In Tennessee, there are no caps on the amount of economic damages, which are the countable losses you sustained in the accident. You are able to collect the full amount of your hospitalization, surgeries, follow-up visits, assistive devices, costs of remodeling or renovating your home to accommodate a disability (such as installing a wheelchair ramp or widening doorways), lost wages, lost work bonuses and opportunities for advancement, lost future income, and any costs you paid out of pocket related to your injury.
However, the State of Tennessee does place caps on non-economic damages, commonly known as pain and suffering. These damages are meant to compensate a victim for any losses not directly related to lost income or medical expenses, including loss of consortium or lost enjoyment of life.
Maximum Compensation for Pain and Suffering in Tennessee Injury Cases
Depending on the specifics of your personal injury lawsuit, you could be awarded a maximum of:
- $750,000. In most injury cases, pain and suffering damages are limited to $750,000. These are paid in addition to the full amount of economic damages.
- $1,000,000. The state does allow an additional $250,000 in non-economic damages in cases involving severe or permanent injury. In order to raise the cap to $1,000,000, the victim must have suffered paralysis from a spinal cord injury, severe burns, amputation, or death of a parent with an underage child.
- $300,000. If you are filing an injury or wrongful death claim against the State of Tennessee itself, you will only be able to collect $300,000 in total damages (both economic and non-economic).
The Tennessee Supreme Court reaffirmed the cap in 2020 after an injury victim was awarded $930,000 in non-economic damages in a jury trial. As long as the statutory cap is upheld, the most a victim will be able to get for non-economic damages is $750,000—regardless of how much they are awarded by a jury.
If you aren’t sure how much you could be owed after an accident, contact the Franklin personal injury lawyers at GriffithLaw today through our online form or give us a call at (615) 807-7900. We explain all costs to you and work to secure a settlement that will allow you to put your accident behind you.
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