What is the permitted scope of testimony of a biomechanical expert in a car crash case? The Kentucky Supreme Court has given some guidance on the issue. In Renot v. Secura Supreme Ins. Co., 2021-SC-0281-DG (Ky. June 15, 2023), plaintiff claimed injuries in a motor vehicle collision. The defendant driver settled…
Day on Torts
Parents could not file suit on behalf of adult child.
Where plaintiff was in a car accident when she was four years old, and her parents filed a personal injury suit purporting to represent her once she turned 18, the trial court properly granted summary judgment based on the statute of limitations. The parents, who were not attorneys, could not…
Pre-Impact Terror in Plane Crash Litigation
A federal judge in Chicago has agreed to allow a jury to consider whether airplane crash victims experience preimpact terror before their deaths. Faced with no Illinois law directly on point, the federal court determined that the reasoning in Haley v. Pan American World Airways, Inc., 746 F.2d 311, 314-15…
Amended Complaint Removed Defendants From Suit.
Where plaintiff originally filed a health care liability suit under the GTLA against multiple defendants, but before any responsive pleading was filed plaintiff filed an amended complaint naming only the physician as a defendant, a subsequent notice and order of voluntary dismissal entered as to the defendants not named in…
Psychologist selected by mother pursuant to court order immune from later HCLA suit.
Court appointed psychologists enjoy immunity in Tennessee. Where a juvenile court ordered that a mother select a new psychologist to replace the existing one in a custody case, the psychologist selected by the mother was entitled to summary judgment based on immunity in a later suit brought by the father…
Stats About Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Cases and Verdicts in Dyer County, Tennessee
Information is now available on the number of personal injury and wrongful death trials and jury verdicts in Dyer County, Tennessee (county seat: Dyersburg) for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022. There were 64 personal injury and wrongful death cases closed in closed in Dyer County (not including health…
City ordinance violation does not extend Tennessee’s typical one-year personal injury statute of limitations.
Ordinarily and subject to several important exceptions, the statute of limitations in Tennessee personal injury cases is one year. One exception to that rule is Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-104(a(2), which addresses situations where the civil defendant faced criminal charges as a result of a incident giving rise to…
Tennessee GTLA case that includes non-governmental entity defendants can be heard by a jury.
Where a GTLA case involves both governmental and non-governmental defendants and a party demands a jury trial, the entire case is to be heard by the jury. In Vandyke v. Cheek, No. M2022-00938-COA-R10-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. May 3, 2023), plaintiff filed suit after a car accident caused in part by…
Stats About Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Cases and Verdicts in Wilson County, Tennessee
Information is now available on the number of personal injury and wrongful death trials and jury verdicts in Wilson County, Tennessee (county seat: Lebanon) for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022. There were 201 personal injury and wrongful death cases closed in Wilson County (not including health care liability…
Stats About Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Cases and Verdicts in Montgomery County, Tennessee
Information is now available on the number of personal injury and wrongful death trials and jury verdicts in Montgomery County, Tennessee (county seat: Clarksville) for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022. There were 315 personal injury and wrongful death cases closed in Montgomery County (not including health care liability…