries, counties, defendants, and types of insurance coverage.

We post verdicts and settlements like this because they shed light on the trial and settlement values of these cases. But, truth be told, they are as misleading as they are informative.

First, to be fair, these are good verdicts. We are handpicking great victories. We had to step over many not-so-good verdicts to pull these. Second, every case is different. A case that sounds the same may very well be very different.

You just do not know the critical factors in a case when you read a summary. Often, a critical factor is jurisdiction, which varies from state to state, county to county, and city to city. So take all of these with more than just a few grains of salt.

More Recent Tennessee Car Accident Verdicts

• 2024, Tennessee: $119,000 Verdict. The plaintiff was driving west near an intersection and was at a complete stop, attempting to turn left to head south with her left turn signal on, when the defendant allegedly collided into the rear of the plaintiff’s vehicle. The plaintiff reportedly incurred injuries, including traumatic brain injury and closed head injury. The verdict included $75,000 for pain and suffering and $34,000 for lost earnings.
• 2024, Tennessee: $44,000 Verdict. The plaintiff was operating a motor vehicle southbound and stopped in a center turn lane, waiting to make a left-hand turn, when another vehicle allegedly rear-ended the plaintiff’s vehicle. The plaintiff suffered injuries to her back and shoulder, along with headaches from a concussion. The defense disputed the extent of the injuries and took the case to trial.
• 2022, Tennessee: $59,245 Verdict. The defendant backed out of a private driveway and hit the plaintiff. The plaintiff suffered injuries to his neck, back, and hands. The defendant fled the scene. This did not come into evidence at trial because the defendant admitted responsibility. The only issue at trial was damages.
• 2022, Tennessee: $40,000 Settlement. A minor suffered injuries to her head and left arm when the driver of her vehicle drank too much and caused a car crash. Defendants rarely want to go to trial with a drunk driver defendant, even if they believe evidence of intoxication may be inadmissible at trial. The defendant agreed to a $40,000 settlement to resolve the claim.

Read Older Tennessee Personal Injury Verdicts and Settlements

2021 Tennessee Verdicts

• 2021, Tennessee: $12,000,000 Original Verdict. On Christmas Day, a man was struck by a negligent driver and then further impacted by a semi-trailer whose driver was not paying attention. The severe crash resulted in the amputation of both of his legs and escalating medical bills. The insurance company representing the commercial truck driver initially offered only $50,000, which was significantly increased during trial proceedings and ultimately reached $600,000 during jury deliberations. His truck accident lawyers held out for more, and the jury awarded $12 million. Losing both legs falls within Tennessee’s statutory definition of a catastrophic injury, potentially making the higher $1 million noneconomic damages cap relevant. But the verdict may also have included substantial economic damages. The available summary does not establish the breakdown or final post-trial judgment, so the $12 million figure is the reported original jury award.

2020 Tennessee Verdicts

• 2020, Tennessee: $13,566 Verdict. A woman was driving on I-24 in Nashville. She came to a stop because of a vehicle in front of her that changed lanes. The car behind her could not stop in time and rear-ended her vehicle. She initially denied pain and left the scene before the police arrived. About a week later, she sought chiropractic care, which she underwent for a month. She also underwent an MRI, which revealed an L5-S1 disc protrusion. The woman sought damages from the other driver. The jury awarded her $13,566.
• 2020, Tennessee: $16,921 Verdict. A married couple’s vehicle was rear-ended while stopped in traffic on Interstate 65. They received treatment at the ER on the same day. The wife suffered a soft-tissue strain, and the husband suffered wrist pain. They sued the other driver for negligence. The couple also filed suit against State Farm for UIM payments. A Davidson County jury awarded the couple a $16,921 verdict. The wife received $12,387 in medical expenses and $1,000 in pain and suffering, while the husband received $3,284 in medical expenses.
• 2020, Tennessee: $20,000 Verdict. A 14-year-old girl suffered a shoulder injury while a passenger in her mother’s broadsided vehicle. She sought treatment with a pediatrician, a chiropractor, and an orthopedist. The girl also underwent physical therapy. She later underwent exploratory surgery on her shoulder. The girl’s parents sued the other driver, alleging that his negligence caused her injuries. The defense argued that her injuries were not permanent. The Hamilton County jury awarded $20,000 after a two-day trial, including $15,000 in medical expenses and $5,000 in pain and suffering.
• 2020, Tennessee: $46,233 Verdict. A man’s vehicle was T-boned by a car that had departed from a gas station. He sought treatment a week later with a sports medicine doctor. The man was diagnosed with the aggravation of his preexisting degenerative conditions. He continued to suffer from chronic neck pain. The man sued the other driver for negligence. His wife also filed a loss-of-consortium claim. The Davidson County jury awarded the man compensation for medical expenses, past and future pain and suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life. His wife received $5,000 for loss of consortium. The couple’s verdict totaled $46,233.
• 2020, Tennessee: $127,330 Verdict. A man’s Chevrolet G31 was struck by a vehicle entering his travel lane. He suffered personal injuries and sued the other driver, alleging that she failed to keep a proper lookout, was unable to control her vehicle properly, and failed to avoid a collision. The other driver admitted negligence but argued that it did not cause the man’s injuries. A Davidson County jury awarded $127,330.
• 2020, Tennessee: $18,000 Verdict. A 38-year-old woman suffered a soft-tissue hip injury after another vehicle ran a red light and T-boned hers at an intersection. She sought treatment weeks later. An orthopedic surgeon eventually performed an arthroscopic labral repair and linked her injuries to the collision. The other driver contested the woman’s injuries, claiming she failed to immediately seek treatment and had a preexisting hip condition. The Davidson County jury awarded $18,000.

