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The statute of limitations for personal injury claims in Tennessee is set forth in Tennessee Code Ann. Code § 28-3-104 which provides that any action involving “injuries to the person” shall be brought “within one (1) year after the cause of action accrued.” Tennessee Code Ann. Code § 28-3-104(a)(1). Generally, the cause of action accrues when the person is injured. Thus, inTennessee, unless an exception exists, a party generally has one year from the date they are injured to file a personal injury complaint. If no exception exists, failure to file within one year of your injury will forever bar your claim under the statute of limitations in Tennessee.  Because of Tennessee’s short statut of limitations, you should promptly speak to a personal injury attorney after your injury and initial treatment. 

Types of Cases Applying the Statute of Limitations Tennessee’s one-year statute of limitations typically applies to injured victims who were hurt in accidents or incidents, including, but not limited to, following type cases:

Car Accidents
Truck Accidents
Motorcycle Accidents
Slip & Fall
Burn Injuries
Dog Bites
Boating Accidents
Wrongful Death
Brain and Spinal Cord Injuries
Birth Injuries
Negligent Security
Exceptions to Statute of Limitations for Personal
Injury Cases in Tennessee

The Discovery Rule
There are some types of injuries that may not be apparent right away after the accident. Under the discovery rule in Tennessee, the statute of limitations shall not begin to run until an injury victim becomes aware of their injury, or should have become aware.

The Defendant Is Absent
If after a goof faith effort, the defendant cannot be found and served with process, you may have grounds to toll the statute. If you can convince the court, you made a good faith effort to locate the defendant, but could not, you may be able to toll the statute until they can be found.  Tenn. Code Ann. §28-1-111.

Injury Victim Is a Minor
If cases where the injured victim is a minor, the statute of limitation does not begin to run. until the victim reaches age 18, then they have one year to a personal injury lawsuit. Tenn. Code Ann. §28-1-106.

The Injury Victim Has a Mental Disability
If the injury victim suffers from a disability that deprives him or her of the ability to make sound decisions concerning
legal action may be ruled mentally incompetent by a Tennessee court.  Tenn. Code Ann. §28-1-106.

If you have been injured, contact Timothy L. Miles, a nationally known, experienced, and knowledgeable personal injury attorney in Nashville for a no-risk, Free Case Evaluation.

​In a personal injury lawsuit, plaintiffs can get compensation for certain types of damages related to their injuries. There are several different types of damages you could get in a personal injury lawsuit.  Some are “economic” and tied to specific costs incurred in after of an injury, and “noneconomic,” which are more subjective, such as pain and suffering.

Medical Bills
This can include tests, treatment, hospital stays, and outpatient care to address immediate injuries. Medical care could also be required on an ongoing basis, especially if there are serious or permanent injuries. Overall, this can be expensive. The injured can face medical bills that are thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. Damages assessed against the defendant in a settlement or trial should, ideally, cover all of this.

Lost Wages
You were injured and you had to miss work. Whether it’s the loss of a few days or the inability to work going forward, you could be entitled to compensation for those lost wages.

Pain and Suffering
This is calculated and awarded based on the amount of the pain and suffering the plaintiff endured — your type of injury and what medical treatment was required. The plaintiff will need to have as much evidence as possible to prove the impact of an injury caused by the negligence of another.

Medical records, which can show diagnoses, prescriptions, clinical visits and hospital stays, are a major way of showing both the extent and duration of recovery from an injury. This only works, though, if you are proactive about your treatment and communicate with your physician in a comprehensive manner. It can also be helpful to take photos and videos of your injuries and keep written records of your symptoms.

In gathering sufficient evidence that accurately represents your condition, you are providing information the court (or even an insurance adjuster) could use to estimate how much money you should get for pain and suffering. In court there generally isn’t a single, standard calculation used to assess a dollar amount on pain and suffering, although you will read about a “multiplier” calculation. In fact, a jury could award compensation for pain and suffering based on fairly subjective factors, such as the credibility of the plaintiff’s testimony and whether they even like the plaintiff. Having records and related evidence can help bolster your case for pain and suffering compensation in the face of these subjective factors.

Emotional Distress
This type of compensation is related to an injured person’s mental and emotional state following an accident. Depending on the nature of the accident, a personal injury victim could suffer anything from anxiety and depression to severe mental trauma, such as post-traumatic stress disorder. Acquiring damages from emotional distress typically requires you to have comprehensive and accurate records from your therapist, psychologist, or psychiatrist, as well as a diagnosis of a specific psychiatric condition.

