Tennessee Third-Party Workplace Injury Lawyer

A hospital bed, a workers’ compensation check that covers only part of your wages, and a nagging sense that someone other than your boss is the reason you got hurt: that is where most third-party workplace injury cases begin. Fox, Farley, Willis & Burnette is a Tennessee personal injury law firm that represents injured workers and their families in claims against the people and companies outside the employer whose negligence caused the harm, and as a Tennessee third-party workplace injury lawyer team we serve clients in Knox, Anderson, Sevier, Blount, and Campbell Counties and across the state.

Here is the core idea. In Tennessee, workers’ compensation is generally the only remedy against your own employer. But if a negligent truck driver hit you on a delivery route, a manufacturer built a harness that failed, or a subcontractor on a shared job site cut corners, you may have a separate lawsuit against that outsider. Workers’ compensation pays medical care and a portion of lost wages. It does not pay for pain and suffering, and it does not compensate the full loss of what you could have earned over a career. A third-party claim can.

Why Choose Fox, Farley, Willis & Burnette for a Third-Party Workplace Injury Claim

Bruce D. Fox, co-founder of the firm, has tried more than 125 jury trials in state and federal court, and he spent 2008 to 2021 on the Tennessee Advisory Council on Workers’ Compensation. That matters in this niche because a third-party case sits on top of a workers’ compensation claim. Someone who has helped shape how the comp system is overseen understands where the two tracks meet and where they collide. Bruce is also a past president of the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association, received its Lifetime Achievement Award, belongs to the American Board of Trial Advocates, and has been selected to Mid-South Super Lawyers 17 times.

Two of our partners began their careers defending insurance companies, trucking companies, and businesses before moving to the plaintiff side. In a third-party case, the defendants are often exactly those kinds of parties, and our attorneys know how their claims departments and defense counsel evaluate an injured worker’s case. Partner Brad C. Burnette holds an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell and serves on the TTLA Board of Governors, as does partner John Willis, a past president of the Anderson County Bar Association. Michael S. Farley, co-founder, and trial attorney Michael C. Beehan, who is fluent in Spanish and represents Spanish-speaking clients in their own language, round out a team of attorneys with more than 170 years of combined experience.

The results reflect that experience. We recovered $1.5 million for a Knox County roofer who suffered a traumatic brain injury when his safety harness failed, and $1.6 million for an Anderson County man struck head-on by a commercial delivery truck on his way to work. We have recovered over $100 million for clients overall. Every case is different, and past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. We handle these cases on a contingency basis, so there are no attorney fees unless we recover compensation, consultations are free, and we can meet you at home or in the hospital if travel is hard. Hablamos español.

Common Third-Party Workplace Injury Situations in East Tennessee

• Crashes While Working: Delivery drivers, sales reps, utility crews, and anyone running a work errand can be hurt by a negligent driver. The at-fault driver is a third party, and so may be that driver’s employer. Interstate 40 and Interstate 75 corridors, Alcoa Highway, and Pellissippi Parkway carry heavy commercial and commuter traffic.
• Defective Equipment and Failed Safety Gear: Harnesses, scaffolding, lifts, saws, presses, and forklifts can be designed or built defectively. The manufacturer or distributor, not your employer, may answer for what the product did to you.
• Construction Site Hazards: A general contractor, a different subcontractor, or a property owner may have created or ignored the hazard that injured you even though none of them signed your paycheck. Roofing, framing, and excavation work generate many of these cases.
• Tractor-Trailer and Commercial Vehicle Collisions: When a work injury involves a big rig, the trucking company, driver, maintenance contractor, or cargo loader may all share responsibility, and driver logs and electronic data can disappear if no one acts quickly.
• Unsafe Premises Owned by Someone Else: Workers making deliveries, repairs, or installations at a customer’s property can be hurt by poor lighting, broken stairs, or unguarded openings. The property owner may be a liable third party.
• Traumatic Brain and Spinal Cord Injuries: Falls from height and heavy equipment accidents cause permanent harm, and those are the cases where the gap between workers’ compensation and a third-party recovery is widest.
• Wrongful Death of a Worker: When a job-related accident kills a worker, a claim against a negligent outside party can seek lost income, medical and funeral expenses, and the value of the life that was taken.

