LaFollette IVC Filter Lawyer
An inferior vena cava filter is supposed to be a safety net, yet many people who received one learned later that the device itself had become the danger. Fox, Farley, Willis & Burnette represents injured people and their families in serious injury cases across East Tennessee, and a LaFollette IVC filter lawyer from our firm can look at whether a filter that cracked, tilted, migrated, or could not be removed was defective, or whether the way it was placed or monitored fell short.
These filters are small metal devices placed in the body’s largest vein to catch blood clots before they travel to the lungs. They are often implanted in people who cannot take blood thinners, such as after surgery or a major trauma. Many were designed to be temporary. When a retrievable filter stays in for years because no one followed up, the metal can fatigue, fracture, or embed in the vein wall, and the complications can be serious.
Most people never think to question the device until a scan shows a broken strut or a doctor says removal is not possible. If that is where you are, the clock on your claim may already be running, and the first thing worth knowing is how short Tennessee’s deadline is.
What IVC Filter Injuries Look Like in Practice
- Fractured Filter Struts: Metal arms or legs can break off and travel through the bloodstream to the heart, lungs, or elsewhere. Fragments in the heart can cause rhythm problems, and open surgery to retrieve them is sometimes the only option.
- Filter Migration: A filter can shift from the position where it was placed and move toward the heart or into the chambers around it. Migration often shows up on imaging taken for unrelated reasons.
- Vein or Organ Perforation: Filter legs can penetrate the wall of the vena cava and press into nearby structures, including the intestine, aorta, or spine, causing pain, bleeding, or damage that requires repair.
- Failed Retrieval: When a retrievable filter has been in place too long, tissue grows over it and standard removal can fail. Patients may face advanced retrieval techniques or live with a device never meant to stay permanently.
- Deep Vein Thrombosis and Clotting at the Filter: The device can itself become a site where clots form, leading to blockage of the vena cava and swelling or pain in the legs.
- Pulmonary Embolism Despite the Filter: A filter that tilts or fails to capture clots can leave a patient with the very risk it was meant to prevent.
- Surgical and Follow-Up Negligence: Not every filter claim is about a defective product. Placement errors, failure to schedule retrieval, and failure to warn a patient the device was temporary can point to the care team rather than the manufacturer.
Why Clients Choose Fox, Farley, Willis & Burnette for Filter Injury Claims
Clients work with our attorneys directly, and we handle the legwork that a medical device case demands so you can focus on treatment. If your injuries make travel hard, we can meet you at home or in the hospital. Consultations are free, and there are no attorney fees in a personal injury case unless we recover compensation for you. We also speak Spanish, and trial attorney Michael C. Beehan represents Spanish-speaking clients in their own language.
Device cases are won on medical records, engineering evidence, and the ability to try the case if an insurer or manufacturer will not pay what it is worth. Two of our partners spent the early part of their careers defending insurance companies, trucking companies, and businesses, so they know how these claims are evaluated and attacked from the other side. Bruce D. Fox, co-founder, has tried more than 125 jury trials in state and federal court, is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, and received the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2025. Partner Brad C. Burnette holds an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell and serves on the association’s Board of Governors, as does partner John Willis.
Our results show we handle serious, high-value cases: $3.4 million for the family of a man killed in a Morgan County collision, $2.3 million for a Knox County motorcyclist who lost his leg, and $1.5 million for a roofer who suffered a traumatic brain injury when his safety harness failed. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome, but they reflect a firm that has recovered over $100 million for clients and is prepared to go in front of a jury. Our attorneys bring more than 170 years of combined experience, and Knoxville’s CityView Magazine has repeatedly voted our lawyers among the city’s top attorneys.
What to Do Right Now if You Have an IVC Filter and Complications
Do not have the filter removed or discarded without talking to a lawyer first, if you can safely wait. If a surgeon removes a failed device, that device is the central piece of evidence. Ask your medical team in writing to preserve it and its packaging, and ask for the manufacturer name, model, and lot number from your implant records. If you are already scheduled for removal, tell the surgical team you want the device kept.
Request complete records from the hospital that placed the filter, any facility that treated complications, and your imaging, including the actual scans and not only the radiology reports. Keep a simple log of symptoms, missed work, and medical bills. Do not accept a quick settlement or sign a release from an insurer, manufacturer, or hospital before a lawyer has reviewed it, and do not post details of your condition on social media.
Mind the deadline. Under Tennessee law, most personal injury claims must be filed within one year of the injury. Claims based on negligent medical care are health care liability claims, which also carry a one-year limit and an outer limit of three years from the act in question. Because a filter can fail long after it was placed, the question of when the one-year period began can be contested, and it is one reason to speak with a lawyer quickly rather than assume you have time. Some cases also involve more than one defendant, such as a manufacturer, a hospital, and a physician, and each may be governed by different rules.
If your case is filed, it will usually go before a trial court of general jurisdiction in the county where the care was delivered or the harm occurred. Federal court is possible in some product cases, and the Eastern District of Tennessee sits in Knoxville and covers Campbell County and its neighbors. Many filter cases involving a single manufacturer are consolidated in federal proceedings elsewhere, so an attorney needs to look at where your claim belongs before filing.
