LaFollette Premises Liability Lawyer

A fall at a grocery store off Jacksboro Pike or a collapsed porch step at a rental in Campbell County usually turns on one question: did the property owner know about the hazard, or should they have found it? That question, and the evidence that answers it, decides most premises cases. Fox, Farley, Willis & Burnette handles serious injury claims for people hurt on someone else’s property, and as a LaFollette premises liability lawyer team, we represent clients in LaFollette, across Campbell County, and throughout East Tennessee.

Tennessee law requires owners and operators of businesses, apartment complexes, hotels, and rental properties to keep their premises reasonably safe. They have to repair or warn about dangers they created, dangers they knew about, and dangers a reasonable inspection would have revealed. The hard part is almost never proving that someone fell. It is proving how long the spill, crack, or broken railing had been there, who was supposed to be watching for it, and why nobody did anything.

That is also where the clock matters most. Evidence in these cases disappears quickly. Surveillance video gets overwritten, a floor gets mopped, a handrail gets quietly repaired, and the inspection log for the week of your fall may not survive a routine records purge.

What to Do After a Fall or Injury on Someone Else’s Property in Campbell County

Start with medical care, even if you think you got off lightly. Hip fractures, rotator cuff tears, and concussions are common results of falls, and some of them are not obvious for a day or two. Whether you go to the emergency department at a local hospital or to a clinic, tell the provider exactly how the injury happened, because that record becomes part of your claim. If your injuries keep you from traveling, our attorneys can meet you at home or in the hospital.

While you are still at the scene, if you are physically able, take photographs of the hazard itself, the surrounding area, the lighting, and any warning signs or the lack of them. Get the names of any witnesses. Report the fall to the manager or owner and ask that an incident report be made, but be careful about what you say. Casual remarks like “I should have been watching where I was going” get repeated later when the insurance company starts assigning blame. Keep the shoes you were wearing and do not wash or discard them.

Then call a lawyer before you talk to the owner’s insurance adjuster. Adjusters often call within days and sound sympathetic while asking for a recorded statement. You are not required to give one, and what you say can be used to argue you were partly responsible. Tennessee uses 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 percentage. Insurers know this, which is why they work so hard to move a few points of blame onto you.

The most important deadline in Tennessee is short. Personal injury lawsuits generally must be filed within one year of the injury. The period can stretch to two years if criminal charges are brought against the person who caused the harm and the prosecution begins within that first year, though that is uncommon in a fall case. If a minor is hurt, the clock is tolled until the child turns 18, and then the one-year period begins. If the property belongs to a city, county, or other government entity, the Governmental Tort Liability Act applies, with a 12-month filing window and damage limits of $300,000 per person and $700,000 per occurrence. Property damage claims carry a separate three-year period.

If you or your family is in this position, we can begin preserving evidence right away, including sending letters demanding that video, maintenance records, and incident reports be kept intact.

Common Premises Liability Claims We Handle

• Slip and Fall on Wet or Slick Surfaces: Freshly mopped floors with no warning sign, tracked-in rain at store entrances, leaking coolers in grocery aisles, and icy walkways in a mountain-adjacent winter are the classic examples. The question is whether the owner had a cleaning and inspection routine and followed it.
• Trip and Fall on Broken or Uneven Surfaces: Cracked pavement in parking lots, raised sidewalk sections, potholes in shopping center lots, torn carpeting, and loose thresholds cause serious wrist, ankle, and hip injuries.
• Stairway and Railing Failures: Poorly lit stairs, missing or loose handrails, rotted deck boards, and porch steps at rental homes and apartment buildings are frequent causes of falls with spinal and head injuries.
• Inadequate Security: Property owners can be responsible when foreseeable criminal acts occur because of broken locks, dark parking areas, or ignored prior incidents at apartment complexes, motels, and businesses.
• Rental Cabin and Hotel Hazards: Hot tub and spa injuries, including bacterial infections and drain entrapment, along with carbon monoxide poisoning from gas fireplaces, furnaces, and water heaters in cabins lacking working detectors.
• Negligent Maintenance by Contractors: When a property owner hires a management company, a cleaning crew, or an HVAC contractor, more than one party may share responsibility, and fault can be allocated among all of them.
• Wrongful Death on Dangerous Property: When a fall, fire, drowning, or poisoning kills someone, Tennessee law lets the personal representative, surviving spouse, children, or next of kin pursue the claim, and the one-year period runs from the date of the injury, not the date of death.

