Memphis Catastrophic Injury Lawyers

After a serious accident, you may need medical care and rehabilitation. You may also need to make alterations to your home to accommodate a disability. Your relationship with your spouse and family may change to accommodate your reduced activity level. These injuries may result from a motor vehicle or truck accident, an incident of medical malpractice, a defective product, a dog bite, or a dangerous property condition, among other situations.

Often, these accidents happen because of someone else’s negligence. To establish negligence, you will need to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that a defendant owed you a duty to use reasonable care, and their failure to meet that duty was the legal cause of your injuries. If you can establish negligence per se, the focus may shift to damages. Negligence per se is negligence as a matter of law, and it can apply when there is a violation of a safety statute, regulation, or ordinance, the violation was the legal cause of the plaintiff’s injury, and the injury is of the type that the law was intended to prevent.

Often, defendants try to allege comparative fault by the plaintiff. Tennessee, for example, follows a rule of modified comparative negligence, in which a plaintiff’s damages are reduced by their degree of fault for the accident, assuming the fault is 49% or less.

Damages tend to be sizeable in a case involving serious injuries. Noneconomic damages include pain and suffering, mental anguish, and loss of consortium. Economic damages include medical bills, household adjustments, household services, rehabilitation, lost wages, and prescriptions. A victim who has sustained a life-altering injury may recover for the cost of future medical treatment that will be needed.

Each state has its own statute of limitations rules. Most personal injury lawsuits need to be filed within a year of the accident in Tennessee, although medical malpractice lawsuits have a different statute of limitations. It is important to immediately consult an experienced attorney to make sure that you are not prevented from bringing your claim.