Who Can Be Held Responsible and What You Can Recover
A defective filter case can involve the company that designed and sold the device, claiming it failed to warn doctors and patients about fracture and migration risks or marketed a retrievable filter without adequate follow-up guidance. A separate claim can target a physician or facility that implanted the filter negligently, or never arranged retrieval when the clinical need had passed. Sorting out which theory fits requires reviewing your records, the device itself, and what your doctors knew and told you.
Tennessee follows modified comparative fault. You can recover as long as you are less than 50 percent at fault, and your award is reduced by your share. Fault can also be assigned to people who are not in the lawsuit, so defendants in these cases often point at one another. In a medical device case, that can mean the manufacturer blaming the hospital and the hospital blaming the device.
Economic damages, meaning medical bills, lost income, and future care, are not capped in Tennessee. Noneconomic damages for pain and suffering are generally limited to $750,000, or $1 million for a defined catastrophic loss, and the court applies that limit after the verdict without telling the jury. That makes it important to document the full economic cost of retrieval surgery, ongoing monitoring, and lost earning capacity. If a filter complication causes a death, the wrongful death claim passes to the surviving spouse, then to children or next of kin, or to a personal representative, and the one-year period runs from the date of the injury that led to the death.
Questions About IVC Filter Claims in Tennessee
How do I find out which IVC filter I have?
Ask the hospital or surgeon that placed it for your implant record or operative report. It should list the manufacturer, model, and often a lot number. Patients sometimes also receive an implant card at discharge. If you cannot locate it, a lawyer can request records on your behalf.
Is a filter lawsuit only for people whose device has broken?
No. People have claims after fracture, migration, perforation, failed removal, and related complications. Having a filter that has not yet caused symptoms is different, and each case turns on actual injury and the evidence that links it to the device or to negligent care.
How long do I have to file in Tennessee?
Most personal injury claims must be filed within one year of the injury. A claim based on medical negligence has a one-year period and a three-year outer limit. The date the clock starts can be disputed in device cases, so do not wait to find out where you stand.
Should I have the filter removed before I talk to a lawyer?
Do not delay medically necessary treatment. If removal can safely wait for a short consultation, a lawyer can help make sure the device is preserved. If your doctor says removal is urgent, proceed and ask that the device and packaging be kept.
Can I sue if my own doctor placed the filter?
Possibly, if the physician or facility was negligent in the decision to implant, the placement, or the follow-up, such as never scheduling removal of a temporary device. Those claims are health care liability claims and have stricter procedural rules than a product claim.
What if I bear some responsibility, such as missing a follow-up visit?
You can still recover if you were less than 50 percent at fault. Your recovery is reduced by your share, and defendants may try to shift blame to you, so documentation showing what you were told matters.
Will health insurance pay for treating filter complications while my claim is pending?
Generally you should use your health coverage for necessary care. Insurers and Medicare may seek reimbursement from a recovery, so we account for those claims when negotiating. Do not skip treatment because a claim is unresolved.
Could my case be handled in federal court?
Product claims against out-of-state manufacturers can end up in federal court, and many filter cases involving a single device brand have been grouped into coordinated federal proceedings. Where your case belongs depends on the defendants and facts, which we review before filing.
What if the person who received the filter has died?
A wrongful death claim may exist. The right to bring it passes first to the surviving spouse, then to children or next of kin, or it can be brought by a personal representative. The one-year period runs from the date of the injury that led to the death, not the date of death.
Is it worth hiring a lawyer if my complications seem minor?
A free consultation will tell you. Device cases need medical and technical review, and an injury that seems small can become permanent. We can help you assess whether a claim is worth pursuing.
What does it cost to hire your firm?
Nothing up front. We work on a contingency fee, so there are no attorney fees unless we recover compensation for you, and the first consultation is free.
Do you represent people who do not speak English?
Yes. Hablamos español, and Michael C. Beehan represents Spanish-speaking clients in their own language.
Serving LaFollette and Surrounding Medical Device Injury Clients
We represent injured people in LaFollette and throughout Campbell County, including communities such as Jacksboro, Caryville, Jellico, and the surrounding mountain communities near Norris Lake and Cumberland Gap. Because many filter patients are treated at larger hospitals, we also serve clients in neighboring Claiborne, Anderson, Union, and Morgan counties, and in Knox County and Knoxville, where specialty care is often delivered.
Our reach extends across Blount, Sevier, Roane, Jefferson, and Monroe counties, and across East Tennessee from Johnson City to the Smoky Mountain communities of Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, and Gatlinburg. We represent clients throughout Tennessee, including Nashville and Memphis, and we can travel to you when your condition makes it hard to come to us.
Talk to a LaFollette IVC Filter Attorney About Your Claim
If you have a filter that has failed, moved, broken, or cannot be removed, a LaFollette IVC filter attorney at Fox, Farley, Willis & Burnette can review your records, identify the device, and explain whether you may have a claim against the manufacturer, the care team, or both. Because Tennessee’s filing deadline is short, call us now for a free consultation. If you cannot come to us, we will come to you at home or in the hospital, and you pay no attorney fees unless we recover compensation.