Proof of Fault in Car Crashes in Tennessee

Proof of fault for a car crash is necessary to collect compensation for injuries, lost income, and property damage. Determination of fault in Tennessee, like everywhere else, must precede any judgment on liability.

Who Determines Fault
Whoever determines fault takes into account all available evidence. Because Tennessee requires drivers to have liability insurance, usually an insurance adjuster is the first to determine fault. Drivers with personal injury or property damage from car accidents may file claims with their her own insurers or third-party claims with the insurers of those at fault.

Alternatively, an injured party can file a lawsuit against the at-fault driver in civil court. If there is a lawsuit, a judge or jury determines fault.

Methods of Proof
Proof can be clear and easy. Drunk drivers in virtually all cases are obviously impaired, negligent, and liable when they collide with other vehicles. Common sense is often enough in proving fault.

Where fault may not be immediately obvious, inferences from application of rules of the road can make negotiations with insurers much easier than otherwise. Here are three instances of how such inferential proof can establish who’s at fault and liable:

Rear-End Collisions: The following driver is almost always at fault. The ability to stop safely, even abruptly, is a basic rule of the road. It’s the responsibility of the driver following to stop in time subject to a few qualifications. If the collision occurs at night and the brake lights of the vehicle rear-ended were dark or the driver of a disabled vehicle fails to remove it from the roadway, there may be a case of contributory negligence or mutual fault.
Left-Turn Accidents: When a driver makes a left turn and hits another driver coming straight down the road in the opposite lane from the opposite direction, the driver turning left is responsible or at fault for the collision. There may be extenuations to this rule of the road too. The driver going straight, if speeding unsafely or running a red light, may instead be at fault and liable.
Police Reports: For every car crash causing serious injury, the police file documented reports of their observations and findings. These reports can be helpful in proving fault. If fault is sufficiently clear, the report may so state. Any charge of a traffic law violation or finding of careless driving is good proof of fault and liability.

Comparative Fault
With the decision in McIntyre v Balentine, 833 SW2d 52 (TN 1992), Tennessee became the thirteenth state to adopt modified comparative fault. There were then 11 states with comparative fault systems where a party could be 90 percent at fault and still recover 10 percent if the other party contributed to the accident. Under Tennessee’s present comparative negligence law, an injured party can be 49 percent at fault and still recover damages from anyone at fault but not at 50 percent or more. At that point the law regards claimants as at fault and liable for their own injuries and losses.

When and Where to File Lawsuits
Statutes of limitations limit the time to bring lawsuits. In Tennessee the limit for personal injury is only one year, for property damage three years. Claimants file their lawsuit complaints in the civil division of the state circuit courts for the counties in which crashes occur.

Assistance of Counsel
Is an attorney necessary? Perhaps not to file a civil lawsuit but it makes sense to consult at least one experienced personal injury attorney of good repute before filing. Most offer free initial consultations for case evaluations. Even claimants who decide to proceed on their own can save themselves lots of time, money, and aggravation from what they learn at such consultations. In fact most ultimately decide to retain an attorney, for there is no substitute for the professional advice, advocacy, and representation of assistance of counsel, and represented claimants fare much better with insurance adjusters and in courts than do claimants of their own in the rough arena of personal injury litigation.