Collierville Personal Injury Lawyer

A serious crash in Collierville is almost always a Shelby County case, which means it gets filed, investigated, and tried in the western end of the state, a long way from the East Tennessee communities where most of our work is concentrated. Fox, Farley, Willis & Burnette represents injured people and families across Tennessee, and a Collierville personal injury lawyer from our firm can handle a claim from Johnson City to Memphis and everywhere in between, including the Collierville and Shelby County area.

Collierville’s mix of heavy commuter traffic on Poplar Avenue, Highway 72, and the roads feeding Interstate 269, along with busy retail corridors and a steady flow of delivery trucks into the Memphis distribution network, produces the kinds of injuries that change a family’s finances for years. Tennessee gives injured people only one year to sue in most cases, and the rules on fault and damages caps shape what a claim is realistically worth, so the first weeks matter.

Injury Cases That Come Out of Collierville and the Memphis Corridor

• Car and Commuter Crashes: Poplar Avenue, Highway 72, and the interchanges around Interstate 269 carry a mix of local drivers and through traffic. Distracted driving cases often turn on Tennessee’s Hands Free law, which bars holding a phone, reading or sending texts, and watching or recording video behind the wheel.
• Tractor-Trailer and Delivery Truck Collisions: Collierville sits close to one of the country’s busiest freight hubs, so large commercial vehicles share the road with commuters daily. Driver logs, maintenance files, and electronic data need to be preserved quickly before they are overwritten or discarded.
• Drunk and Impaired Driver Crashes: A defendant who was intoxicated can lose the protection of Tennessee’s cap on noneconomic damages, and an officer investigating a fatal crash with suspected impairment must look into where the driver was served and notify the Alcoholic Beverage Commission.
• Motorcycle, Pedestrian, and Bicycle Injuries: Riders and walkers have no protection when a driver turns across a lane or fails to yield, and the injuries tend to be catastrophic. Insurers often push fault onto the person who was hurt.
• Wrongful Death: When a crash or dangerous property condition kills someone, the claim belongs to the surviving spouse first, then children or next of kin, or a personal representative. The one-year clock runs from the date of the injury, not the date of death.
• Slip and Fall and Premises Liability: Collierville’s shopping centers, restaurants, medical offices, and apartment communities generate falls on wet floors, broken pavement, and poorly lit stairs. The question is whether the owner knew or should have known about the hazard.
• Brain, Spinal Cord, and Amputation Injuries: These cases involve lifetime care costs and lost earning capacity. Tennessee treats spinal cord injury causing paralysis and certain amputations as catastrophic losses with a higher noneconomic ceiling.
• Workplace Third-Party Claims: A worker hurt by a negligent driver, defective equipment, or another contractor’s carelessness can often pursue that outside party in addition to workers’ compensation.

How Fault, Insurance, and Damages Caps Shape a Collierville Claim

Tennessee follows modified comparative fault. If a jury finds you 50 percent responsible or more, the claim is barred. Below that line, your recovery is reduced by your percentage. That is why adjusters start building a blame case in the first phone call, and why a recorded statement given too early can hurt you. Tennessee also abolished joint and several liability in most negligence cases, and a jury can assign fault to someone who is not even a party to the lawsuit, such as an empty chair at the table. A careful investigation has to account for every possible responsible party, not just the driver who was cited.

Insurance limits matter just as much. The state’s minimum liability requirement is 25/50/25: $25,000 for one person’s injuries, $50,000 for all injuries in a crash, and $25,000 for property damage. A single serious injury can exceed that many times over, so we look at underinsured and uninsured motorist coverage on your own policy, and at employers, trucking companies, and other defendants who may carry larger policies.

On damages, medical expenses, lost income, and other economic losses are not capped. Pain and suffering and similar noneconomic losses are generally limited to $750,000, rising to $1 million for defined catastrophic injuries such as paraplegia or quadriplegia, amputation of two limbs, severe burns over large portions of the body, and the death of a parent of minor children. Jurors are not told about the cap; the judge applies it afterward. The limit does not apply where the defendant intentionally caused the harm, was intoxicated, destroyed evidence, or was convicted of a related felony. Punitive damages, where available, are limited to the greater of two times the compensatory award or $500,000.

Why Choose Fox, Farley, Willis & Burnette for a Collierville Injury Case

Most clients work with us the way they would with any professional they trust: they call, tell us what happened, and we take it from there. We handle the investigation, deal with the insurance companies, and keep you informed by phone and email. If your injuries make travel hard, we can meet you at home or in the hospital, and clients who live a long way from where the case is pending do not have to make the trip for every step. We have long represented people from across Tennessee and from other states. Spanish-speaking clients can work in their own language with trial attorney Michael C. Beehan, and hablamos español.

The cost question is simple. Personal injury clients pay nothing up front, and we take a fee only if we recover compensation. Consultations are free.

Our attorneys have more than 170 years of combined experience and have recovered over $100 million for clients. Results that bear directly on the kind of case a Collierville injury lawyer faces include $3.4 million for the family of a man killed in a rear-end collision caused by a construction company driver, $2.3 million for a motorcyclist who lost his leg when a driver hit him and fled, and $1.6 million for a man struck head-on by a commercial delivery truck on his way to work. Past results do not predict any other outcome.

Two of our partners began their careers defending insurance companies, trucking companies, and businesses, so they know how those defendants evaluate and fight claims. Bruce D. Fox, co-founder, has tried more than 125 jury trials, is a past president of the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association, holds its Lifetime Achievement Award, and is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates. Partner Brad C. Burnette holds an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell and sits on the association’s Board of Governors, as does partner John Willis. Our attorneys are regularly voted among Knoxville’s Top Attorneys by CityView Magazine.

