Truck Accident Claims in Tennessee

Tennessee's Department of Safety must adopt safety rules for motor carriers holding interstate or intrastate permits, for commercial vehicles of 10,001 pounds or more (or designed to carry more than 15 passengers), and for any vehicle carrying hazardous materials, and may inspect them. The statute says federal rules in 49 CFR parts 390-397 do not apply to intrastate property-carrying vehicles of 26,000 pounds or less (except placarded hazardous materials and vehicles for 16 or more passengers), but that subsection takes effect only after a federal funding assurance. For interstate trucks, federal minimum insurance is set in 49 CFR 387.9.

Modified comparative fault (50% bar). The damages statute provides that recovery of any damages is barred if the plaintiff's comparative fault (or in a wrongful death case, the fault of the person who died) is equal to or greater than 50%. Noneconomic damages are apportioned among multiple defendants by their percentage of fault.

Noneconomic damages (such as pain and suffering and family members' loss of consortium) are capped at $750,000 per injured plaintiff in civil actions, or $1,000,000 for catastrophic injuries (paraplegia or quadriplegia from spinal cord injury, amputation of two hands or feet or one of each, third-degree burns over 40% of the body or face, or wrongful death of a parent leaving a minor child). Economic damages are not capped. The caps do not apply if the defendant intended serious injury, intentionally destroyed or hid records to avoid liability, was impaired by alcohol or drugs, or was convicted of a felony for the conduct. The jury is not told about the caps. A further limit of $375,000 ($750,000 if catastrophic) applies, for cases filed on or after July 1, 2027, to owners of uninsured vehicles who received three or more notices of noncompliance.

One year after the cause of action accrues for injuries to the person. The deadline is two years if criminal charges are brought against the person who caused the injury (or the conduct is the subject of a criminal prosecution started within one year), and the injured person sues the person prosecuted.