Wrongful Death
The compensation provided by an award of damages for wrongful death can help ease the financial burdens associated with the loss of a loved one. Compensation awarded is designed to cover the lost income, leftover bills, and funeral expenses survivors face because of the death of their family member. It is also designed to help compensate for less specifically quantifiable aspects of a wrongful death, such as the sudden and unnecessary loss of someone’s spouse or parent. For example, laws will generally refer to this as something like “lost parental companionship, instruction, and guidance” for children who survive their parents.

Loss of Consortium
If you are injured to such an extent that you can’t truly carry on a complete relationship with your spouse or partner (or vice versa) — or one of you were killed in an accident — you could be eligible for compensation for loss of consortium (AKA “loss of companionship”).

Punitive Damages
Plaintiffs in certain states could be eligible for punitive damages, a type of award that punishes defendants whose injurious actions were particularly egregious. This differentiates this type of compensation from other damages, which are primarily designed to make the injured plaintiff whole again. Not only does a punitive damages award punish the defendant, but it also can serve as a deterrent that dissuades other parties and companies from engaging in similar activity. For the court to award such compensation to a plaintiff, the actions must have been either intentional or the result of wanton and willful misconduct.

Was It Wrongful Termination?
Wrongful termination occurs when an employee is fired illegally. The vast majority of states are what are called “at-will employment states.” In an at-will employment state, an employer can terminate an employee without providing cause or justification.
The termination is illegal when an employee is fired because of discriminatory practices in the workplace, when a company violates public policy in the process of terminating the employee, or when a company's own guidelines for termination were not followed.
What Constitutes Wrongful Termination?
Discrimination
Firing someone because of their race, color, national origin, sex, pregnancy, religion, age (40+), disability, citizenship status, or genetic information, violated federal law. In addition, states have their own discrimination statutes.  For example, Tennessee bans businesses with at least eight employees from discriminating on the basis of race, national origin, sex, pregnancy, religion, creed, age (40+), and disability (physical, mental, or visual impairment). Tenn. Code Ann.§ 4-21-401 (2016).
Breach of Contract
In a terminated employee can show the existence of an implied contract for permanent employment, along with a termination that lacked proper cause, then they can sue for wrongful termination for breach of contact. Implied employment contracts that are based on statements contained in an employee handbook made by the employer may also provide protection to an employee from at-will termination.
Retaliation
It is illegal for you company to fire you because you filed a complaint against them or were a whistleblower who exposed the company’s wrong doing.
Workers Compensation
Employers may not terminate an employee for filing a workers’ compensation claim.  To have an action for wrongful termination, the employee much show he would not have been termination absent filing a working compensation claim.
Protected Time Off
Both federal and state law mandate that employees have the legal right to take time of from work under certain protected situations.  It is illegal for an employer to fire, demote, or otherwise discipline an employee from exercising these rights. Examples of protected time off includes jury duty, leave to vote, military leave and leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act.
 
If you feel you were wrongfully terminated, contact us today.

Unless an exception exists, the general rule is that the proceeds received from most personal injury cases are exempt from both federal and state taxes. It is irrelevant for tax purposes whether you received a settlement pre-filing or after filing a complaint or obtained a judgment at trial. Neither the state or federal government can tax your settlement or verdict.

The Federal tax code excludes damages received as a result of personal physical injuries or physical sickness from a taxpayer’s gross income.
Therefore, personal injury damages intended to compensate the claimant for damages such as medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of consortium, and attorney fees are not taxable as long as they come from a personal injury or a physical sickness.

The Exceptions to the General Rule
Punitive Damages

Unlike typical injuries intended to compensate the victim which are not subject to taxation, punitive damages are meant to punish the wrongdoer. An award of punitive damages is taxable and must be reported as “Other Income” on line 8z of Form 1040.  Your personal injury lawyer will want to get an order from the court separating out the awards, in order to prove to the IRS that part of the verdict was compensatory, and thus, not taxable.
​
Emotional Injury Claims 
As noted above, only injuries associated with a physical injury are non-taxable.  Thus, suffering emotional distress without any physical injury is taxable.  For example, you receive damages as a result of witnessing someone else’s injury.  For this amount of the damages, you will have to pay taxes. However, the amount you must include is reduced by: (1) amounts paid for medical expenses attributable to emotional distress or mental anguish not previously deducted and (2) previously deducted medical expenses for such distress and anguish that did not provide a tax benefit.

Interest
Interest on any settlement is generally taxable as “Interest Income” and should be reported on line 2b of Form 1040.

Lost Wages in Employment Suit
You may have to pay federal taxes on any part of your settlement awarded for lost wages in an employment-related lawsuit because these are viewed as taxable wages.