What to Do After a Job Injury When Someone Else May Be to Blame

Start with medical care and report the injury to your employer promptly so your workers’ compensation claim is protected. Then think about who else was involved. Who owned the truck, the machine, the building, or the site? Who else was working there? Write down names, take photographs of the scene and your injuries if you can, and keep every piece of safety gear and damaged equipment exactly as it is. A broken harness or a failed tool is evidence, and a company that learns it may be sued has every reason to repair, discard, or “lose” it.

The clock matters more than most people realize. Tennessee’s deadline to file most personal injury lawsuits is one year from the date of the injury. That period can extend to two years when the person who caused the injury faces criminal charges for the same conduct and the prosecution begins within that first year, but a workers’ compensation claim does not stop the clock on your third-party lawsuit. If the injury killed a loved one, the one-year period still runs from the date of the injury, not the date of death. If a government vehicle or agency is involved, claims under the Governmental Tort Liability Act must be filed within 12 months, and the damages available are capped.

Be careful with insurance adjusters. Your employer’s workers’ compensation carrier and the third party’s liability insurer have different interests, and anything you say in a recorded statement to the outsider’s insurer can be used to argue you were partly at fault. Tennessee uses modified comparative fault, so you can recover only if 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 even in the lawsuit, so insurers will look for anyone to blame, including you.

Third-party lawsuits are typically filed in the circuit court of the county where the injury happened or where the defendant is located. In Knox County, that is the Knox County Circuit Court in Knoxville, part of the Sixth Judicial District. Anderson County sits in the Seventh Judicial District and Blount County in the Fifth. Cases involving out-of-state manufacturers or parties from different states may belong in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, whose Northern Division sits in Knoxville and covers Anderson, Blount, Campbell, Claiborne, Jefferson, Knox, Loudon, Monroe, Morgan, Roane, Sevier, and several other counties.

How Workers’ Compensation and a Third-Party Claim Fit Together

Tennessee rewrote its workers’ compensation system for injuries on or after July 1, 2014, and under that system the employer’s coverage is the exclusive remedy against the employer itself. That is why we focus our workplace practice on third-party claims: they are the route to damages comp does not provide. A third-party recovery can include pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, and the full value of lost earning capacity. For a worker who can never return to any kind of job, that difference can be enormous.

The two claims run side by side, and they must be coordinated. Your employer or its comp insurer generally has a right to be reimbursed from your third-party recovery for benefits it has already paid. How that reimbursement is calculated and negotiated affects what you actually take home, so timing and strategy matter from the first week. Settling the comp case carelessly can complicate the outside lawsuit, and settling the outside case carelessly can affect your comp rights.

Tennessee law also limits noneconomic damages, generally to $750,000, or $1 million for a defined catastrophic loss such as paraplegia or quadriplegia from spinal cord injury, amputation of two hands, two feet, or one of each, third-degree burns over 40 percent of the body or face, or the wrongful death of a parent of minor children. The jury is not told about the cap; the judge applies it afterward. The cap is lifted in cases where the defendant acted with intent, was impaired by drugs or alcohol, destroyed evidence, or was convicted of a related felony. Economic damages, meaning medical bills and lost income, are not capped. Punitive damages, where the facts support them, are limited to the greater of two times compensatory damages or $500,000.

Questions About Tennessee Third-Party Workplace Injury Claims

Can I sue my employer if I was hurt on the job in Tennessee?

In most cases, no. Workers’ compensation is generally the only remedy against your own employer. But if someone else, such as a negligent driver, an equipment maker, or another contractor, contributed to your injury, you may have a third-party claim against them.

