I-24 Truck Accident Lawyer

A wreck on I-24 is rarely just a wreck between two drivers. It usually involves a trucking company, its insurer, a driver whose hours were logged by software, and a maintenance shop somewhere else, and all of them start protecting themselves within hours. Fox, Farley, Willis & Burnette is a Tennessee injury firm that handles tractor-trailer and commercial vehicle cases for injured people and for families who have lost someone, and a good I-24 truck accident lawyer starts by understanding how those moving parts fit together.

I-24 carries a steady stream of freight through Tennessee, running between Nashville and Chattanooga and tying into the interstates that feed the whole Southeast. That traffic is heavy with long-haul drivers on tight delivery windows, running through hilly stretches near the Cumberland Plateau and the Chattanooga end of the corridor, where construction zones, sudden slowdowns, and weather can turn a normal day into a pileup. Our firm represents clients from East Tennessee across to Nashville and Memphis, and we take these cases wherever the crash happened.

What separates a truck case from a car case is the evidence. Trucks carry electronic logging devices, engine control data, dash camera footage, dispatch messages, and inspection records. Much of that information is overwritten or discarded on a routine schedule if nobody demands that it be kept. The first job in an I-24 case is often a preservation letter, not a demand letter.

Why Choose Fox, Farley, Willis & Burnette for an I-24 Commercial Truck Case

The people who call us after a truck crash are usually dealing with a serious injury, a death in the family, or both, and they are suddenly dealing with a corporate insurance carrier that has a rapid-response team. We help injured drivers, passengers, motorcyclists, and the families of those killed. Our attorneys bring more than 170 years of combined experience to car and truck crashes, and the firm has recovered over $100 million for clients. We work on contingency, so there are no attorney fees in a personal injury case unless we recover compensation, consultations are free, and if your injuries make travel hard we can meet you at home or in the hospital. Hablamos español, and trial attorney Michael C. Beehan is fluent in Spanish.

Two of our partners spent the early part of their careers defending insurance companies, trucking companies, and businesses before moving to the plaintiff’s side. That matters in a trucking case because they know how a carrier’s lawyers evaluate a claim, which records they expect to be requested, and where defense positions tend to be soft. 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, which includes the I-24 end of the state. Co-founder Bruce D. Fox has tried more than 125 jury trials in state and federal court, is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, received the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2025, and is a past president of that association.

Results from our commercial vehicle work 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 $1.6 million for an Anderson County man struck head-on by a commercial delivery truck on his way to work. Every case is different, and past results do not guarantee a similar outcome, but they reflect what we are willing to take on against corporate defendants.

Types of I-24 Truck Crashes and Who Can Be Held Responsible

• Rear-End and Chain-Reaction Collisions: A loaded tractor-trailer needs far more distance to stop than a passenger car. When traffic bunches up in a work zone or at a grade, a fatigued or distracted driver can plow through several vehicles at once. Following distance, speed, and the driver’s hours of service become central evidence.
• Jackknifes and Rollovers: Sharp braking, speed on curves, shifting cargo, and rain-slick pavement can send a trailer swinging across lanes or onto its side. Responsibility may reach the driver, the carrier that scheduled the run, and whoever loaded the freight.
• Underride and Lane-Change Crashes: Trucks have large blind zones on every side. A merge or lane change that ignores a car alongside can push it into a guardrail or under a trailer, often with catastrophic injuries.
• Brake and Equipment Failures: Worn brakes, bad tires, and poorly maintained trailers cause crashes that look like driver error at first. Maintenance logs, inspection history, and the repair shop’s work can shift or share the responsibility.
• Overloaded or Improperly Secured Cargo: Unbalanced weight and loose loads make a truck harder to control and can send freight onto the roadway. The shipper, the loading company, and the carrier may all share fault.
• Impaired and Distracted Truck Drivers: Tennessee’s hands-free law bars a driver from holding a phone or sending, reading, or writing texts while driving. A truck driver using a phone, or driving under the influence, creates both liability evidence and potential access to higher damages.
• Wrongful Death Crashes: When a truck crash kills someone, the claim belongs to the surviving spouse, then to children or next of kin, or to the personal representative. The right to sue and the one-year clock both matter immediately.
• Motorcycle, Pedestrian, and Disabled-Vehicle Strikes: Riders and stranded motorists on or beside the interstate are especially vulnerable to a truck that drifts or fails to slow.