Interest on a Settlement
If you receive interest on any settlement, this is also taxable as Interest Income on Form 1040.
​
If you have been injured, contact Timothy L. Miles, a nationally known, experienced, and knowledgeable personal injury attorney in Nashville for a no-risk, Free Case Evaluation.

The toxic baby formula lawsuits involve claims for defective products against the manufacturers.  Specifically, that their products failed to warn parents of the associated health risks of the bad formula, which caused unsuspecting parents to give it to their prematurely born children.  As your toxic baby formula will explain, a product liability lawsuit must be filed within a period of time designated by each state called statutes of limitations. In a majority of states, the time period does not start to run until the plaintiff who was injured discovered or should have discovered his or her injury, under the "discovery rule" which tools the start of the statute of limitations until the plaintiff actually discovers they were injured.  In a few states the time begins to run when the injury actually occurred.  

For example, your baby could have consumed toxic baby formula but you did not realize he was injured by doing so until sometime later when he developed NEC. Finally, some states have also enacted statutes of repose, which bar actions that are not brought within a specified period of time after some event has occurred, such as the initial sale of a product.
​
A State-by-State Comparison of the Statutes of Limitations for Product Liability Claims
 

• Alabama             

An action must be brought within two years from the time when the injury is or should have been discovered.
 

• Alaska  

An action must be brought within two years from the time when the injury is or should have been discovered.
 

• Arizona

An action must be brought within two years from the time when the injury is or should have been discovered. The state has enacted a 12-year statute of repose that begins to run once the product is first sold. The statute of repose does not apply to actions based on negligence or breach of warranty.
 

• Arkansas             

An action must be brought within three years from the time when the injury is or should have been discovered.
 

• California            

An action must be brought within two years from the time when the injury is or should have been discovered.
 

• Colorado             

An action must be brought within two years from the time when the injury is or should have been discovered.
 

• Connecticut       

An action must be brought within two three years from the time when the injury is or should have been discovered. The state has enacted a 10-year statute of repose that begins to run once the manufacturer or seller has last parted with the product.
 

• Delaware            

An action must be brought within two years from the time when the injury is or should have been discovered.
 

• District of Columbia       

An action must be brought within three years from the time when the injury is or should have been discovered.
 

• Florida 

An action must be brought within four years from the time when the injury is or should have been discovered. The state has enacted a 12-year statute of repose, subject to various exceptions.
 

• Georgia

An action must be brought within two years from the time when the injury is or should have been discovered or one year from the date on which death has occurred. The state has enacted a 10-year statute of repose, subject to various exceptions.
 

• Hawaii  

An action must be brought within two years from the time when the injury is or should have been discovered.
 

• Idaho   

An action must be brought within two years of the date on which the injury occurred. The state has enacted a 10-year statute of repose, subject to various exceptions.
 

• Illinois  

An action must be brought within two years of the date on which the injury occurred. The state has enacted a 12-year statute of repose that begins to run once the product is sold and a 10-year statute of repose that begins to run once the product is delivered to the first owner.
 

• Indiana

An action must be brought within two years of the date on which the injury occurred. The state has enacted a 10-year statute of repose.
 

• Iowa     

An action must be brought within two years of the date on which the injury occurred.
 

• Kansas 

An action must be brought within two years of the date on which the injury occurred.
 

• Kentucky            

An action must be brought within one year of the date on which the injury occurred. If injury, death, or property damage does not occur within eight years of the product's use, then this creates a rebuttable presumption that the product does not contain a defect.
 

• Louisiana            

An action must be brought within one year of the date on which the injury occurred. This statute does not apply to minors.
 

• Maine  

An action must be brought within six years of the date on which the injury occurred.
 

• Maryland            

An action must be brought within three years of the date on which the injury occurred.
 

• Massachusetts

An action must be brought within three years of the date on which the injury occurred.
 

• Michigan             

An action must be brought within two years of the date on which the injury occurred. If a product is in use for more than 10 years, then liability cannot be based on strict liability.
 

• Minnesota         

An action must be brought within four years of the date on which the injury occurred.
 

• Mississippi         

An action must be brought within two years of the date on which the injury occurred.
 

• Missouri              

An action must be brought within five years of the date on which the injury occurred.
 

• Montana            

An action must be brought within three years of the date on which the injury occurred.
 

• Nebraska            

An action must be brought within four years of the date on which the injury occurred. The state has enacted a 10-year statute of repose, which begins to run from the date in which a product is first sold.
 

• Nevada

An action must be brought within four years of the date on which the injury occurred.
 

