While a surviving spouse typically has the superior right to bring a wrongful death suit, there are certain exceptions to that rule. In Nelson v. Myres, No. M2015-01857-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Jan. 18, 2017), the Court held that a suit filed by the deceased’s daughter rather than her husband could…
In Spires v. Simpson, No. E2015-00697-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. April 26, 2016), the Court of Appeals addressed an issue of first impression regarding the interpretation of a wrongful death statute related to a surviving spouse who has outstanding child support obligations. In this case, decedent mother was killed in a…
In 2011, a subsection was added to our state statutes regarding surviving spouses’ rights to institute and collect proceeds from Tennessee wrongful death actions: Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, the right to institute and the right to collect any proceeds from a wrongful death action granted by this section to…
The case of Jernigan v. Hunter, No. M2013-01860-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Sept. 30, 2014) begins in January 2006, when John Jernigan was stabbed and beaten to death by two men, a father and son, inside a Nashville strip club. Father pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in his criminal proceeding, and…
Under Tennessee wrongful death law, the distribution of proceeds obtained after a settlement for wrongful death are governed by common law not statute. Basically, the law provides that the wrongful death proceeds are distributed under the law of intestate succession. Thus, if a decedent left behind a surviving spouse and one…
Well, it ain’t much, but the Tennessee Legislature has fixed one small problem with the tort reform legislation that impacts all tort cases arising on or after October 1, 2011. The original legislation included a provision that required all future damages to be broken down "on an annual basis" for…
Under the law of wrongful death in Tennessee, the spouse of the decedent typically has the principle right to pursue a wrongful death claim. However, from time to time cases have arisen where the marriage effectively but not legally ended before the death of one spouse, and squabbles arose…
As regular readers know, the Tennessee Bar Association has published a regular column in the Tennessee Bar Journal called "Day on Torts" for many years. I enjoy writing for these articles and am thankful for the many calls, letters and emails I have received over the years from my fellow…
The Tennessee General Assembly has now placed arbitrary caps on damages in personal injury and wrongful death cases. And the House of Representatives just passed HR 5, which placed a caps on damages in medical malpractice cases. But how does the federal government value life when weighing regulatory burden? The…
Generally speaking, these are the rules for who may file a wrongful death lawsuit inTennessee: A lawsuit for the death of a husband can be filed by his wife, his executor or the administrator of his estate. A lawsuit for the death of a wife can be filed by her…