Nashville Car Accident Lawyer

The most consequential deadline in a Nashville car wreck case usually passes before the injured person has finished treatment, and it is one of the shortest in the country. Fox, Farley, Willis & Burnette is a Tennessee personal injury law firm that represents people hurt in car, truck, motorcycle, pedestrian, and bicycle crashes, and a Nashville car accident lawyer from our team can begin protecting a claim while you are still focused on getting well.

Tennessee gives most injured people one year from the date of the crash to file suit. That single fact shapes nearly every decision that follows: whether to accept an early insurance offer, how long to wait for medical treatment to play out, and whether the other driver’s fault is clear enough to build a case around. Nashville adds its own pressures, from the interstate interchanges around downtown to the commercial traffic on I-24, I-40, and I-65 and the heavy visitor volume that fills the roads on any weekend.

Tennessee also weighs your own conduct against you, caps certain categories of damages, and sets insurance minimums low enough that a serious injury can quickly exceed the at-fault driver’s policy. A claim built without accounting for those rules from the start tends to shrink once the insurer gets involved.

How Tennessee Fault Rules Decide What a Nashville Wreck Is Worth

Tennessee uses modified comparative fault. If a jury finds you less than 50 percent responsible for the crash, you can recover, but your award is reduced by your percentage of fault. At 50 percent or more, you recover nothing. The rule came from the Tennessee Supreme Court’s decision in McIntyre v. Balentine and was later written into statute, replacing the older all-or-nothing contributory negligence approach.

The practical effect is that insurers have every reason to push a few points of blame onto you. A claim that an injured driver was “going slightly over the limit” or “could have braked sooner” is not a throwaway argument; it is a way to move the number, and if they can push the percentage to the halfway mark, the claim disappears. Tennessee also lets a jury assign fault to people who are not parties to the lawsuit, and joint and several liability has been abolished in most negligence cases. That means if one of several drivers cannot be found or has no insurance, the share assigned to that driver is generally not made up by the others. Identifying every contributor to a chain-reaction collision on a Nashville interstate is therefore part of protecting the value of the claim, not just a matter of curiosity.

Evidence that fixes fault early carries the most weight: the police crash report, photographs of the vehicles and roadway before they are moved or repaired, traffic and business camera footage that may be overwritten within days, and the vehicles’ own event data. Our attorneys investigate with the assumption that the other side will argue shared blame and that the record needs to answer that argument before it is made.

Why Choose Fox, Farley, Willis & Burnette for a Nashville Car Accident Case

Fox, Farley, Willis & Burnette represents injured Tennesseans and their families in car and truck crashes, wrongful death claims, and other serious injury cases, and we take cases from Johnson City to Memphis, including Nashville. Our trial lawyers have taken contested injury cases to juries in state and federal court. Co-founder Bruce D. Fox is a past president of the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association and received its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2025, along with its Paladin Award in 2011.

Partner Brad C. Burnette holds an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell and serves on the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association Board of Governors. Partner John Willis also serves on that board and has tried cases from the Tri-Cities to Chattanooga. Trial attorney Michael C. Beehan is fluent in Spanish and represents Spanish-speaking clients in their own language. Two of our partners spent the early part of their careers defending insurance companies, trucking companies, and businesses, so they know how adjusters and defense lawyers value, discount, and fight a claim.

The results reflect that trial experience. Our attorneys recovered $3.4 million for the family of a man killed in a Morgan County rear-end collision caused by a construction company driver, $2.3 million for a Knox County motorcyclist who lost his leg when a driver struck him and fled, and $1.6 million for an Anderson County man hit head-on by a commercial delivery truck on his way to work. Our attorneys have been named among Knoxville’s Top Attorneys by CityView Magazine, and the firm has recovered over $100 million for clients across more than 170 years of combined attorney experience. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome in any other case.

Car accident clients pay no attorney fees unless we recover compensation, and every consultation is free. If your injuries make travel hard, we can meet you at home or in the hospital.

