Maryville Workplace Injury Lawyer

For most hurt workers, the claim that matters most is not against the boss. Tennessee workers’ compensation is generally the only remedy an employee has against their own employer, so the real money often sits with someone else: the driver who hit you on a delivery route, the manufacturer of the machine that failed, or the subcontractor who left a hazard on a job site. Fox, Farley, Willis & Burnette is a Tennessee injury firm that handles these third-party claims for hurt workers and their families, serving Maryville, Blount County, and communities across East Tennessee.

If you are searching for a Maryville workplace injury lawyer, the question to ask is who besides your employer contributed to what happened. Workers’ compensation pays medical care and a portion of lost wages, but it does not pay for pain and suffering and it does not fully value what a permanent injury takes from a person’s earning future. A third-party lawsuit can. Workers around Maryville get hurt in manufacturing plants, on construction sites, on the roads around Alcoa and Highway 321, and in the warehouses and distribution operations that serve the Knoxville area, and each of those settings has outside companies whose carelessness can be part of the story.

What to Do After a Job Injury in Blount County

Get medical care first and make sure the provider knows the injury happened at work. Then tell your employer promptly and, ideally, in writing. Workers’ compensation has its own notice rules, and a delay gives the insurer an easy reason to question the claim. Ask for the names of the people who saw what happened, and write down the date, the location, the equipment involved, and any contractors or outside companies working nearby. Photographs of the scene, the machine, the vehicle, or the missing guardrail are worth far more when taken the same day than when reconstructed months later.

Separate the two tracks in your mind. Your claim against your employer’s workers’ compensation coverage runs through its own administrative system. A claim against an outside party is a regular personal injury case, and in Tennessee that lawsuit must generally be filed within one year of the injury. That is among the shortest deadlines in the country, and it does not pause while you are recovering or while the workers’ compensation claim plays out. If the person who injured you faces criminal charges for the same conduct, such as a DUI after a work-zone crash, the period can stretch to two years when the prosecution begins within the first year and you sue the person charged. Claims against a city, county, or other government body fall under the Governmental Tort Liability Act and must be filed within twelve months. Anyone under 18 at the time of injury gets extra time before the clock starts.

Be careful with recorded statements. An insurance adjuster, sometimes from the outside company’s carrier rather than your employer’s, may call within days and ask you to describe what happened. Tennessee uses modified comparative fault, which means you can recover only if you are less than 50 percent at fault, and your award is reduced by your share. Offhand comments such as “I should have been watching” are the kind of thing adjusters use to push fault onto the injured worker. It also helps to keep your own copies of incident reports, medical records, and pay stubs, and to hold off on signing anything from an insurer until someone has read it.

When a third-party case is filed, it is heard in the state trial courts of Blount County, which sits in Tennessee’s Fifth Judicial District, or in federal court when the facts support it. Blount County falls within the Northern Division of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, which sits in Knoxville. Where a case is filed depends on who the defendants are, where the injury happened, and where they do business.

Types of Workplace Injury Claims We Handle Against Outside Parties

• On-the-Job Vehicle Crashes: Delivery drivers, utility crews, sales representatives, and anyone running errands for an employer can be hit by a negligent driver. Our firm has recovered $1.6 million for an Anderson County man struck head-on by a commercial delivery truck on his way to work.
• Construction Site Falls and Equipment Failures: Roofers, framers, and laborers depend on harnesses, scaffolds, and lifts. We recovered $1.5 million for a roofer who suffered a traumatic brain injury in Knox County when his safety harness failed, the kind of case where the equipment maker or a site contractor can be answerable.
• Defective Machinery and Safety Equipment: Presses, saws, conveyors, forklifts, and protective gear that fail because of a design or manufacturing flaw can support a claim against the manufacturer or distributor, separate from workers’ compensation.
• Tractor-Trailer and Commercial Vehicle Collisions: Workers sharing the road with freight traffic near Maryville and Knoxville face serious risk. Driver logs, maintenance records, and electronic data need to be preserved quickly in these cases.
• Subcontractor and Property Owner Negligence: On multi-employer sites, a worker may be injured by a hazard created by a different company or left unaddressed by the property owner.
• Traumatic Brain and Spinal Cord Injuries: These injuries change whether a person can return to any kind of work, and a third-party claim can account for lost earning capacity in a way workers’ compensation does not.
• Wrongful Death of a Worker: When a job-related death involves someone other than the employer, the family may bring a wrongful death claim. By statute the right of action passes first 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, not the date of death.

Why Maryville Workers Choose Fox, Farley, Willis & Burnette

This is a firm that spends its time in courtrooms. Our attorneys bring more than 170 years of combined experience to serious injury cases and have recovered over $100 million for clients. Co-founder Bruce D. Fox has tried more than 125 jury trials in state and federal court, belongs to the American Board of Trial Advocates, and received the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2025 after serving as the association’s president. He also served on the Tennessee Advisory Council on Workers’ Compensation from 2008 to 2021, which means he understands the system your employer’s insurer is operating in as well as the lawsuit that can sit beside it.