2019 Tennessee Verdicts

• 2019, Tennessee: $2,519,772 Verdict. A tractor-trailer struck a man’s vehicle while traveling on an interstate highway. The impact caused the vehicle to spin and hit two other vehicles. The man suffered a traumatic brain injury that caused dizziness, headaches, and vertigo. He alleged that the truck driver failed to yield the right-of-way, properly use turn signals, and keep a proper lookout. The truck driver contested the man’s injuries. A Shelby County jury awarded $2,519,772. The reported final judgment reduced the award to $1,529,772 because of Tennessee’s cap on pain and suffering damages.
• 2019, Tennessee: $632,909 Verdict. A motorcyclist and his passenger suffered personal injuries after a truck struck them on the Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge in Nashville. The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County owned the truck. The two sued both the truck driver and the Metro Government. They alleged that the truck driver was intoxicated, speeding, and failed to keep a proper lookout. The jury apportioned fault and awarded $502,741 to the motorcyclist and $130,168 to the passenger. The court later reduced the motorcyclist’s award to $300,000 under the applicable governmental liability limit.

Earlier Tennessee Personal Injury Results

• Tennessee: $250,000 Settlement. A 16-year-old minor was a passenger in a single-vehicle accident along Highway 104. He suffered a left wrist fracture and facial lacerations. His parents sued the driver and the car’s owners for negligence. The parties settled for $250,000.
• 2016, Tennessee: $300,000 Verdict. A 51-year-old man died of respiratory arrest and an anoxic brain injury while hospitalized for kidney stones. His estate alleged that the staff administered excessive amounts of morphine through a patient-controlled analgesia pain pump. The estate also alleged that staff failed to adequately monitor him. The Coffee County jury awarded $300,000.
• 2016, Tennessee: $406,998 Verdict. A woman was a passenger in a vehicle that was struck by a refrigerator installation company’s vehicle after it ran a red light. She sued the drivers for failing to operate their vehicles carefully. The Davidson County jury awarded $406,998 in damages. The reported judgment was reduced to $223,848 based on fault apportionment. This is one of the reasons it matters to know exactly how fault was allocated among the defendants and whether any nonparties received a share of the blame.
• 2015, Tennessee: $551,717 Verdict. An apartment resident was operating her motorized wheelchair in the building’s parking lot. A cleaning employee entered the parking lot, made a sharp left turn, and struck the resident. The plaintiff sued the driver and the apartment complex. A jury found the cleaning employee 85 percent liable, the apartment complex 10 percent liable, and the resident 5 percent liable. The jury awarded $551,717, subject to the reduction for the plaintiff’s share of fault.

Tennessee Personal Injury Settlement FAQs

What is the average personal injury settlement in Tennessee?

No reliable statewide average settlement amount applies to a particular Tennessee injury claim. Most settlements are private, and published verdicts cover a wide range of injuries and circumstances. The better approach is to compare cases involving similar injuries, treatment, liability facts, and insurance coverage while accounting for Tennessee’s damages caps and comparative fault rules.

What is the average car accident settlement in Tennessee?

Tennessee car accident settlement amounts depend on the injury, medical treatment, lost income, fault, insurance limits, and other factors. A soft-tissue injury with limited treatment may settle for much less than a case involving spinal fusion surgery, permanent disability, or traumatic brain injury. Tennessee’s 50 percent comparative fault cutoff can also determine whether the injured person recovers anything.

How much can you get for pain and suffering in Tennessee?

Tennessee generally caps non-economic damages, including pain and suffering, at $750,000. The cap can increase to $1 million for certain catastrophic injuries, and statutory exceptions may remove it in qualifying cases. Economic damages such as proven medical bills, lost wages, and future care costs are generally not subject to that cap.