Types of Nashville Crash Claims We Handle

• Distracted Driving Collisions: Tennessee’s Hands Free law makes it illegal to hold a phone or device with any part of the body, read or send text-based messages, watch video, or reach for a device out of a seated, belted position. A violation is a Class C misdemeanor, and phone records and citations can become evidence of negligence in a civil claim.
• Drunk and Impaired Driver Crashes: The per se alcohol limit is 0.08 percent, and there is no set per se number for prescription drugs. Impairment matters to a civil case beyond the criminal charge, because it can remove the cap on noneconomic damages.
• Interstate and Commercial Vehicle Wrecks: Tractor-trailers and delivery vehicles move constantly through Nashville’s interstate corridors. Driver logs, maintenance records, and electronic data can disappear unless someone moves to preserve them quickly.
• Motorcycle, Pedestrian, and Bicycle Crashes: Riders and people on foot absorb the full force of a collision, and injuries tend toward fractures, amputations, and brain trauma. Insurers often argue these victims were hard to see or in the wrong place.
• Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Claims: Tennessee’s minimum liability coverage is modest, so a serious injury can outrun the at-fault driver’s policy. Your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage may become the main source of recovery.
• Hit-and-Run Crashes: When a driver flees, the claim often turns on whether the driver can be identified or whether your own coverage responds. We have recovered $2.3 million for a motorcyclist who lost his leg when the driver who struck him fled.
• Wrongful Death After a Crash: When a collision kills someone, the claim belongs to the surviving spouse first, then the children or next of kin, or the personal representative. Lost income, medical and funeral expenses, and the value of the life lost are all part of the case.
• Traumatic Brain and Spinal Cord Injuries: These injuries can change how a person works and lives for decades, and the claim has to account for long-term care and lost earning capacity, not just the first hospital stay.

What to Do After a Nashville Crash and Before You Talk to an Insurer

Start with medical care, even if you feel functional. Adrenaline masks injuries, and a gap between the crash and the first appointment gives an insurer room to argue your injuries came from something else. Nashville is served by major hospital systems, and an emergency room visit creates a dated record tying your condition to the collision. Follow the treatment plan as written; missed appointments are routinely used to argue that an injury was minor.

Report the crash so that a police report exists. A report from the responding agency, whether Metro Nashville police or the Tennessee Highway Patrol on the interstates, fixes the basic facts and often records citations. Get the other driver’s information and insurance details, photograph the scene, the vehicles, and any visible injuries, and note names of witnesses. Do not discuss fault at the scene, and do not apologize; statements made casually in the first minutes get repeated back later.

Be careful with the other driver’s insurance company. Adjusters often call within days, sound sympathetic, and ask for a recorded statement or a signed medical release. The statement is not for your benefit. You are not required to give one to the other driver’s insurer, and a broad medical release lets them search your history for anything to blame. Early settlement offers tend to arrive before the full extent of your injuries is known, and accepting one usually closes the claim permanently. Tell your own insurer about the crash, since your policy may carry medical payments or uninsured motorist coverage, but keep conversations with the other side’s carrier to a minimum until you have advice.

Mind the clock. Most personal injury suits in Tennessee must be filed within one year of the injury. The period can stretch to two years when criminal charges are brought against the person who caused the injury and prosecution begins within that first year, but you should never count on that extension. A property damage claim has a separate three-year deadline. Claims against a government entity, such as a crash involving a city vehicle, fall under the Governmental Tort Liability Act, which requires filing within twelve months and caps damages at $300,000 per person and $700,000 per occurrence. If the injured person is under 18, the clock is tolled until the 18th birthday, after which the one-year period starts. In a death case, the one-year period runs from the date of the injury, not the date of death.

Cases in the Nashville area are filed in the state trial courts of Davidson County, and federal claims, such as those involving certain commercial carriers or parties from different states, belong in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, which sits in Nashville. Appeals from any of the three Tennessee federal district courts go to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. We handle the filing, the discovery, and the negotiation so that you can concentrate on recovery.

Insurance Limits and Damage Caps That Shape a Tennessee Recovery

Tennessee requires drivers to carry liability coverage of at least $25,000 per person for bodily injury, $50,000 per accident for bodily injury, and $25,000 for property damage, or to meet the requirement with a $65,000 single-limit policy or a bond or deposit of that amount. Those numbers are small next to the cost of a spinal injury or a prolonged hospital stay. When the at-fault driver’s coverage is thin, the case becomes a search for other sources: an employer whose vehicle or business was involved, a commercial policy, a vehicle owner, or your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage.

Tennessee separates damages into economic and noneconomic categories. Economic damages, which include medical bills, lost wages, and reduced earning capacity, are not capped. Noneconomic damages, such as pain, suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life, are generally limited to $750,000. The limit rises to $1 million for a defined catastrophic loss or injury, which includes spinal cord injury resulting in paraplegia or quadriplegia, amputation of two hands, two feet, or one of each, third-degree burns over 40 percent of the body or face, and the wrongful death of a parent who leaves minor children. A jury decides by special verdict whether a catastrophic loss exists, and the court applies the limit afterward without telling the jury about it.

The cap does not apply in every case. It is lifted when the defendant intentionally caused the injury, was intoxicated to a degree that substantially impaired judgment, destroyed or concealed evidence, or was convicted of a felony tied to the conduct. That makes drunk-driving crashes and cases involving destroyed records legally different from an ordinary negligence claim. Punitive damages, when a jury awards them, are limited to the greater of two times compensatory damages or $500,000, and they are reserved for conduct that is more than careless.

