Meyers Personal Injury Law | July 12, 2025 | Personal Injury
Tennessee law allows you to seek compensation after you suffer an injury due to someone else’s negligent act. However, very few personal injury cases reach trial. Instead, the at-fault party and their insurance company will likely try to negotiate with your attorney for a settlement.
The amount you will receive depends on many factors, including your injuries and the policy limits. As a result, there is no single “average personal injury settlement” amount. Even if you could calculate this number, it would not bear much relevance once you account for your unique circumstances.
The Amount of Compensation You Can Seek In A Personal Injury Case
The amount of compensation you can pursue in a personal injury case partially depends on the extent of your economic and non-economic damages. Economic losses encompass all of the financial ramifications of your injuries. These amounts include both the costs you incurred and the money you were not able to earn due to missed work. The following categories of losses are economic:
- Past and future expenses for medical treatment, medication, and therapy
- Out-of-pocket costs, including health insurance copays
- Lost income
- Future diminished earnings, typically resulting from long-term or permanent disabilities
These losses often have receipts or other documentation supporting them. Thus, you should gather receipts, bank statements, bills from doctors and hospitals, and pay stubs. You can estimate the amount you can seek in your settlement by adding up all the money you spent or lost as a result of your injuries.
Non-economic losses encompass all of the life changes caused by your injuries. These losses are more difficult to quantify because they do not have a fixed value. Examples of these losses include the following:
- Physical pain
- Physical and mental suffering
- Emotional distress, such as anxiety
- Disability, namely the loss of your physical or mental ability to engage in activities
- Disfigurement due to changes in your appearance
- Dismemberment, if you have lost a body part or the function of a body part
A jury or insurance adjuster estimates your non-economic losses using their sense of reason and fairness. You prove these losses with medical records that explain how your injuries affected your life and activity level. You will also testify about the impact on your quality of life.
Factors That Affect Your Settlement
Settlements require mutual agreement between the parties. Thus, you might not receive the full value of your case. Instead, you may need to compromise on the amount you can accept to settle your case.
At the same time, the range of your settlement will depend on the unique factors of your case, including the following:
The Severity Of Your Injuries
One key factor in determining the average settlement in an injury case is the victim’s injuries. Injuries with greater severity and duration will have a higher settlement value than minor or temporary injuries.
For example, suppose that your arm was severed in a truck accident. Severe injuries like an amputation require more treatment and longer hospital stays. As a result, you will incur greater financial costs. Moreover, the loss of an arm is permanent, meaning that any medical or psychological trauma from your injury will last for the rest of your life.
Even if doctors fit you with a prosthetic arm, it will never function as well as your arm. Thus, the non-economic losses from this injury would be more extensive and longer-lasting than those from an injury that could heal with time.
Impact Of Your Injuries On Your Life
Your non-economic losses arise directly from your injury’s impact on your day-to-day life. If your injuries have had a profound impact on your life, you deserve greater non-economic compensation.
Thus, a brain injury from a slip and fall accident can have a wide range of symptoms that influence the compensation you deserve. If the injury resulted in permanent blindness, you might deserve more than someone who only suffered headaches and sensitivity to light.
This factor also tells the claims adjuster or jury how your injuries might affect your future earnings. If you cannot sit for longer than an hour after suffering a back injury, you might not be able to return to your desk job.
The At-Fault Party’s Insurance Coverage
An underappreciated factor in determining the settlement is the other party’s insurance coverage. Parties with full coverage are more likely to cover all of your losses. Conversely, at-fault parties with minimal coverage might not be able to offer a large settlement.
This factor also depends on the accident. Tennessee requires at least $25,000 in bodily injury liability coverage per victim up to $50,000 per car accident. This means you can only recover $25,000 from the at-fault driver’s insurer if they chose minimum coverage.
On the other hand, many homeowners’ policies offer $100,000 in liability coverage. A slip and fall accident on the homeowner’s property might result in a better settlement simply because the insurer and at-fault party have more resources to settle the case.
Your Proof Of Liability
Stronger cases often settle for more compensation than weaker cases. Specifically, if you have strong evidence of the other party’s liability, their insurer may be more eager to avoid a jury by settling the case. Conversely, an insurer may be more willing to risk a jury trial if your evidence of liability is weak.
Another factor in determining your settlement is whether you played a role in causing your injuries. Tennessee uses a doctrine called modified comparative fault with a 50% bar that allows the court or claims adjuster to reduce your compensation in proportion to your share of the blame. Thus, you can only recover 80% of your losses if you were 20% at fault for your accident.
Understanding Your Potential Personal Injury Settlement
The settlement your lawyer negotiates will depend on factors unique to your injuries and the accident that caused them. As your case progresses, keep your lawyer updated on how your life has changed financially and otherwise so that they can pursue a fair settlement based on your injury-related losses.
Contact a Nashville Personal Injury Lawyer at Meyers Personal Injury Law for a Free Consultation
If an accident in Nashville or elsewhere in Tennessee has left you with injuries, it’s important to act quickly. At Meyers Personal Injury Law, we’ll review your situation, pursue the compensation you’re entitled to, and guide you through every step of the process. Reach out now to schedule a free consultation with a dedicated Nashville personal injury attorney.
If you were injured in an accident in Nashville or Brentwood and need legal help, contact our Nashville personal injury lawyers at Meyers Personal Injury Law to schedule a free case review today.
Meyers Personal Injury Law Nashville
1308 Rosa L Parks Blvd Suite 101,
Nashville, TN 37208
(615) 258-9000
Meyers Personal Injury Law Brentwood
105 Continental Pl Suite 100,
Brentwood, TN 37027
(615) 258-9000
