Articles Posted in Litigation Process

One of the most frequent questions the lawyers of our firm are asked by our clients is whether their Tennessee personal injury or wrongful death case will settle.

We explain that an insurance company for the at-fault party may not settle at all.  In Tennessee the insurance company does not have a duty to settle your case and in fact does not even owe you a duty to fairly evaluate your case.   The insurance company can settle a case, or not settle a case, on whatever timetable it chooses.  The only thing that can force an insurance company to think seriously about settlement is an approaching trial date, which is why our firm, after giving an insurance company a reasonable time to settle a case, will file a lawsuit and ask the court for the quickest trial date we can obtain under all the circumstances.

However,  if the insurance company wants to settle the case it needs to have information/  At an absolute minimum, the company needs the accident report, medical records and bills, perhaps some of previous medical records, proof of lost wages from an employer, and an understanding of how the injuries have impacted the injured person.  To the extent there is a claim for permanent injury, future medical expenses, future loss of earning capacity, or other damages, the insurance company will need proof of that.

People who have been injured in car or truck accidents and seek the services of a Tennessee personal injury lawyer frequently want to know if their medical history will explored by the insurance company of the person who caused their injuries.

The answer to that question is simple:  it depends.  

First, the nature and extent of the inquiry that is made into a person’s medical history is dependent on the nature of the injuries claimed.  If you broke your arm in a car accident and it healed without much difficulty and with no long-term impact on your life, the insurance company will only want to confirm that you have not broken that arm in the past.  Indeed, it may not even do that, since such information would probably be in the treating doctor"s records or visible on x-ray.

A summons is a court form that orders the person named in it to appear in court.  A summons is usually thought of as the document that accompanies a complaint – the document by which one person describes the basis for a lawsuit against another.

The summons is delivered with the complaint and requires that the person sued answer or otherwise respond to the complaint within thirty days.  If no timely response is filed to the lawsuit, the court can determine that the person who filed the lawsuit has won the lawsuit. 

A summons of a different type is also used to require people to appear in court to serve on a jury.  This is called a juror summons.

A deposition is a tool used primarily in civil lawsuits for uncovering evidence before an actual trial.  In theory and in fact, depositions help resolve cases before trial because each person involved in the case can learn the facts from his or her opponent and from independent witnesses.

Depositions usually take place in a conference room in the office of one of the lawyers involved in the case.  One or more lawyers for each party to the lawsuit is present.  The parties to the lawsuit are often present, but need not be present unless they are going to testify. 

The deposition itself is sworn testimony.  The person giving the testimony is called the "deponent."  The deponent is asked questions by the lawyers for the parties in the case.  The questions and the answers to those questions are recorded by a court reporter and, sometimes, also recorded on video.  The deponent has a right to have his or her lawyer present.

I want to settle my personal injury case.  I would take less money now that I would later at trial, but I don’t want to make an offer and have the jury know that I will take less money that I would want it the case were tried.  Is the jury told about settlement offers?

Absent extraordinary circumstances, the jury is never told about any aspect of settlement discussions, must less the amount of any settlement proposal.

This is true even if the defense makes an offer before trial and then stands up and court and says you are entitled to nothing at all or an amount less than you were offered before trial.  All settlement discussions are "off the record" and thus are rarely admissible into evidence.