Tennessee Injury Law Center : Lawyers for Personal Injury and Wrongful Death : Serving Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville

I have a personal injury lawsuit.  What is the likelihood that it will go to trial?

Statistically, it is very unlikely your case will go to trial.  Personal injury cases are a type of tort (civil wrong) case.  In Tennessee for the year ended June 30, 2010, there were 10,469 tort cases filed in the entire state.  This may seem like a lot of cases, but remember that there are over 6,000,000 Tennesseans, millions of cars on the road driven by Tennesseans and citizens of other states, etc.

During the same period, the court system resolved 10,872 cases.  The vast majority of those cases were settled or dismissed by the court.  There were only 588 trials.  Of the 588 trials, only 283 were jury trials.  The other 305 trials were non-jury trials (cases decided by a judge without the help of a jury).

Of the 588 cases that went to trial, the claimant (known as the plaintiff) recovered money in only 229 cases.  Why?  Tennessee judges and juries are conservative and do not award damages in cases without solid evidence supporting the justness of the claim.

Thus, the odds are that your case will not go to trial.  However, whether any particular case actually goes to trial is dependent on many different factors.

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 I got hurt in a car wreck. What is the average jury verdict in car wreck cases in Tennessee?

I can give you that number, but it is meaningless.

Why do I say that? Assume there were just two car wreck verdicts in Tennessee in 2009. One was a case where the person who filed suit had no treatment in the emergency room, $3000 in chiropractic treatment, and a history of prior neck and back pain. Assume that the verdict in that case was $3500.

Assume the other person who filed a lawsuit received a permanent, life-altering brain injury. Assume this person has, $1,000,000 in medical bills, $14,000,000 in future medical bills, $2,000,000 in lost wages, and will live another 60 years in a wheelchair totally dependent others. Assume that the jury verdict in that case is $70,000,000.

Given those two cases, the average verdict is just under $35,000,000. What does that tell you about  the value of your case? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Obviously, my example is a very simple one, but the point remains the same: average verdicts provide very little information about the value of any particular case. Experienced personal injury lawyers know that there a many variables to the value of a case and that it is a mistake to look at an average to determine the value of a single case.

That being said, we have some data. The Tennessee Jury Verdict Reporter used its best efforts to gather all jury verdicts in Tennessee for the 12-month period ending November 30, 2009.   For that one year period there were 130 car accident cases tried in Tennessee. When the plaintiff won the case, the average verdict was $60, 552. When plaintiff wins and losses are considered, the average verdict was $43, 318. The plaintiff “won” 93 cases and lost 37 cases. 

The average verdicts have declined in the last five years. The 5-year average for plaintiff wins is $77,916. The 5-year average when one considers wins and losses for the plaintiff was $55, 144.    In the last five years plaintiffs have won 586 auto trials and lost 242. 

Let me say it again: these numbers are averages, nothing more and nothing less. They say nothing about the value of any particular case. They tell us nothing about the strength of the case or the nature of the injuries. Likewise, they do not take into account the value of cases that were settled without a trial.   Finally, they do not take into account the competence and experience of the lawyer handling the case.   And any lawyer worth his or her salt will tell you that this last factor makes a real difference in many, many cases.

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It seems like everybody is suing everybody.   How many personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits are filed in circuit court every year in Tennessee?

Believe it or not, the number of lawsuits for personal injury cases and wrongful death cases in Tennessee is staying about the same, despite the increases in population.

There were 10,659 such cases filed in circuit and chancery court in Tennessee for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2009.   In the previous year there were 11,171, so filings were down about 5%.   The year before (ending June 30, 2007) the total number of filings were 10,165.

To put this in perspective, consider that during the year ended June 30, 2009 there were 30,000 divorce actions filed in our circuit and chancery courts.  Indeed, there were over 168,000 criminal charges brought in criminal court during the same period.

All of this is not to say that there are not lawsuits that are filed that should not be filed.  Some lawsuits are filed that are just plain stupid.  Some lawsuits are filed because the person sued or their insurance company refuses to accept responsibility for the harm they caused.  Many, many lawsuits are filed because the parties have a legitimate difference of opinion on the cause or value of the matter in dispute and thus must go through the court process to gain information to assist them in evaluating the case.

There is one other primary reason for the number of lawsuits we see, and that is because Tennessee has the shortest statute of limitations in the country for personal injury and wrongful death cases.  Subject to several exceptions, the general rule is that in personal  cases a lawsuit must be filed within one year of the date of the injury.  Wrongful death cases must usually be filed within one year of the date of the injury that later caused the death.   Most states have longer periods of time to take legal action, and thus there is a greater opportunity to settle a case before a lawsuit is filed.  The failure to file a lawsuit on time results in a loss of rights, so many lawsuits in Tennessee must be filed because the case is not in the right posture to be settled.

Do not assume that your deadline for taking legal action has expired unless a lawyer familiar with all of the facts has told you that it has in fact expired.  There are some exceptions to these general rules.  Likewise, do not assume that you have more than one year to act unless a lawyer tells you that you do.  In fact, under some circumstances you can actually lose your rights well before the one-year period expires, so it is wise to consult with an experienced personal injury lawyer as quickly as reasonably possible after you or a loved one has been injured as a result of another's conduct.

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