Nashville Personal Injury Attorney
Recovering Compensation For Victims Throughout Davidson County And All Of Middle Tennessee
Experiencing any kind of injury can be frightening, but the aftermath can sometimes be just as stressful and unpleasant. How will you pay for your exorbitant medical bills? How will you cover the wages you missed while you took time away from work to recover? How will you find the funds to replace your damaged property?
If you are injured due to another party’s negligence, you may be entitled to monetary damages. I am attorney Chelsea Nicholson and have over 16 years of experience and can work to recover the maximum available compensation. At Chelsea Nicholson, Attorney at Law, I have the skill to tackle the challenges individuals experience in the wake of an injury-causing accident and determined to provide the legal relief they need to move forward.
Chelsea Nicholson, Attorney at Law, can assist you with personal injury claims involving:
- Vehicular accidents
- Personal injury accidents
- Tractor-trailer accidents
- Wrongful death
If you are recovering from an injury, do not wait to explore your legal options. Call 615-913-3932 or contact me online to discuss your case.
Protecting Yourself After An Injury-Causing Incident
Being injured in an accident can be traumatic and cause serious immediate consequences. Depending on the nature and severity of the incident, you may need to immediately leave the scene to seek medical attention. If you are safe and conscious after an accident, you should take steps to protect yourself, which can later strengthen your personal injury case and potentially increase the odds of recovering damages.
After experiencing an accident, you should:
- Make sure everyone is safe. Quickly confirm that everyone involved in the incident is okay and summon emergency medical personnel if not.
- Contact law enforcement, if necessary. Tennessee law requires motorists to report vehicular accidents within 20 days if the incident causes any injuries or more than $50 in property damage. It is often easier and smarter to ask law enforcement to come to the incident site so they can file an official report. This report may eventually serve as an essential piece of evidence in your case. If you are involved in a premises liability incident, you should instead consider speaking to the on-site manager and asking that an incident report be created. Obtain a copy of this report before leaving and be sure to dispute any elements of the report that appear inaccurate.
- Collect contact information. You will need to gather the names, addresses and phone numbers of everyone involved in the incident. You should also get contact information from any witnesses, as their testimony may prove crucial to your case.
- Document the scene however possible. Use all available tools to document the incident site and what happened as much as possible. In a vehicular collision or premises liability incident, use your mobile phone to photograph where the accident took place and the resulting injuries and property damage. Make note of any traffic or securities cameras that might have captured the incident and request copies of the footage from the appropriate parties. After leaving the site, take the time to write down everything you remember about the incident. Date your account of what happened.
- Seek medical attention as soon as possible. Even if you believe you did not sustain any serious injuries, you should still obtain an examination from a medical professional. Not all injuries will be immediately obvious, and an official medical report completed soon after the incident can help establish a causal link between the accident and any resulting injuries.
- Hire qualified legal representation. The sooner you act, the better. Get the guidance you need to explore your legal options for damage recovery. As a Nashville personal injury attorney, I can efficiently assess your circumstances and advise whether you have a strong case.
Personal Injury Statutes Of Limitations
Tennessee maintains one of the shortest personal injury deadlines in the United States. In a grand majority of cases, personal injury lawsuits must be filed within one year of the incident. Claims filed after the one-year deadline will most likely be thrown out.
There are several notable exceptions to this deadline. If a claim involves medical malpractice, victims will have one year from the date where they learned or should have reasonably learned that their medical treatment led to injuries. Injured minors will have one year from the date of their 18th birthday to file a claim. When an incident results in wrongful death, loved ones will generally have one year from the date of the deceased’s passing to file a claim.
The bottom line is that you must act quickly if you wish to recover damages in a personal injury case. Do not wait to get in touch with my office.
How Personal Injury Lawsuits Are Decided In Tennessee
Most personal injury claims are adjudicated through a comparative negligence system. This means that the judge and jury assigned to your case will determine each party’s percentage of responsibility for causing the accident – their “comparative fault.”
Your percentage of fault determines how much you can ultimately recover. Awarded damages will be commensurately reduced by the percentage of fault. If you are determined to be 51% at fault or more, you will not be able to recover any damages.
For example, say you are involved in a car accident and decide to sue the negligent driver who caused the incident. The judge and jury decide you are 20% at fault as a result of your failure to properly signal a lane change just before the collision took place. The judge awards $100,000 in damages, which is reduced by 20% – leaving you with $80,000.
Certain types of personal injury cases, including dog bites, function somewhat differently. I can walk you through what these legal processes look like.
Contact me today at 615-913-3932 to request a free consultation
Recovering Damages In Tennessee
Depending on the situation and types of injuries sustained, victims can potentially recover economic and noneconomic damages in a personal injury lawsuit. Economic damages are calculable and tied to objective financial losses resulting from the incident.
Noneconomic damages are not easily quantifiable and are capped in Tennessee. These caps can be waived if the negligent party acted under the influence, acted deliberately and maliciously, concealed evidence, destroyed evidence and/or was convicted of a felony as a result of their conduct.
I will work to recover damages for:
- Medical expenses, including rehabilitative care and ongoing treatments
- Lost or missed wages, including future lost earnings and permanent reductions in income resulting from serious injuries
- Property damage, such as a totaled car or destroyed phone
- Physical and emotional pain and suffering (capped at $7,500,000)
- Catastrophic losses, such as the loss of eyesight or the loss of a limb (capped at $1,000,000)
Chelsea Nicholson, Attorney at Law, is committed to seeking the maximum available compensation when negotiating and litigating personal injury claims. I am prepared to go to trial and will exhaust all available legal options. I know what is at stake in these cases, and my goal is to secure the relief you need to recover and move forward.
Schedule an initial consultation by contacting me online or calling 615-913-3932