Plaintiffs who bring negligence and personal injury claims in court are often focused on gathering all of the evidence possible to show that the defendant is guilty of having caused harm. Often, in these cases, the actual injury suffered by the plaintiff becomes secondary. While proving an injury may seem…
Gun ownership is an issue about which many Tennesseans feel passionately. While individuals may disagree about when and where individuals should be allowed to have guns, all agree that gun owners have a responsibility to use their guns safely. Recently, a case in the Tennessee Court of Appeals raised a…
Rarely is the identity of a defendant more important than when the defendant is a governmental actor. Many states, including Tennessee, have developed unique rules and requirements that apply to personal injury claims brought against governmental actors, in large part to protect them from liability. Since governments provide such a…
When an individual passes away due to another party’s negligence, the law provides that the decedent’s claim for damages should not simply disappear. Instead, two types of potential claims can be brought in response to the death. In some states, the decedent’s claim passes to immediate relatives like a spouse…
In a premises liability case, a plaintiff must establish that the defendant had either actual or constructive knowledge of the dangerous condition that led to the accident. Actual knowledge occurs when the defendant observed the dangerous condition or created it. Constructive knowledge arises when the defendant should have known about…
Landlords owe a duty of reasonable care to their tenants. If a landlord knows that his or her property has a dangerous condition like a faulty railing or exposed electrical wire, there is a duty to correct such a known dangerous condition or face possible legal repercussions down the road.…
In the most recent in a series of premise liability cases that have recently come before the Tennessee Court of Appeals, the Court recently reversed a grant of summary judgment on a slip-and-fall accident case. The case centered on an issue common to many premise liability disputes: whether the defendant,…
If you have recently gone to an amusement park, played a group sport, or rented a mountain bike, you likely signed a waiver before you were allowed to participate in any of those activities. That waiver informed you of your rights and asked you to assume the risk of the…
Prison settings are a common place for negligence claims to arise. Since prisons are responsible for the individuals who are in their care, it is easier for a plaintiff to establish that the prison owed a duty to protect the plaintiff from harm. However, even when an accident or injury…
Tennessee’s Governmental Tort Liability Act governs how and when government agencies can be held liable for torts that may occur on their property or that have been committed by their employees. Under the GTLA, government agencies are generally immune from suit when injuries result from the government doing its job,…