Partner Brad C. Burnette holds an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell, serves on the TTLA Board of Governors, and is a Keenan Trial Institute graduate. Partner John Willis also sits on that board and is a past president of the Anderson County Bar Association. Two of our partners began their careers defending insurance companies, trucking companies, and businesses, so they know how these claims are evaluated and fought from the other side of the table. Results include $3.4 million for the family of a man killed in a Morgan County rear-end collision caused by a construction company driver and $2.3 million for a Knox County motorcyclist who lost his leg. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

There are no attorney fees in a personal injury case unless we recover compensation for you, and every consultation is free. If your injuries make travel difficult, we can meet you at home or in the hospital. Michael C. Beehan is fluent in Spanish, and hablamos español for workers who prefer to discuss their case in their own language.

How Third-Party Workplace Cases Unfold

These cases tend to move in a recognizable order. First comes investigation, which is where most cases are won or lost. We identify every company that touched the work site or the equipment, send preservation demands so records and physical evidence are not discarded, and gather medical documentation. Injured workers are sometimes surprised by how many potential defendants there are: a general contractor, two subcontractors, a lift rental company, and the maker of the lift can all be in the picture.

Next comes the negotiation period, which usually does not begin until your treatment has reached a point where the long-term picture is clear. Settling early, before anyone knows whether you will return to your job, tends to undervalue the claim. Tennessee does not cap economic damages such as medical expenses and lost income. Noneconomic damages like pain and suffering are generally limited to $750,000, or $1 million for a defined catastrophic loss, and the jury is not told about that limit. The limit is lifted in certain situations, including intentional injury, intoxication, destruction of evidence, or a related felony conviction. Punitive damages, where available, are limited to the greater of two times compensatory damages or $500,000.

Then there is the reimbursement issue. Your employer or its workers’ compensation insurer generally has a right to be repaid from your third-party recovery for benefits it already paid. That is why these cases need careful coordination from the first week, so that the workers’ compensation file and the lawsuit do not work against each other. If settlement talks fail, our trial lawyers are prepared to present the case to a jury.

Workplace Injury Questions We Hear Often

Can I sue my employer in Tennessee if I was hurt at work?

In most cases, no. Workers’ compensation is generally the only remedy against your own employer. What you can often do is bring a separate claim against another party whose negligence contributed to the injury.

What is a third-party claim?

It is a lawsuit against someone other than your employer, such as a negligent driver, an equipment manufacturer, or another contractor on the job site. It can recover damages that workers’ compensation does not pay, including pain and suffering.

How long do I have to file a workplace injury lawsuit against an outside party?

The general deadline for a personal injury lawsuit in Tennessee is one year from the date of injury. It can extend to two years when criminal charges are brought against the person who caused the injury within that first year and you sue that person. Claims against government entities must be filed within twelve months.

Will pursuing a third-party case hurt my workers’ compensation benefits?

No, the two run on separate tracks. The workers’ compensation insurer may be entitled to reimbursement from a third-party recovery for what it paid, which is why timing and coordination matter.

What if I was partly to blame for the accident?

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, recovery is barred.

How much does it cost to hire your firm?

Nothing up front. We work on a contingency fee, so no attorney fees are owed unless we recover compensation for you, and your first consultation is free.

What if a coworker caused my injury?

Coworkers are generally treated as part of the employer for these purposes, so that route is usually closed. The better question is whether a non-employee, a contractor on site, or a defective product played a role.

Is there a limit on what a jury can award for pain and suffering?

Generally, noneconomic damages are limited to $750,000, or $1 million when the injury qualifies as catastrophic, such as paraplegia or quadriplegia from a spinal cord injury or loss of two limbs. Medical bills and lost income are not capped.

What if my injury means I can never go back to my old job?

That is where a third-party claim can matter most. It can include the full value of lost earning capacity, which workers’ compensation does not replace, particularly when someone is permanently and totally disabled.

I was hurt while driving for work. Do I have two claims?

Often, yes. You may have a workers’ compensation claim through your employer and a separate injury claim against the at-fault driver. Tennessee’s minimum liability insurance is modest, $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident for bodily injury, so identifying other available coverage, including uninsured motorist coverage, can matter a great deal.

Can my family bring a claim if a worker is killed?

If someone other than the employer was responsible, yes. A wrongful death action can be brought by the personal representative or the surviving spouse, or by the children or next of kin if there is no spouse. Recoverable losses include lost income, medical and funeral expenses, and the value of the life that was taken.

Serving Maryville and Surrounding Communities

We represent injured workers in Maryville and across Blount County, including Alcoa, Louisville, Friendsville, Townsend, Walland, Rockford, Eagleton Village, and the rural communities between them. Workers from neighboring Knox County, including Knoxville, Farragut, and Powell, regularly turn to us, as do clients in Sevier County towns such as Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, and Gatlinburg. We also serve Anderson County, Roane County, Campbell County, Claiborne County, Morgan County, Jefferson County, and Monroe County, and people from Johnson City, Nashville, and Memphis. Wherever you work in Tennessee, we can review what happened and explain whether an outside party can be held responsible.

Talk With a Maryville Workplace Injury Attorney

The window to act is short, and evidence at a work site does not stay put. A Maryville workplace injury attorney at Fox, Farley, Willis & Burnette can look at your situation, tell you whether a third-party claim exists, and explain how it fits alongside your workers’ compensation benefits. Call us for a free consultation. If your injuries keep you from traveling, we will come to you.