If you have been seriously injured due to someone’s negligence, then contacting an experienced Tennessee personal injury lawyer should be a top priority due to the time limits the law puts on these types of cases. If you need to file a civil lawsuit, Tennessee law places time limits on how long you can wait to file the lawsuit, no matter what type of case it is. This time limit is called the Statute of Limitations. For example, with most contract dispute lawsuits, there is a 6 year time limit to file a lawsuit based upon a breach of the terms of the contract. For personal injury lawsuits, the statute of limitations is 1 year. The personal injury lawyers at Robert Bates & Associates want to stress that contacting an injury lawyer as soon as possible is very important due to the 1 year time limit.
Statute of Limitations Law
The statute of limitations for personal injury actions in Tennessee is generally provided for in the Tennessee Code Section 28-3-104. If a lawsuit for personal injuries is not filed within 1 year from the date of the injury (certain exceptions apply below) then the injured plaintiff will be forever barred in receiving monetary compensation for their pain and suffering, lost wages, and unpaid medical bills. This statute of limitations applies to cases such as car and truck accidents, pedestrian accidents, slip and falls and other premise liability cases, defective and dangerous products, medical malpractice, intentional torts, among others. The 1 year statute applies to any case relying upon the negligence theory of fault.
Exceptions to the Rule
As with most rules, there are exceptions to the 1 year statute of limitations, but these exceptions are rare. This very short time limit will apply to almost all cases and is one of the shortest statute of limitations for these types of cases in the United States. In most other states, the time limit for personal injury cases is 2 to 3 years, in general. However, in Tennessee, there are certain facts that might extend the running of the statute of limitations due to certain facts of the case:
● Plaintiff is a minor – An injured child has the right to wait until they are 18 years old to sue the liable party. The one-year deadline starts running on their 18th birthday.
● Certain medical malpractice cases: Usually, a medical malpractice case has a statute of limitations of 1 year. However, the time frame does not begin to start until the plaintiff knew or reasonably should have known that a medical error occurred that caused injury. With some medical malpractice cases, the injured patient does not learn of the malpractice until well after the events surrounding the cases.
● The Defendant maliciously withholds, conceals, or misrepresents evidence: This extension would apply in cases where the responsible, negligent party prevented the plaintiff from learning of the negligence due to some type of subterfuge or intentional concealment of the facts.
The main point to make with this blog post is to stress that it is extremely important to contact a law firm who focuses their legal practice on representing injured plaintiffs as soon as possible. Even if you are unsure you have a valid personal injury case, just call us and we can answer all of your questions and file a lawsuit within the time limits, if necessary.
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