Why Choose Fox, Farley, Willis & Burnette for a Premises Liability Case

Our firm has recovered over $100 million for injured people and families, and our attorneys bring more than 170 years of combined experience to serious injury and wrongful death claims. Two of our partners spent the early part of their careers defending insurance companies, trucking companies, and businesses. In premises cases that matters in a practical way: they know how a risk manager reads an incident report, what a defense lawyer looks for in a plaintiff’s medical history, and which arguments insurers lean on to shrink a fall claim.

Results in this area of work include $1.5 million for a roofer who suffered a traumatic brain injury in Knox County when his safety harness failed, and a $1.9 million recovery after a mother was killed and her daughter seriously injured on Dolly Parton Parkway in Sevier County. We also took a $3.4 million wrongful death case in Morgan County to resolution on behalf of a family. Every case is different, and past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

Bruce D. Fox, co-founder, has tried more than 125 jury trials in state and federal court, holds membership in the American Board of Trial Advocates, and received the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2025. Partner Brad C. Burnette carries an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell, serves on the TTLA Board of Governors, and is a graduate of the Keenan Trial Institute. Partner John Willis also serves on the TTLA Board of Governors and is a past president of the Anderson County Bar Association. Michael C. Beehan is a trial attorney fluent in Spanish, so Spanish-speaking clients can work with us in their own language.

There are no attorney fees in a personal injury case unless we recover compensation for you, and every consultation is free. When an insurer will not pay what a case is worth, our trial lawyers are prepared to put it in front of a jury.

What We Actually Do to Prove a Property Owner Was Negligent

Winning a premises case is mostly investigation. We start by identifying every party who owned, leased, managed, or maintained the property, because the name on the storefront is often not the party legally responsible. A shopping center owner, a tenant, a janitorial contractor, and a property manager may each have had a piece of the duty.

Next we go after the paper trail: inspection logs, cleaning schedules, work orders, prior complaints, earlier falls in the same spot, and employee training records. If a store claims it inspected the aisle every thirty minutes, the logs either exist or they do not. We also look for photographs and video, and we send preservation demands early because retention periods can be short.

Then we deal with the question of notice. Tennessee premises claims generally require showing the owner created the dangerous condition, actually knew about it, or that it existed long enough that a reasonable owner would have discovered it. Sometimes a pattern of similar problems or an unfollowed maintenance policy answers that without needing to pin down the exact minute a hazard appeared.

We also build the damages side of the case carefully. Economic losses such as medical bills, lost income, and future care are not capped in Tennessee. Noneconomic damages for pain and suffering are generally limited to $750,000, or $1 million for defined catastrophic injuries, and the court applies that limit after the verdict without telling the jury about it. Those limits can be lifted in situations such as when the defendant was intoxicated, intentionally caused the harm, or destroyed evidence. Punitive damages, when available, are limited to the greater of two times compensatory damages or $500,000. Documenting the long-term impact of a hip replacement, a brain injury, or a spinal injury early is what makes these numbers meaningful.

Cases that cannot be resolved by negotiation are filed in the appropriate court for the county where the injury occurred. For a LaFollette-area injury, that means Campbell County, which sits in Tennessee’s Eighth Judicial District along with Claiborne, Fentress, Scott, and Union counties. Cases can also be filed in federal court in some circumstances, such as an out-of-state defendant, in which case the Eastern District of Tennessee’s Northern Division covers Campbell County.

