Tennessee Car Accident Settlements

After a car accident, you may be facing significant expenses and time off work. Tennessee car accident settlements can help defray some of these costs, but the settlement amount depends on your overall damages and insurance policy limits. Working with an experienced personal injury attorney can ensure that you are treated fairly by insurance companies and can receive the funds you need to heal.

What Is the Average Car Accident Settlement in Tennessee?

While there are average car accident settlement amounts, this does not guarantee that you will receive comparable compensation. Each car accident claim is different, but there are some typical ranges that can help explain what you might receive.

Minor injuries, such as soft tissue injuries, may involve limited treatment and a relatively quick recovery. These claims may resolve for lower amounts, $10,000-$25,000, often depending on medical bills, missed work, liability, and insurance limits.

Moderate injuries, like simple bone fractures or concussions, may require extended treatment, but most people make a full recovery. These could be worth $25,000-$75,000.

More severe injuries may require surgery and long treatment times, such as a person who suffered multiple fractures or a severe concussion. The injury victim may face permanent scarring or other limitations, like loss of mobility. Settlement amounts could range from $75,000 to several hundred thousand, depending on the recovery expected and the overall disabilities.

Catastrophic injuries and wrongful death claims often have much higher settlement amounts, such as between several hundred thousand and millions. This would include things like permanent paralysis due to spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries, amputations, or widespread scarring and disfigurement. However, these depend on factors like liability, damages, insurance limits, and defendants.

A personal injury lawyer can help evaluate your damages and determine what might be possible based on the case facts.

What Factors Affect Car Accident Settlement Values?

Numerous factors impact what personal injuries are worth and, therefore, the final settlement amount. These include the following:

• Injury Severity: This significantly impacts the amount of a car accident settlement. Car accident victims with life-altering injuries are more likely to receive more because they have accrued more damages.
• Medical Expenses: Your medical bills, such as for surgeries, hospital stays, and diagnostic tests, are often a significant part of the car accident settlement process, as they are a large segment of the total economic damages.
• Medical Documentation: The strength and credibility of the medical documentation will also matter. If you didn’t seek immediate medical attention or failed to keep medical appointments, it may be harder to prove you were seriously injured.
• Future Medical Care: The settlement agreement should incorporate care you may need in the future. It is often recommended to wait until you have reached “Maximum Medical Improvement” (MMI) before settling to ensure all future medical costs are included.
• Physical Pain and Suffering Damages: Your daily pain levels and loss of enjoyment of life can be factored into settlement amounts if substantiated by evidence, like pain diaries or testimony from loved ones.
• Permanent Impairment, Scarring, or Disfigurement: Those who suffered permanent loss of function, like with a brain injury, or who suffered facial disfigurement from burn injuries, may receive more.
• Employment and Income: Your lost wages will be incorporated into the settlement amount. If you cannot return to your prior employment, reduced earning capacity should be included as well.
• Strength of Liability Evidence: Documentation such as police reports, medical records, wage statements, and witness statements strengthens your negotiating position in a car accident settlement, as it helps establish liability. Credibility and consistency of these records can influence how willing insurance adjusters are to negotiate.
• Insurance Limits: Tennessee drivers must carry liability coverage at minimum levels of $25,000 per person for bodily injury, $50,000 per accident for bodily injury, and $25,000 for property damage (TN Code § 55-12-139). If the at-fault driver was only meeting minimum TN auto insurance requirements, their policy may not cover all your needs.
• Comparative Fault Rule: Tennessee law follows a modified comparative fault rule, which reduces your compensation based on the percentage of fault attributed to you, meaning if you are found to be 50% or more at fault, you cannot seek compensation.
• Number of Parties or Policies Involved: If there is more than one liable party, then there may be more than one insurance policy available to pay the claim. Tennessee uses a pure comparative fault system for most tort claims, meaning that each party would be responsible for their percentage of the total amount (TN Code § 29-11-107). While this rule generally applies to a jury verdict, not a settlement offer, insurance companies are aware of this law and consider it during their negotiations.
• Wrongful Death: Car accident claims with fatal injuries are more likely to receive higher damages due to the severe impact that losing a loved one places on families.

How Long Does a Car Accident Settlement Take in Tennessee?

The settlement recovery process varies significantly. In general, a simple claim with clear fault and a short treatment path will settle faster, though this is not always true.

