Civil litigation complaint Whether your case involves a personal injury action concerning a car wreck or a suit filed to recover damages associated with a negligently constructed home, after attempts at settling a case have failed or approached the statute of limitations, the next step is to file a complaint. In Tennessee, a personal injury lawsuit begins with the filing of a Complaint by the plaintiff against the defendants. That Complaint must set out a “prima facie” case, which is a Latin expression for “at first view.” A prima-facie case is a lawsuit that makes factual allegations that support the claim being brought under Tennessee or Federal law. In other words, assuming plaintiff can prove everything that she alleges, is there law that would make the defendant(s) liable for the harm suffered by the plaintiff? In a personal injury case in Tennessee, the plaintiff’s lawyer must allege the elements of negligence. These elements include: There existed a duty between the plaintiff and defendant, the defendant breached that duty, and the plaintiff suffered a loss that was a proximate result of the defendant’s breach. (Put more simply, the Complaint in a car accident case lays out the bare facts of the accident and generally alleges injuries and other damages.) Practically, the plaintiff typically files a Complaint in the appropriate court and then the clerk of the court issues a summons and sends it back to the plaintiff’s lawyer to serve on the defendant(s) (there are fees associated with filing any personal injury lawsuit which vary according to jurisdiction). This Complaint must then be served on the defendants, by either certified mail, return receipt requested, or, as more typically is the case, by private process server or sheriff. Special and General Damages Many people ask about how their injuries translate into the more legal definition of damages. The exact terminologies can be deceptive and maybe confusing to those who are unfamiliar with the terms. The terms are inversely defined when dealing with tortuous claims as opposed to contracts to further confuse the subject. Here is a good explanation when dealing with torts: Special damages are sought in lawsuits in addition to general damages. These two types are classified as Compensatory Damages and are both designed to return persons to the position they were in prior to the alleged injury. For example, if a person was injured in an automobile accident, the victim could seek damages that would cover medical expenses, damage to the motor vehicle, and the loss of earnings now and in the future. Each of these would be classified as special damages. If the victim sought a money award for pain and suffering, mental anguish, and loss of consortium, these would be classified as general damages. Thus, special damages are based on measurable dollar amounts of actual loss, while general damages are for intangible losses that can be inferred from special damages as well as other facts surrounding the case. In this description special damages are damages that are reduced to a "sum certain" before trial. Foreseeability and Negligence A black letter rule of law is that failure to take reasonable steps to prevent unreasonable risk of injury from reasonably foreseeable accidents is negligence. Tennessee follows many jurisdictions with a balancing test to determine the extent of the precautions required. The burden of providing the precaution must not be greater than the potential harm. For example, it would be unreasonably burdensome for a merchant to hire bodyguards to personally escort patrons from the parking lot, through their store to shop and then back to the visitor’s vehicle. The cost of such precaution would be prohibitive even though it would probably guarantee the shopper's safety. However, if a business is located in an area known as a high crime area, in other words it is foreseeable based upon past acts of crime that more crime may occur, and that business takes no action whatsoever to safeguard those it has invited is probably negligent when a crime does occur and a patron is injured. Truck accidents Doing some research for a client, We found some startling statistics on truck accidents. There are more than three accidents a minute where an American is injured or killed in a truck accident. Thousands of people in this country every year are injured or lose their lives in truck accidents involving tractor-trailers, 18 wheelers, big rigs, fire engines, semi trucks, and other large commercial vehicles. Most frequently, these accidents are on highways, I-24, I-40 and I-65. Poor driving, overworked drivers that are being paid by the mile, over sized truck loads and various other unsafe practices increase the dangers in operating these heavy trucks that weigh over 80,000 lbs and the average passenger car weights approximately 3,000 pounds. No match! While working my way through law school, I worked for a trucking company and I have some idea about how these businesses are run. A lawyer must consider whether the company that hired the driver may also be responsible under the theory of negligent entrustment or negligent supervision if they failed to properly screen the truck driver before the accident or if they failed to properly train the truck driver. It is amazing how many operators of trucks are improperly trained or have unacceptable driving records. There can also be a claim for negligent maintenance, a related legal theory lawyers pursue in truck accident cases when the company and/or truck driver failed to properly maintain the truck. Some companies in the region have a horrible reputation for hitting our streets with an aging, poorly maintained fleet. In these truck accidents, 97% of fatal truck accidents are victims in passenger cars or trucks, not at-fault driver of the commercial truck. But the trucking industry is a $600 billion dollar business and these companies have many qualified truck accident lawyers at their disposal to vigorously fight personal injury claims from injured victims. We can stand up to these companies to get fair compensation for our clients who have been injured in a truck accident. We will look at logbooks, receipts and other crucial evidence to find the evidence to bring about a just result. If you have recently suffered a personal injury that was the fault of someone else and are interested in filing a claim call our Murfreesboro, TN Law Office at 615-893-1239 to schedule a Free Consultation. We’ve dealt with many personal injury cases and can help you with yours. |
Everyone at one time or another gets hurt. But it’s not always our fault that we got hurt. Often someone else may be responsible. If that is the case then you may want to file a personal injury claim. Here is some basic information regarding such claims.