According to Tennessee State Trooper Highway Patrol statistics, over 10,000 people are injured and over 400 people are killed in Tennessee car accidents every year. In these circumstances, the injured individuals or their close family may be able to sue the at-fault party for compensation. Tennessee is an at-fault state for car accident claims, which means that negligent drivers, vehicle owners, or employers of working drivers can all be held legally responsible for the injuries they cause in car accidents. Settlement amounts are intended to cover the victim’s damages, inclusive of the pain and suffering that follow such injuries. Keep reading to learn how Tennessee calculates car accident settlements. If you’ve recently been injured in a car accident, please be sure to get in contact as soon as you can with a Memphis car accident lawyer. We’ll fight to get you the compensation you deserve.
Calculation Method for Car Accident Settlements in Tennessee
Typically, the legal system (which includes courts, lawyers, and insurance companies) will base the compensation value of a car accident on how severe the victim’s injuries are. As graver injuries result in higher medical bills, potentially higher costs in caretaker expenses, more time needed off work, and even greater pain and suffering, you can see why insurance companies would contend that injuries are less severe or that certain medical treatments are too extravagant. However, Tennessee is a traditional fault state, and that allows you to seek compensation for all of your damages.
The “multiple method” is a useful way to estimate your compensation. You would begin by adding together your economic damages: medical bills, lost wages, and out-of-pocket costs. Then to that amount, you would add one to three times that same sum for non-economic damages such as pain and suffering.
Supposing you needed to spend just one day recovering from your injuries, you may multiply your economic damages by one. If, on the other hand, you spent weeks or months recovering, then you may want to multiply your economic damages by two or three.
The more severe your injuries, the more urgent it is to hire a lawyer. Your compensation will depend on your attorney’s ability to gather evidence and document the scope and severity of your injuries, so be sure to call a Memphis accident lawyer as soon as you can.
Additional Factors Affecting Tennessee Car Accident Settlements
In addition to what we just reviewed, more factors can impact your settlement amount. For instance, Tennessee is a comparative fault state as well as an at-fault state. This means that you can only seek compensation when, as a percentage of your own fault in the accident, you are less than 50% at fault. There are also limits on insurance policies for how much companies will pay, though Tennessee requires all drivers to have liability limits at $25,000 per person, $50,000 for bodily injuries per accident, and $25,000 set aside for property damage compensation.
