Tennessee Workplace Injury Lawyer

The employer that signs your paycheck is usually the one party you cannot sue after a job injury in Tennessee, and that single rule shapes everything about how a serious workplace case is built. Fox, Farley, Willis & Burnette is a personal injury firm that represents hurt workers and their families across Tennessee, and as a Tennessee workplace injury lawyer team, our focus is on the claims that exist beyond the workers’ compensation system: lawsuits against the negligent driver, the equipment maker, the subcontractor, or the property owner who caused the harm.

Workers’ compensation pays medical bills and a portion of lost wages, but it does not pay for pain, for the loss of a career, or for what a permanent disability takes from a person’s future. A third-party claim can. That gap in recovery is the reason a workplace injury deserves a second look before anyone assumes the benefits check is the whole story.

Where Workers’ Compensation Ends and a Third-Party Lawsuit Begins

Tennessee rebuilt its workers’ compensation system through the Workers’ Compensation Reform Act of 2013, which governs injuries on or after July 1, 2014. Under that system, an employee generally cannot bring a negligence suit against their own employer. In exchange, benefits are paid without anyone having to prove fault. It is a trade, and the trade has limits: benefits are formula-driven, and nothing in them compensates for suffering or for the full economic loss of a shattered career.

A third-party claim is a separate lawsuit against someone other than your employer whose carelessness contributed to the injury. Because it is an ordinary negligence case, the recovery can include pain and suffering and the full value of lost earning capacity. For a worker left permanently and totally disabled and unable to return to any kind of job, that difference can decide whether a family stays financially afloat.

Third parties show up more often than people expect. A delivery or commercial driver strikes a worker on a job site or while the worker is driving for the company. A manufacturer sells a harness, a guard, a lift, or a nail gun that fails. A general contractor, subcontractor, or property owner leaves a hazard in place on a construction site. A tractor-trailer crash injures someone who was on the clock. In each of these, the workers’ compensation claim and the lawsuit run side by side, and each affects the other.

That interaction is where cases are won or lost quietly. The employer or its insurer generally has a right to be repaid from your third-party recovery for benefits it already paid, so the order of events, the documentation, and the settlement structure all need coordination from the start. A careless settlement of one claim can complicate the other.

Workplace Injuries We Pursue Against Outside Parties

• Construction Site Falls and Equipment Failures: Roofers, framers, and laborers are hurt when harnesses, scaffolds, ladders, or lifts fail, or when a subcontractor or owner ignores a known hazard. Our results include $1.5 million for a roofer who suffered a traumatic brain injury in Knox County when his safety harness failed.
• On-the-Job Vehicle Crashes: Delivery drivers, sales representatives, and field workers are struck by negligent motorists while working. These cases can pair a workers’ compensation claim with a lawsuit against the at-fault driver and any insurer behind them.
• Commercial Truck and Tractor-Trailer Collisions: Workers on highways, work zones, and loading areas are exposed to heavy trucks. Driver logs, maintenance records, and electronic data can vanish quickly, so preservation requests need to go out early.
• Defective Machinery and Safety Gear: When a press, saw, conveyor, harness, or protective device is poorly designed or built, the manufacturer and sometimes the distributor can answer for the injury, even though your employer cannot.
• Multi-Employer Job Sites: Plants, warehouses, and construction projects often involve several companies at once. A contractor’s careless work can injure another company’s employee, which opens a path to a claim against that contractor.
• Traumatic Brain and Spinal Cord Injuries: Head trauma, paralysis, and amputations at work change a person’s ability to earn for life. These are the cases where the gap between workers’ compensation and a full damages recovery is widest.
• Wrongful Death on the Job: When a worker is killed because of an outside party’s negligence, the family may pursue a wrongful death claim in addition to survivor benefits. Our 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.
• Premises Hazards at Another Company’s Property: Workers making deliveries, repairs, or service calls are hurt by unsafe floors, poor lighting, or unguarded openings at a property they do not work for, which can support a premises liability claim against the owner.

What to Do After You Are Hurt at Work in Tennessee

Get medical care first, and tell the provider the injury happened at work so it is recorded that way. Report the injury to your employer promptly and in writing if you can; delay gives an insurer room to question whether the injury was work related. Keep copies of what you submit and what you receive back.

Then think about who else was involved. Write down the names of every company on the site, the driver’s information if a vehicle was involved, and the make and model of any equipment that failed. If you can safely do so, or if a coworker or family member can, photograph the scene, the equipment, and your injuries before anything is repaired, cleaned, or thrown away. Ask that the failed equipment be kept as it is. Equipment that gets fixed or discarded takes the best evidence of a defect with it.

The deadline matters more than most people realize. Tennessee’s statute of limitations for personal injury is one year from the date of the injury, one of the shortest in the country. It can stretch to two years if the person who caused the injury faces criminal charges for the same conduct and prosecution begins within that first year, but you should not plan around that exception. If the responsible party is a government entity, claims under the Governmental Tort Liability Act must be filed within 12 months, and recoverable damages are capped. Wrongful death follows the same clock, and it starts on the date of the injury, not the date of death.

Be careful with the paperwork that arrives. Insurance adjusters, including those for the other company, may ask for recorded statements early. Statements given before you know the full extent of your injuries or who is responsible can be used to shift blame. Tennessee applies modified comparative fault, so you can recover only if you are less than 50 percent at fault, and your award is reduced by your share. Fault can also be assigned to parties who are not even in the lawsuit, which is why the defense often points at the injured worker.

