What Not to Say to a Personal Injury Lawyer in Tennessee (and What to Say Instead)

While our main article covers what not to say in general, three specific Tennessee laws dramatically influence how you should approach your case. Saying the wrong thing can put you on the wrong side of these rules, potentially costing you your entire claim.

1. Tennessee’s Modified Comparative Fault Rule (The 49% Rule)

Tennessee follows a modified comparative fault system, often called the “49% rule.” This law, found in Tenn. Code Ann. § 20-1-119, dictates that you can only recover damages if a court finds you to be 49% or less at fault for the accident. If you are found 50% or more responsible, you are legally barred from recovering any compensation. 1

• Local Example: For instance, imagine a collision at a busy urban intersection where one driver ran a red light, but the other was slightly over the speed limit. If the other driver ran a red light but you were going slightly over the speed limit, their insurance company will argue your speed contributed to the crash. If they can convince a jury that your speeding made you 50% responsible, you get nothing. This is why you should never admit any degree of fault to an adjuster.

2. The Strict One-Year Statute of Limitations

Tennessee has one of the shortest statutes of limitations in the nation for personal injury cases: one year from the date of the accident. 2 This means you have only 12 months to either settle your claim or file a lawsuit in the appropriate court, such as the Shelby County Circuit Court for a Memphis-area crash. If you miss this deadline, your claim is permanently lost, no matter how strong it is.

• Why This Matters: Insurance adjusters know about this deadline. They may delay responding, ask for unnecessary documents, or make a lowball offer close to the deadline, hoping you’ll run out of time. It is critical to contact a Tennessee injury lawyer well before the one-year mark.

3. Caps on Non-Economic Damages

In Tennessee, the law places a cap on the amount of non-economic damages you can recover. These are damages for intangible losses like pain, suffering, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment of life. For most personal injury cases, this amount is capped at $750,000. 3

While the cap can be raised to $1,000,000 in catastrophic situations (e.g., paralysis, severe burns, or the loss of a parent for a minor child), it still imposes a limit. Saying things that downplay your pain or emotional trauma gives the insurer leverage to argue your non-economic damages are minimal and not worth a high-value settlement, even under the cap.