Frequently Asked Questions About Premises Liability Claims

How long do I have to file a premises liability lawsuit in Tennessee?

Generally one year from the date of the injury. That is one of the shortest deadlines in the country. Claims against government entities fall under a 12-month rule, and the period works differently for children and in some cases involving criminal charges.

What do I have to prove to win a slip and fall case?

You need to show that a dangerous condition existed, that the owner or operator created it, knew about it, or should have discovered it through reasonable inspection, and that the condition caused your injury and losses. Evidence of the owner’s routines, or lack of them, is often the heart of the case.

Can I recover if I was partly at fault for my fall?

Yes, as long as you are less than 50 percent at fault. Your compensation is reduced by your percentage. At 50 percent or more you are barred from recovery, which is why insurers push so hard to argue you were distracted, wearing the wrong shoes, or ignoring an obvious hazard.

What if the hazard was “open and obvious”?

Owners often argue that an obvious hazard should have been avoided. In Tennessee that argument goes to comparative fault rather than ending the case automatically, so the question becomes how much blame belongs to each side, including whether the owner should have foreseen that people would encounter the hazard anyway.

Who pays if I was hurt at a rental cabin or vacation property?

It depends on the facts. Responsibility may rest with the owner, a rental management company, a maintenance or HVAC contractor, or a manufacturer whose appliance or detector failed. Because several parties may share fault, identifying all of them early matters.

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.

The store’s insurance adjuster called me. Should I give a recorded statement?

You are not required to, and it is usually wise to talk with a lawyer first. Statements given early, before you know the extent of your injuries, tend to be used to minimize the claim or assign you a share of the blame.

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

Often yes, and using it is usually better than delaying care. Health plans and some other payers may assert reimbursement rights against a settlement, so those liens need to be identified and negotiated as part of resolving the case.

My family member died after a fall on someone else’s property. Who can bring the claim?

Under Tennessee law the right of action passes to the surviving spouse, then to the children or next of kin, and can be pursued by the personal representative. The one-year deadline runs from the date of the injury that led to the death, so waiting until after funeral arrangements and estate matters are settled can cost a family their claim.

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 specific catastrophic losses such as paraplegia, quadriplegia, certain amputations, severe burns over a large part of the body or face, or the wrongful death of a parent of minor children. Medical bills and lost earnings are not capped, and the limits can be lifted in certain circumstances such as intoxication or destruction of evidence.

Is it worth hiring a lawyer for a fall that did not seem that serious at first?

Often it is, because injuries that look minor can turn into surgeries, and the one-year deadline does not pause while you wait to see how you heal. A free consultation costs nothing and lets you find out where you stand before evidence is lost.

Can you help if I live outside Tennessee but was hurt here?

Yes. We represent visitors injured in Tennessee, handling the investigation, insurance negotiations, and court filings here while keeping you updated by phone and email wherever you live.

Serving LaFollette and Campbell County Premises Liability Clients

Our work starts in LaFollette and Campbell County, where we represent people hurt in stores, apartment complexes, restaurants, rental homes, and public places throughout the area. From LaFollette and the communities around it, we also serve clients in neighboring Claiborne County, Union County, and Anderson County, including Clinton, as well as Morgan County and Roane County.

Beyond that, we represent injured people in Knox County and Knoxville, Blount County and Maryville, and Sevier County, including Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, and Gatlinburg, where vacation rentals and attractions generate many premises claims. We also handle cases in Jefferson County and Monroe County, and we work with clients from Johnson City to Nashville to Memphis. Wherever your injury happened in Tennessee, we can review it and explain your options.

Talk With a LaFollette Premises Liability Attorney Today

If you were hurt because a property owner did not keep their premises safe, a LaFollette premises liability attorney at Fox, Farley, Willis & Burnette can review what happened, tell you honestly whether you have a claim, and begin preserving the evidence your case depends on. The consultation is free, you pay no fees unless we recover compensation, and we will come to you if getting to us is difficult. Call today to talk about your injury. Hablamos español.