Nashville Car Accident Questions Answered

How long do I have to file a car accident lawsuit in Tennessee?

Most injury claims must be filed within one year of the date of the crash. The period can reach two years if criminal charges are brought against the at-fault driver and the prosecution starts within that first year. Property damage claims have a three-year deadline. Because the one-year rule is so short, it is safest to speak with an attorney well before it approaches.

What if I was partly at fault for the crash?

You can still recover as long as you are less than 50 percent at fault. Your compensation is reduced by your share of the blame. At 50 percent or more, the claim is barred. Insurers know this and often try to inflate a driver’s percentage, so a thorough investigation matters.

Does the other driver’s insurance have to pay for my medical bills right away?

No. Tennessee is a fault-based state, and the at-fault driver’s insurer generally pays only after liability is established and the claim is resolved. In the meantime, your own health insurance or medical payments coverage may carry treatment costs, and the insurer who paid may seek reimbursement from a settlement. Keeping records of what each payer covered helps keep the final numbers clear.

What happens if the driver who hit me had no insurance?

Your own uninsured motorist coverage may respond, and it can also apply when the at-fault driver’s limits are too low to cover your losses. We review your policy to see what coverage is available and whether anyone else, such as an employer or vehicle owner, may share responsibility.

Is there a limit on what I can recover for pain and suffering?

Generally, yes. Tennessee limits noneconomic damages to $750,000, or $1 million for a defined catastrophic injury or loss. Economic damages like medical bills and lost income are not capped, and the limits on noneconomic damages are lifted in certain situations, including when the defendant was substantially impaired by alcohol or drugs.

Should I give the other driver’s insurance company a recorded statement?

You are not required to, and it is usually wise to decline until you have advice. Recorded statements are used to find inconsistencies and to build a comparative fault argument. Providing basic facts to your own insurer is a different matter, since your policy generally requires cooperation.

Can I still bring a claim if the driver who caused the crash was cited under the Hands Free law?

Yes. A citation is not required for a civil claim, but one can strengthen it. A violation of the Hands Free law is a Class C misdemeanor and can serve as evidence the driver was not exercising reasonable care. Phone records can be sought in a lawsuit to show whether a device was in use at the moment of the crash.

My injuries showed up days after the crash. Is it too late?

Not necessarily, but delay creates problems. Soft-tissue and head injuries often appear later, and the one-year filing period runs from the crash, not from when symptoms began. Get evaluated promptly and tell the provider about the collision so the record connects them.

What if I was a passenger in a car driven by a friend or family member?

A passenger can bring a claim against the at-fault driver, which may be the driver of your own vehicle, the other vehicle, or both. Fault can be divided among several parties, and each driver’s insurer may be involved. We examine every available source of coverage.

Is it worth hiring a lawyer for a crash with moderate injuries?

Often it is, because the valuation of the claim, the comparative fault arguments, and the one-year deadline all affect the outcome regardless of how serious the injuries seem at first. Our consultations are free, and we are paid only if compensation is recovered, so you can learn where your claim stands before deciding anything.

How are wrongful death claims handled after a fatal crash?

The right to bring the claim passes to the surviving spouse, then to the children or next of kin, or to the personal representative of the estate. A spouse’s right can be waived if children or next of kin show the spouse abandoned the deceased or willfully withdrew for two years. The one-year deadline runs from the date of the injury, even though the death may have come later.

Serving Nashville Car Accident Clients and Communities Across Tennessee

We represent people hurt on Nashville roads and in the communities around Davidson County, from downtown and the neighborhoods along the interstate loop to the suburbs and towns that feed commuter traffic into the city. Crashes on the major corridors involve drivers from many places, and we take cases from visitors and residents alike. Clients who were hurt in Tennessee but live elsewhere do not have to travel back for every step of the case; we handle the investigation, insurance negotiations, and court filings here and keep you updated wherever you live.

Our reach covers all of Tennessee. In East Tennessee, we represent families in Knoxville, Clinton, Maryville, Sevierville, Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, and LaFollette, and across Knox, Anderson, Blount, Sevier, Roane, Campbell, Claiborne, Morgan, Jefferson, and Monroe counties. We also represent people from Johnson City to Memphis and everywhere in between, and we can meet you at home or in the hospital when your injuries make travel difficult. Hablamos español.

Talk With a Nashville Car Accident Attorney Before the Deadline Narrows Your Options

A Nashville car accident attorney at Fox, Farley, Willis & Burnette can review the crash, the insurance coverage available, and the fault arguments you are likely to face, at no cost and with no obligation. You owe no attorney fees unless we recover compensation for you. Call us to schedule a free consultation, and we will explain where your claim stands and what needs to happen next while the evidence is still available.