What is a third-party claim?

It is a lawsuit against someone other than your employer whose negligence or defective product caused your workplace injury. It proceeds alongside your workers’ compensation claim.

How long do I have to file a third-party lawsuit?

Generally one year from the date of the injury under Tennessee’s personal injury statute of limitations. The period can extend to two years if the person who caused the injury is criminally charged and prosecuted within the first year. Do not wait for your workers’ compensation case to finish before acting.

What can I recover in a third-party case that workers’ compensation does not pay?

Pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, and the full value of lost earning capacity, in addition to medical expenses and lost wages. Workers’ compensation does not cover those noneconomic losses.

Will my employer’s comp insurer get paid back from my settlement?

Generally yes. The employer or its insurer typically has a right to reimbursement from your recovery for benefits it paid. The amount and the way it is handled can be negotiated, which is one reason these cases need careful coordination.

What if I was partly at fault for my own injury?

Tennessee follows modified comparative fault. You can still recover if you are less than 50 percent at fault, but your compensation is reduced by your percentage. At 50 percent or more, the claim is barred.

Does Tennessee cap the damages in a third-party workplace injury case?

Noneconomic damages are generally capped at $750,000, or $1 million for catastrophic losses as the statute defines them. Economic damages like medical bills and lost income are not capped, and the noneconomic cap does not apply in certain situations, such as an intoxicated defendant or destroyed evidence.

I was hurt by a coworker. Can I sue that person?

That is a harder question, because coworkers are generally treated as part of the employer for comp purposes. The facts matter a great deal. If someone from a different company on the same site caused the injury, that is a different analysis and may support a third-party claim.

What if a work accident killed my family member?

Tennessee’s wrongful death right of action passes to the surviving spouse, then to children or next of kin, or to a personal representative. The one-year deadline runs from the date of the injury. A claim against a negligent outside party can seek lost income, medical and funeral costs, and the value of the life lost, alongside any workers’ compensation death benefits.

Does filing a third-party lawsuit jeopardize my workers’ compensation benefits?

It should not, but the two cases can affect each other. The way a settlement is structured, and the reimbursement owed to the comp carrier, need to be handled with both claims in mind. That is why coordination from the beginning protects you.

How much does it cost to hire your firm?

Nothing up front. We work on a contingency fee, so we are paid only if we recover compensation for you, and your first consultation is free.

Is it worth pursuing a third-party claim if my injury was not catastrophic?

Often it is. Even when comp covers your medical care, it replaces only part of your wages and pays nothing for pain and suffering. A free consultation is the simplest way to find out whether an outside party’s negligence adds value to your case.

Serving Injured Workers Across Knox County and East Tennessee

We represent injured workers throughout Knox County, from Knoxville and Farragut to Powell, Halls, Karns, Corryton, Mascot, and Strawberry Plains. Across neighboring Anderson County, our reach includes Clinton, Oak Ridge, Oliver Springs, Norris, Lake City, and Rocky Top. In Blount County we serve Maryville, Alcoa, Louisville, Friendsville, and Townsend, and in Sevier County, Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, and Seymour, where tourism, construction, and hospitality work put many people on job sites and busy roads. In Campbell County we serve LaFollette, Jacksboro, and Caryville.

We have also represented people from Roane, Claiborne, Morgan, Jefferson, and Monroe Counties, and we take third-party workplace injury cases for clients from Johnson City to Nashville to Memphis. If your injuries make it difficult to travel, we can come to you.

Talk to a Tennessee Third-Party Workplace Injury Attorney Today

You do not have to sort out alone which company, driver, or manufacturer caused your injury, or how a lawsuit would interact with your workers’ compensation benefits. A Tennessee third-party workplace injury attorney at Fox, Farley, Willis & Burnette can review what happened, identify who may be responsible, and tell you honestly what the claim may be worth. Because Tennessee’s filing deadline is short, call us now for a free consultation. There is no fee unless we recover compensation for you.