Damages – Tennessee legislature amends requirement for jury to find each element of future damages “on an annual basis” under T.C.A. § 29-39-103.

Posted on Jul 22 2013 8:37AM by Attorney, Jason A. Lee

Analysis: The Tennessee Tort Reform Bill of 2011 required a judge or jury to make specific findings for certain types of damages. T.C.A. § 29-39-103 was created by the 2011 Tennessee Tort Reform Legislation and the statute provided as follows:

(a) If liability is found in a civil action, then the trier of fact, in addition to other appropriate findings, shall make separate findings for each claimant specifying the amount of:

(1) Any past damages for each of the following types of damages:

(A) Medical and other costs of health care;

(B) Other economic damages; and

(2) Any future damages and the periods over which they will accrue, on an annual basis, for each of the following types of damages:

(A) Medical and other costs of health care;

(B) Other economic damages; and

(b) If the plaintiff claims a catastrophic loss or injury has occurred, and if there is a disputed issue of fact regarding whether such loss or injury has occurred, the trier of fact must make a specific finding of fact, by special verdict, that the loss or injury suffered by the plaintiff is catastrophic as defined in § 29-39-102(d).

(c) The calculation of all future medical care and other costs of health care and future noneconomic losses must reflect the costs and losses during the period of time the claimant will sustain those costs and losses. The calculation for other economic loss must be based on the losses during the period of time the claimant would have lived but for the injury upon which the claim is based. All such calculations of future losses shall be adjusted to reflect net present value.

(bold and underlined words removed in 2013 legislation). In 2013, the Tennessee Legislature made an amendment to this statute in Public Chapter No. 379 which was signed into law by Governor Bill Haslam on May 14, 2013. This bill simply deleted the words “on an annual basis” under T.C.A. § 29-39-103(a)(2).

Prior to this amendment the trier of fact was required to make a specific finding of future damages in the three categories listed above (in subsection (a)(2)) “on an annual basis” for each year in the future. Obviously, it is impossible to know how long a plaintiff will live in the future but this statute as written in the original Tennessee Tort Reform Bill of 2011 required the jury to identify the damages year by year. This 2013 change abolishes that requirement and the amendment took effect immediately on May 14, 2013 when the bill was passed.

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