Claims with severe injuries or permanent disability may take much longer because insurance companies want to assess the cost of ongoing treatment and wait for maximum medical improvement, which helps them evaluate total medical expenses. If you had medical liens, then these also need to be addressed by a settlement offer, which takes more time.

Disputed liability or comparative fault arguments will also change the timeline. These car accident cases may require expert review to determine the facts, such as proving distracted driving or driving under the influence. Our law firm may also need to secure advice from accident reconstruction teams.

If there are multiple defendants, then there may be multiple insurance companies involved in negotiations, all trying to reduce their liability. Claims with commercial policies may take longer.

Policy limits can make it harder to secure compensation and may require a personal injury lawsuit. In general, personal injury cases that go to court have a longer timeline due to court schedules.

What Damages Are Included in a Tennessee Auto Accident Settlement?

The auto accident damages recognized in Tennessee include both economic and non-economic damages, which consider the full spectrum of how a serious accident changes a person’s life. When starting negotiations on an injury claim, an attorney submits a demand letter that outlines the total costs.

Economic Damages Covering Tangible Financial Losses

Economic damages in car accident claims include medical expenses, lost wages, property damage, and future medical costs. These may include:

• Emergency care
• Hospital bills
• Surgery
• Physical therapy
• Medication
• Lost income and reduced earning capacity
• Vehicle repair or replacement
• Rental car costs
• Out-of-pocket expenses

Non-Economic Damages

Non-economic damages compensate for intangible losses such as pain and suffering, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment of life. Other potential damages include scarring and disfigurement, permanent impairment, and trauma.

Loss of consortium considers how relationships are impacted by serious injuries. Wrongful death damages may include losses recognized under Tennessee law, including the victim’s losses before death and certain losses suffered by surviving family members.

In Tennessee, non-economic damages are capped at $750,000 for most cases and $1,000,000 for defined catastrophic injuries.

Should You Accept a Settlement Offer Before Finishing Medical Treatment?

Insurance companies often push for a quick, lowball settlement, but this can prevent you from getting a fair offer. The full extent of your injuries may not be known, including whether the pain is temporary or permanent. Future treatment costs would then not be included in the settlement value.

Waiting until MMI is reached ensures that medical professionals can assess your long-term prognosis and that all needs are covered.

What Happens After You Accept a Car Accident Settlement?

When you accept a settlement, this usually involves signing a release, which prevents the injured person from asking for more money later. This release ends the claim, though medical liens and health insurance reimbursement may need to be resolved.

Attorney fees and case costs may be deducted if applicable. Your payment timing depends on release processing timelines, whether there are liens to pay, and the insurance company’s typical procedure.

You should not accept a settlement until you know your future medical expenses and potential damages. Our team will review the settlement and assess whether it is fair.

How Long Do You Have to File a Lawsuit if Settlement Talks Fail?

The deadline to file a car accident lawsuit in Tennessee is usually one year after the date of the accident (TN Code § 28-3-104). Opening an insurance claim or negotiating with adjusters does not automatically stop the deadline, making it crucial that you contact an attorney quickly.

How Grissim & Waterman Can Help You Recover Fair Compensation

Our Nashville car accident lawyers have a proven track record of ensuring auto accident victims receive a fair settlement and are treated fairly by insurers. We will investigate fault and review all available policies, including UM/UIM or commercial coverage. After assessing policy limits, we will respond to low settlement offers, preventing insurance companies from taking advantage of you.

By gathering medical records and bills, we can calculate your economic and non-economic damages, including future care and lost earning capacity. We then negotiate with insurers on your behalf and handle reimbursement issues, like liens. If necessary, we can file a lawsuit before the deadline so you have the best chance of success.

Book a Free Case Evaluation

Grissim & Waterman provides legal representation on a contingency fee basis, meaning no legal fees unless we win. We have secured thousands for our clients, such as a $300,000 settlement for a bus driver hit by a truck or $210,000 for a passenger in a rear-end accident.

To schedule your free consultation and secure expert legal help, call us at 615-255-9999 or contact us online.

FAQs

How is pain and suffering calculated in car accident settlements in Tennessee?

There are different ways that pain and suffering are calculated in Tennessee car accident cases. There is no hard-and-fast rule, though one common way is by the multiplier method. This takes economic damages and multiplies them by an integer based on how severe the accident was.

Can families recover emotional distress damages in wrongful death claims?

Yes, these can be recovered. Tennessee’s wrongful death damages are based on a hybrid model, considering the person’s suffering before death and the family’s grief. You could claim damages for both the victim’s and your own mental anguish.