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The most recent Tennessee judiciary
annual report
was published providing statistics for the 2013 – 2014 fiscal year for
Tennessee cases. This is another in a
series of posts where I will discuss the interesting statistics found in this
report. Today I will discuss the personal
injury and death cases in Tennessee where there was an actual trial.
For the 2013 - 2014 fiscal year there were a
total of 416 personal injury or death cases that actually went to trial. Out of those cases, only 128 (only 30.8%) of
them resulted in damage awards. This is
a significant decrease over the 2012 – 2013 year where 41.1% of these trials
resulted in damage awards. Also, keep in
mind there are obviously some cases that proceed to trial where the defendants
actually admit liability and the only issue at trial is the amount of
damages. As a result, this is a truly
stunning number which further reflects how conservative Tennessee courts and
juries are becoming in awarding damages in personal injury or death cases.
Shelby
County Statistics:
Some of the statistics for individual
counties are also quite surprising. For
instance, in Shelby County a total of 95 such cases proceeded to trial. Out of those 95 cases only 36 were awarded
damages (38% received awards). This is
drastically reduced from the prior fiscal year when 57.9% of the personal
injury or death tort trials in Shelby County resulted in an award of
damages.
Davidson
County Statistics:
Davidson County also reported a reduction in
number of cases that actually resulted in damages. There were a total of 57 trials in Davidson
County, Tennessee for personal injury or death cases. A total of 34 resulted in actual
damages. This shows that 59.6% of the
time damages were actually awarded in Davidson County cases. This is reduced from the prior fiscal year
where damages were awarded 65% of the time.
Knox
County Statistics:
Knox County statistics also show a significant
reluctance to award damages for personal injury or death cases. There were a total of 61 such cases that
proceeded to trial in Knox County in this fiscal year. Only 9 of them resulted in actual damages
awards. This means that only 14.8% of
the time damages were awarded in Knox County for these kinds of cases. That is an incredibly low percentage for a
large county. In fact, it is a
significant reduction over the 47% statistic for the 2012 – 2013 fiscal
year.
Once again, these statistics show that
Tennessee is becoming more conservative in awarding damages in cases involving
personal injury or death. Based on my
review of the statistics, it appears there is a significant trend developing
that shows a material reduction in the amount of cases where damages are
actually awarded in Tennessee.
Follow me on Twitter at @jasonalee for updates from the Tennessee Defense Litigation
blog.
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