• New Hampshire

An action must be brought within three years of the date on which the injury occurred, except where a legal duty has been imposed by the government, in which case the action must be brought within six years. The state has enacted a 12-year statute of repose, which begins to run once the product is manufactured and sold.
 

• New Jersey        

An action must be brought within two years of the date on which the injury occurred.
 

• New Mexico      

An action must be brought within three years of the date on which the injury occurred.
 

• New York            

An action must be brought within three years of the date on which the injury occurred.
 

• North Carolina  

An action must be brought within six years from the date of the initial purchase.
 

• North Dakota    

An action must be brought within 10 years from the date of the initial purchase or within 11 years of the date of manufacture.
 

• Ohio     

An action must be brought within two years of the date on which the injury occurred.
 

• Oklahoma          

An action must be brought within two years of the date on which the injury occurred.
 

• Oregon

An action must be brought within two years of the date on which the injury occurred. The state has enacted an eight-year statute of repose.
 

• Pennsylvania    

An action must be brought within two years of the date on which the injury occurred.
 

• Rhode Island     

An action must be brought within three years of the date on which the injury occurred.
 

• South Carolina  

An action must be brought within three years of the date on which the injury occurred.
 

• South Dakota    

An action must be brought within three years of the date on which the injury occurred. The state has enacted a six-year statute of repose, which begins to run after purchase.
 

• Tennessee         

An action must be brought within four years of the date on which the injury occurred. The state has enacted a statute of repose that runs six years after an injury and 10 years after the initial purchase of a product.
 

• Texas   

An action must be brought within two years of the date on which the injury occurred.
 

• Utah     

An action must be brought within two years of the date on which the injury occurred.
 

• Vermont             

An action must be brought within three years of the date on which the injury occurred.
 

• Virginia

An action must be brought within two years of the date on which the injury occurred.
 

• Washington       

An action must be brought within two years of the date on which the injury occurred. The state has enacted a 12-year statute of repose.
 

• West Virginia     

An action must be brought within two years of the date on which the injury occurred.
 

• Wisconsin           

An action must be brought wit

By: Timothy L. Miles | Toxic Baby Formula Lawyer

The allegations in the toxic baby formula lawsuits are that the manufacturers of these products failed to warn parents of the associated health risks of the bad formula, which caused unsuspecting parents to give it to their prematurely born children.  A claim brought for a failure to warn is a products liability claim that does not allege that the product has physical flaws or defects, but rather alleges that the manufacturer failed to provide adequate warnings or instructions about the safe use of their product, and as a result they were injured due to the undisclosed risk.  Thus, families and their toxic baby formula lawyer will argue the manufacturers did not provide adequate warnings on the toxic baby formula that caused their child to develop NEC.  If successful, families can receive damages in the form of economic and non-economic losses.  These losses usually range from their medical costs and lost income to their pain and suffering and lost enjoyment of life.  Of course, this assumes a toxic baby formula lawyer determines none of the available defenses to a claim for failure to warn are available to a manufacturer.

Defenses to Failure to Warn Claims

The Risk Was Obvious

One of the more common defenses to a claim for failure to warn is that the risk was obvious to the plaintiff.  In the vast majority of jurisdictions, an obvious risk does not require a warning. For example, a box of matches would likely need a warning they may start a fire, since the plaintiff, or any other ordinary person, buying a box of matches should expect this.  However, if an ordinary prudent person would not be able to recognize the risk by using their common sense, a manufacturer most likely would not be able to use this defense.

The Misuse Was Not Foreseeable

Another defense to a failure to warn claim is that the plaintiff did not use the product in a reasonably foreseeable way.  If a consumer used a product in a completely unpredictable way, such as using a weed eater to trim your hair, the manufacturer will not be liable for failing to warn about a risk that it could not have reasonably foreseen.  On the other hand, consumers are not required to use products in the precise way that was intended by the manufacturer.  Therefore, a lack of warnings related to a predictable misuse still may expose a manufacturer to liability, if the risk related to that misuse was not obvious.

Manufacturer Knowledge and Liability
​
A manufacturer cannot just claim it had no knowledge of the risk it failed to warn about. In a failure to warn claim, actual knowledge is not required. Instead, if the manufacturer reasonably should have known about the risk, it may be held liable for the resulting injuries.  The determination of whether knowledge should be imputed to a manufacturer typically requires the consideration of the steps that a reasonable manufacturer would have taken in developing and testing its product. If these steps by a reasonable manufacturer likely would have revealed the risk, then a lack of actual knowledge caused by failing to take these steps will not be an available defense to the defendant.