How will my Nashville accident and injury case proceed once I hire an attorney? (Part 1)

The court process is the generally the same in any negligence or auto accident lawsuit. Insurance companies take a very aggressive stance in settling cases, so your attorney’s efforts to negotiate a reasonable settlement often don’t pan out (although they ought to certainly always try – we certainly do).  Certain insurance companies are notorious for making unreasonably low settlement offers, no matter how extensive the injuries are.  Often these insurance companies use pre-lawsuit settlement negotiations to find out as much as they can about your case.

Once the lawsuit is filed, the judge will set certain deadlines that will keep the case moving forward.  These deadlines are contained in a written order of the court called a scheduling order or a case management order.  This order usually contains a trial date.  It has been my experience that setting a trial date is the single biggest motivating factor in procuring a settlement with the insurance company, plus my firm is made up of trial attorneys so the insurance companies know that we won’t hesitate to go to trial to defend your rights to recovery.  They know they that the only way you can actually force them to pay you the money you are owed is through a trial.  Otherwise, the insurance company can keep their money invested and increase their profits-again, insurance companies are in business to make money, so profitsare what the insurance company truly cares about, not you or your family’s well being.

The lawsuit is commenced by the injured party filing with the court a document called a “complaint” and serving a copy of the complaint on the at fault party and/or their insurance company and accompanied by a summons.  The injured person is called the “plaintiff.”  The at fault party and their Insurance Company are called the “defendant.”  In Tennessee, you generally have one (1) year from the date of the accident to file suit. This deadline is called the “statute of limitations.”  The statute of limitations, of course, like most laws has its exceptions, but you should never assume that an exception will apply in your case.