What to Do After a Truck Wreck on I-24

Get medical care first, even if you feel fine. Adrenaline hides injuries, and brain injuries, spinal injuries, and internal bleeding do not always announce themselves at the scene. If you can do so safely, photograph the vehicles, the road, any skid marks, the truck’s company name and DOT markings, license plates, and visible damage. Get the names and contact information of witnesses, and make sure the responding law enforcement agency, whether that is the Tennessee Highway Patrol or a local department, creates a crash report. Ask for the report number before you leave.

Be careful with the insurance company. The trucking company’s carrier will often call within a day or two, sound sympathetic, and ask for a recorded statement. You are not required to give one, and the things you say in a casual conversation can be used later to argue that you were partly at fault. Tennessee follows modified comparative fault, which means you can recover only if you are less than 50 percent at fault, and any award is reduced by your share. Insurers know this and look for ways to push that percentage up.

Do not wait on the deadline. Most personal injury lawsuits in Tennessee must be filed within one year of the injury. That period can extend to two years if criminal charges are brought against the person who caused the injury and the prosecution starts within that first year, but you should not plan around that exception. Wrongful death claims use the same one-year period, measured from the date of the injury rather than the date of death. Property damage claims have a three-year window. If the injured person was a minor at the time, the period is generally paused until age 18.

Our attorneys move quickly on the evidence that disappears. That means sending preservation demands for the electronic logging data, engine data, driver qualification file, dispatch records, post-crash drug and alcohol testing, and dash camera video, and arranging for the truck itself to be inspected before it is repaired or sold. If the case requires a lawsuit, Tennessee state civil cases are filed in circuit court in the county where the case belongs, and cases involving diverse parties or federal issues may belong in the United States District Court for the Eastern, Middle, or Western District of Tennessee depending on the location of the crash and the defendant. We evaluate which forum is best early in the case.

How Damages Work in a Tennessee Truck Accident Claim

Economic damages, meaning medical bills, lost wages, reduced earning capacity, and future care costs, are not capped in Tennessee. Noneconomic damages for pain, suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life are generally limited to $750,000, rising to $1 million for a defined catastrophic loss. Catastrophic loss 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. The jury decides whether a catastrophic loss occurred through a special verdict, and the jury is not told about the cap, which the court applies afterward.

Those caps are lifted in certain circumstances, including when the defendant intentionally caused the injury, was intoxicated to the point of substantially impaired judgment, destroyed evidence, or was convicted of a related felony. That is one reason evidence of impairment and evidence preservation matter so much in a trucking case. Punitive damages are available in the right case and are limited to the greater of two times compensatory damages or $500,000.

Insurance limits shape these cases too. Tennessee’s minimum liability coverage for ordinary drivers is low, at $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident for bodily injury, but commercial carriers typically carry much more, and part of our work is identifying every policy that could apply, including those held by the carrier, the broker, a shipper, or a contractor. Your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage can also come into play.

Questions People Ask About I-24 Truck Accident Claims

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

Generally one year from the date of the injury. In a death case, the year also runs from the date of the injury that led to the death, not the date the person died. Because trucking evidence disappears quickly, you should talk to an attorney well before the deadline approaches.

Who can be sued after an I-24 truck crash?

Possibly several parties: the driver, the trucking company, a company that leased the truck or hired the driver as a contractor, the shipper or loader, a maintenance contractor, or a parts manufacturer. Which ones apply depends on the evidence. Tennessee has abolished joint and several liability in most negligence cases and allows fault to be assigned to nonparties, so identifying everyone who contributed matters.