Does Tennessee cap truck accident settlements?

There is no single cap on the total settlement amount of every Tennessee truck accident case. The ordinary non-economic damages limits may apply to pain and suffering, while proven economic losses generally are not capped under that statute. Government defendants can have separate liability limits. Punitive damages and statutory exceptions may also affect the potential recovery.

What is the empty chair defense in Tennessee?

The empty chair defense is when a defendant argues that someone who is not a party to the lawsuit caused or contributed to the injury. Tennessee generally allocates liability according to each defendant’s percentage of fault, so a nonparty fault finding can reduce what the remaining defendants must pay. Tennessee Code § 20-1-119 provides a limited procedure for adding certain newly identified responsible parties.

How often do Tennessee personal injury cases go to trial?

Relatively few. In the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025, Tennessee reported 10,980 tort filings and 261 tort trials, including 61 jury trials. These figures do not follow the same individual cases from filing through resolution, but they show how uncommon trials are compared with the volume of claims handled by Tennessee courts.

What is the statute of limitations for a personal injury lawsuit in Tennessee?

Most Tennessee personal injury lawsuits are subject to a one-year statute of limitations under Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-104. Medical malpractice, government claims, product liability, sexual abuse claims, and some cases involving criminal prosecution have additional rules or different deadlines. A lawyer should evaluate the specific dates before the plaintiff relies on an exception.

Can I recover compensation if I was partly at fault for my Tennessee accident?

Yes, if your share of fault is less than 50 percent. Your damages are reduced by your percentage of fault. If you are found 50 percent or more responsible, Tennessee’s modified comparative fault rule generally bars your recovery.

How much is a wrongful death lawsuit worth in Tennessee?

Tennessee wrongful death settlement amounts depend on the circumstances of the death, liability, the decedent’s earning capacity, losses suffered by surviving beneficiaries, available insurance, and the state’s damages rules. There is no dependable average that predicts a particular family’s recovery. A wrongful death claim may also involve legal questions about who has the right to bring the lawsuit and which defenses apply.

Tennessee Plaintiffs in National Product Liability and Mass Tort Litigation

There are a number of national mass torts involving Tennessee plaintiffs, including claims our law firm handles across the country. Some of these cases are consolidated in federal multidistrict litigation, where lawyers coordinate discovery and prepare representative cases for trial.

• Depo-Provera Lawsuits: Claims alleging that prolonged use of the injectable contraceptive increased the risk of meningioma brain tumors and that patients were not adequately warned.
• Paraquat Parkinson’s Disease Lawsuits: Claims involving agricultural exposure to paraquat and allegations that manufacturers failed to warn about neurological risks.
• Hair Relaxer Lawsuits: Litigation alleging that prolonged use of chemical straightening products is associated with certain cancers and other health conditions.
• Spinal Cord Stimulator Lawsuits: Claims involving allegedly defective implanted devices that malfunctioned or caused painful shocks, infections, lead migration, or revision surgery.
• Roundup Cancer Lawsuits: Product liability claims alleging that exposure to Roundup is linked to certain cancers.
• Internal Bra Mesh Lawsuits: Claims involving complications from mesh used in breast reconstruction and other breast procedures.
• Medtronic Bravo Capsule Lawsuit: Medtronic’s Bravo capsule devices have been recalled. There is a defective deployment mechanism that can prevent the capsule from attaching to the esophagus as it should during placement.
• Video Game Addiction Lawsuits: Claims alleging that gaming companies designed certain games to encourage compulsive use and contributed to mental health injuries.
• Vaginal Mesh Lawsuits: Claims involving surgical mesh products used to treat pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence that allegedly caused serious complications.
• Olympus Scope Infection Lawsuits: Claims involving serious infections allegedly caused by medical scopes that were difficult to adequately clean and sterilize.
• Uber Sexual Assault Lawsuits: Claims alleging that rideshare passengers were assaulted by drivers and that Uber failed to implement adequate safeguards.

Contact Our Lawyers About a Tennessee Personal Injury Claim

We hope the verdicts, settlement examples, and discussion of Tennessee injury law give you a better idea of what your case might be worth and what obstacles you may face.

But the one thing I would emphasize is the deadline. Tennessee’s one-year personal injury statute of limitations is unforgiving, and many claims require additional investigation or procedural steps before a lawsuit can be filed.

The comparative fault rules make early investigation even more important. We want to identify every potentially responsible defendant before evidence disappears and the filing deadline closes.

If you have a personal injury case in Tennessee, contact our lawyers today at 800-553-8082 or contact us online for a free consultation.