Serving Collierville and Shelby County Injury Clients

For Collierville clients, we start where you live: Collierville itself, including the neighborhoods around the Square and the commercial stretches along Poplar Avenue and Highway 72, and the surrounding Shelby County communities of Germantown, Bartlett, Cordova, Memphis, and Lakeland. We also work with injured people in neighboring Fayette County towns such as Piperton and Oakland, and across West Tennessee.

Beyond Shelby County, we represent injured people throughout Tennessee, including Nashville, Johnson City, and the East Tennessee counties of Knox, Sevier, Anderson, Blount, Roane, Campbell, Claiborne, Morgan, Jefferson, and Monroe. Whether the crash happened near home or while you were traveling, we can review the facts and explain what the claim looks like.

What to Do After a Collierville Injury, Starting Today

Get medical care right away, even if you feel fine; adrenaline hides injuries, and a gap in treatment gives the insurer an argument that you were not really hurt. Report the crash to law enforcement so an official report exists. Photograph vehicles, the roadway, skid marks, visible injuries, and any hazard that caused a fall, and keep your clothing, shoes, and damaged property. Get names and contact information for witnesses. Write down what you remember while it is fresh.

Be careful with the other side’s insurer. Adjusters are friendly and quick, and they are collecting statements that can later be used to assign you a share of the fault. You can give basic information, but decline a recorded statement and do not sign a release or accept a quick offer before knowing the full extent of your injuries. Do not post about the incident on social media.

The deadline is the thing most people underestimate. Under Tennessee law, most injury lawsuits must be filed within one year of the injury. That can stretch to two years if the person who hurt you is criminally charged and prosecuted within that first year, and you then sue that same person. Property damage claims have three years. Suits against a city or county government must be filed within 12 months under the Governmental Tort Liability Act, and damages in those cases are limited to $300,000 per person and $700,000 per occurrence. Health care liability claims have a one-year period and a three-year outer limit. If the injured person was a child at the time, the clock generally waits until the child turns 18.

Collierville is in Shelby County, which is in Tennessee’s 30th Judicial District, where state civil cases are filed in circuit court. Federal cases arising here would be heard by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, which sits in Memphis. We will explain which court fits your case once we know who the defendants are. Most claims settle before a trial, but a firm that is ready to try the case is in a stronger position to negotiate.

Collierville Personal Injury Questions, Answered

How long do I have to file an injury lawsuit in Tennessee?

Generally one year from the date you were hurt. A criminal prosecution of the person who caused the injury, begun within that first year, can extend your window to two years against that person. Do not count on the extension; treat one year as the real limit.

What if the other driver says I caused the crash?

Fault is decided on evidence, not on who talks first. Tennessee lets you recover if you are less than 50 percent responsible, with your award reduced by your share. Photographs, the crash report, witness accounts, vehicle data, and sometimes reconstruction can move that percentage a long way.

Is there a limit on what I can recover?

Medical bills, lost income, and other economic losses have no cap. Noneconomic damages are generally limited to $750,000, or $1 million for catastrophic injuries as defined by statute. Those limits do not apply when the defendant was intoxicated, intentionally caused the harm, destroyed evidence, or was convicted of a related felony.

What if the at-fault driver only carried the state minimum?

Minimum coverage is $25,000 per injured person and $50,000 per crash. If your damages exceed that, we look at your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, a negligent driver’s employer, and any other party that contributed to the crash.

Who can bring a wrongful death claim?

The right passes first to the surviving spouse, then to children or next of kin, or it can be pursued by a personal representative. The deadline generally runs one year from the date of the injury that led to the death, even if the person died later.

Should I talk to the insurance adjuster before hiring a lawyer?

You can give basic facts, but avoid recorded statements and do not sign releases or accept offers until your medical picture is clear. Early statements are routinely used to argue that you share the blame.

Will my health insurance cover treatment while my claim is pending?

Often, yes. Use your health coverage so you are not left without care, and keep records of everything paid. Health insurers and other payers may have reimbursement rights from a recovery, which we account for when negotiating.

How long does a Collierville injury case take?

It depends on how serious the injuries are and how hard the insurer fights. A case should not be settled until you have reached maximum medical improvement, because future treatment and lost earning capacity need to be valued. Cases that go to trial take longer than ones that settle.

Does the Hands Free law matter if the other driver was on a phone?

It can. Tennessee prohibits holding a phone, texting, and watching or recording video while driving. A violation is evidence of carelessness, and phone records can be sought in a lawsuit. A traffic citation alone does not decide a civil case, though.

I live outside Tennessee but was hurt in Collierville. Can you still help?

Yes. We handle the investigation, insurance negotiations, and court filings in Tennessee and keep you updated wherever you live, so most steps do not require you to travel.

I was injured at work by someone other than my employer. What are my options?

Workers’ compensation is usually the only claim against your own employer, but a negligent driver, equipment maker, or outside contractor can be sued separately. Those claims can include pain and suffering and the full loss of earning capacity, though the employer or its insurer may have a right to be repaid from the recovery.

What does it cost to hire your firm?

Nothing up front. We are paid from a recovery, and the first conversation costs you nothing.

Call a Collierville Personal Injury Attorney Before the One-Year Clock Runs Down

If you or a family member was hurt in Collierville or elsewhere in Shelby County, the sooner we speak, the more evidence we can preserve and the more options you will have. A Collierville personal injury attorney at Fox, Farley, Willis & Burnette can review what happened, explain how fault and damages limits apply, and tell you honestly what the claim may be worth. Call us to set up a free consultation, and we will come to you if you cannot come to us.