Cases of this type are filed in the circuit court of the county where the injury happened or where the defendant is based. In Knox County that is the Knox County Circuit Court in Knoxville, and cases involving diverse out-of-state defendants or federal questions can land in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, whose Northern Division sits in Knoxville. We handle the filing and the venue decision so you do not have to.

Why Choose Fox, Farley, Willis & Burnette for a Workplace Injury Claim

Clients work with us on terms that remove the financial barrier at the outset. Consultations are free, there are no attorney fees in a personal injury case unless we recover compensation for you, 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, which matters on job sites where many injured workers are more comfortable explaining what happened in their own language.

Our attorneys bring more than 170 years of combined experience, and the firm has recovered over $100 million for clients. Two of our partners began their careers defending insurance companies, trucking companies, and businesses, so they know how a defense team values a claim and where it tries to find weaknesses. That perspective is especially useful in third-party cases, where several companies and insurers each try to point at someone else.

Bruce D. Fox, co-founder, has tried more than 125 jury trials in state and federal court, belongs to the American Board of Trial Advocates, received the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association Lifetime Achievement Award in 2025, and served on the Tennessee Advisory Council on Workers’ Compensation from 2008 to 2021, so he knows the workers’ compensation system from the policy side as well as the courtroom. Partner Brad C. Burnette holds an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell and sits on the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association Board of Governors. Partner John Willis also serves on that board and is a past president of the Anderson County Bar Association. Our attorneys are regularly voted among Knoxville’s Top Attorneys by CityView Magazine.

Results tell the story better than adjectives. Beyond the roofer’s brain injury case and the Morgan County wrongful death recovery, our attorneys secured $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.

Frequently Asked Questions About Tennessee Workplace Injury Claims

Can I sue my employer after a work injury in Tennessee?

In most cases, no. Workers’ compensation is generally the only remedy against your own employer. But if someone else, such as a negligent driver, an equipment manufacturer, or another contractor, contributed to your injury, you may have a lawsuit against that party.

What is a third-party claim?

It is a negligence lawsuit against someone other than your employer. Because it is not a workers’ compensation claim, it can include pain and suffering and the full value of lost earning capacity, which benefits under the compensation system do not cover.

How long do I have to file?

Most Tennessee personal injury lawsuits must be filed within one year of the injury. The period can extend to two years when the person who caused the injury is criminally charged for the same conduct and the prosecution starts within a year. Claims against governmental entities have their own 12-month rule.

Does a workers’ compensation claim stop me from filing a lawsuit against someone else?

No. You can pursue both. The two claims run on separate tracks, though they affect each other, so they should be managed together from the beginning.

Will my employer’s insurer be repaid from my lawsuit recovery?

Generally, yes. The employer or its insurer usually has a right to reimbursement from a third-party recovery for benefits it already paid. That is why timing and settlement structure need care.

What if I was partly at fault?

You can still recover if you are less than 50 percent at fault, but your award is reduced by your percentage. At 50 percent or more, the claim is barred, so defendants often try to push blame onto the injured worker.

Are there limits on how much I can recover?

Tennessee generally caps noneconomic damages, such as pain and suffering, at $750,000, rising to $1 million for a defined catastrophic injury such as paraplegia or quadriplegia, the loss of two limbs, or severe burns. Economic damages like medical bills and lost income are not capped. The caps do not apply in certain situations, including when a defendant was intoxicated or intentionally caused the harm.

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

Yes, when an outside party’s negligence caused the death. The right of action generally passes to the surviving spouse, then to the children or next of kin, or to the personal representative. The one-year clock runs from the date of the injury that led to the death.

What if the injury happened in a truck crash while I was driving for work?

You may have a workers’ compensation claim and a separate lawsuit against the at-fault driver or company. Tractor-trailer cases call for quick preservation of driver logs, maintenance records, and electronic data.

I was hurt on a job site run by several companies. Who is responsible?

It depends on who controlled the hazard. A subcontractor, general contractor, or property owner may share responsibility, and Tennessee allows fault to be allocated among parties, even those not named in the suit. Identifying every company on site early is part of building the case.

What 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.

Can you help if I was hurt at work but live far from your attorneys?

Yes. We represent clients across Tennessee and can meet you at home or in the hospital if your injuries make travel difficult.

Serving Workplace Injury Clients Across East Tennessee and the State

We represent injured workers throughout Knox County, including Knoxville and the communities around it, and across Anderson County, from Clinton and Oak Ridge into the surrounding towns. Our clients also come from Blount County, including Maryville, and Sevier County, including Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, and Gatlinburg, where construction, hospitality, and tourism employers keep job sites busy year round. We serve Campbell County, including LaFollette, along with Roane, Claiborne, Morgan, Jefferson, and Monroe counties.

Beyond East Tennessee, we represent workers from Johnson City, Nashville, Memphis, and the towns in between. Where your injury happened, and which employers and equipment were involved, determines the court and the strategy, and we will review the facts and explain your options wherever you live in the state.

Talk With a Tennessee Workplace Injury Attorney Today

If you were hurt on the job and suspect someone other than your employer is to blame, the one-year deadline is already running. Fox, Farley, Willis & Burnette offers free consultations, and as a Tennessee workplace injury attorney team, we will tell you honestly whether a third-party claim exists and what it could add to your workers’ compensation benefits. Call us to talk through what happened, and we will start there.