Day on Torts
Information is now available on the number of personal injury and wrongful death trials and jury verdicts in Madison County, Tennessee for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022.
There were 187 personal injury and wrongful death cases closed in Madison County (not including health care liability act cases) and 5 tort trials. Here is how that compares with prior years:
Note that about 3% of all closed cases in Madison County are tried to judgment, a number which is generally consistent with past years. When your client asks you “what are the odds my Madison County case will go to trial” you can say that, on average 97% of filed cases are resolved (through voluntary dismissal, dismissal on motion, or settlement) before a jury verdict or judgment is announced.
The number of trials – 5 – tells only part of the story, however. Only 2 of those trials were jury trials – the other 3 were tried to the court. The plaintiff made a financial recovery in 3 of the trials. Note: the fact that the plaintiff recovered in 60% of the cases does not mean the plaintiff “won” about 60% of the cases. Why? Because we do not know whether the plaintiff’s recovery exceeded the pretrial offer. We can say that in Madison County last year defendants received a defense judgment in 40% of the cases that were tried. Here is the data in a graph:
What monies were recovered by the plaintiff in the 3 cases where a recovery occurred? We have the answer only in three broad bands of recoveries — less than $100K, $100K – $999K and $1,000,000 and over. Here are the numbers:
So, as experienced court watchers would expect, the recovery in each of the three cases was less than $99,999. There has been only $1,000,000 verdict in Madison County in the last six years, and that verdict was reversed on appeal.
You can find information about trials and verdicts in tort cases for every county in Tennessee by visiting the Free Resources at www.birddoglaw.com. Click on this link to find a list of every county in the state, click on the relevant county, and go to “Case Statistics.” (Note: we are still inputting the 2021-22 data so some counties will have data only through June 30, 2021. All information will be complete before May 1.