What if I was partly at fault for the crash?

You can still recover as long as your share of fault is under 50 percent, though the amount is reduced by your percentage. At 50 percent or more, the claim is barred. Carriers often try to argue that an injured driver braked suddenly or changed lanes unsafely, so a thorough reconstruction of the crash is important.

What evidence is most likely to be lost if I wait?

Electronic logging data, engine control module data, dash camera video, dispatch communications, and post-accident testing records can all be overwritten or discarded on routine schedules. Skid marks and debris disappear from the roadway quickly, and a truck may be repaired or returned to service. A preservation letter sent early puts the company on notice that it must keep these records.

Do I need a lawyer for a truck accident, or can I deal with the insurer myself?

If the injuries are minor and fully resolved, you might handle a simple claim yourself. If you have significant injuries, ongoing treatment, or a death in the family, the other side has professionals working to limit the payout, and the value of these cases usually justifies hiring counsel. Our consultations are free and we are paid only if we recover compensation.

What compensation can a truck accident victim recover?

Medical expenses past and future, lost income, lost earning capacity, pain and suffering, and in death cases funeral costs and the value of the life lost. Economic damages are not capped in Tennessee, while noneconomic damages are subject to a statutory ceiling that is higher in catastrophic cases.

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

Often yes, and getting care should not wait for a settlement. Health insurers and some other payers may have a right to be repaid from a recovery, so those reimbursement claims have to be handled carefully. We work to coordinate treatment and address liens as the case moves forward.

What if the truck driver was drunk or on a phone?

Tennessee’s per se alcohol limit is 0.08 percent, and there is no per se limit for prescription drugs, though impairment can still be proven. A violation of the hands-free law is a Class C misdemeanor. Impairment can strengthen the liability case, can support punitive damages, and can remove the noneconomic damage cap, and criminal charges against the driver can extend the filing deadline to two years.

Can an out-of-state trucking company be sued in Tennessee?

Often yes, when the crash happened here. A company whose trucks drive Tennessee interstates can generally be brought into a Tennessee state court or the appropriate federal district court. Many drivers on I-24 are from other states, and we regularly handle cases involving carriers headquartered elsewhere.

What if I live out of state and was hurt on I-24?

We can handle the investigation, insurance negotiations, and court filings here while you recover at home, and we keep you updated by phone and email. You will not need to make repeated trips back to Tennessee for most steps of the case.

Can I recover if a family member was killed in a truck crash?

Yes. The right to bring a wrongful death claim passes first to the surviving spouse, then to the children or next of kin, or it can be brought by a personal representative. The recovery can include lost income, medical and funeral expenses, and the value of the life that was taken. The noneconomic cap rises to $1 million if the person who died was a parent of minor children.

Serving I-24 Truck Crash Victims From East Tennessee to Nashville and Beyond

Our work starts in East Tennessee, with clients in Knoxville and Knox County, Clinton and Anderson County, Maryville and Blount County, Sevierville, Gatlinburg, and Pigeon Forge in Sevier County, and LaFollette in Campbell County. We also represent people from Roane County, Claiborne County, Morgan County, Jefferson County, and Monroe County. Because I-24 crosses the middle of the state and connects to the other interstates that move freight through Tennessee, we also take cases from families in Nashville, Memphis, and Johnson City, and from anywhere across Tennessee. If you were hurt on I-24 while traveling through, or you live in another state and your accident happened here, we can review your case and explain your options.

Talk With an I-24 Truck Accident Attorney Today

If you or someone in your family was hurt or killed in a crash with a tractor-trailer, the sooner a truck accident attorney starts protecting the evidence, the better your chances of holding the right parties accountable. Call Fox, Farley, Willis & Burnette for a free consultation. You pay no attorney fees unless we recover compensation, and we can come to you at home or in the hospital if you cannot travel.