DAMG

The Tennessee Financial Responsibility Law was enacted in 1977 and covers the minimum auto insurance required in Tennessee. Basically it requires minimum liability limits of $25,000 per person, $50,000 for 2 or more persons and $15,000 for property damage. This is found in Section 55-12-102 . In my opinion those limits are horribly outdated and low. However, before I start a rant, let me explain the basic elements of an auto insurance policy and how it works.

“Liability” insurance is required by law to operate a motor vehicle on the public roads in Tennessee. However, the basic policy also often contains coverages for property damage, uninsured/under insured motorist, comprehensive, collision, and medical payments. What does insurance mean and what do these terms mean?

“Insurance” is where a company “the Insurance Company” agrees for a fee “the premium” to reimburse you “the insured” for a covered loss or peril. The maximum amount the insurance company agrees to pay is called a “limit.” The “insurance policy” is a contract between you the insured and it, the Insurance company. The insurance company agrees to reimburse you for the loss up to the policy limits.

The liability portion of your policy is purchased so that if a car wreck is your fault that the injured party will be paid by the insurance company for their injuries up to the limits of the policy. Without insurance you personally are responsible for these damages. The injured party can take your home, garnish your wages, and attach all your property. Not a pretty picture. Thus, you purchase the liability policy to protect yourself, your family, and your assets.

The $25,000 minimum limit for personal injury is just for those injuries you can recover if you are hurt. (I will make a separate bog post on that subject later.) The “property”damage limits is for damage to property such as the car, fence, guard rail. Guard rails are expensive and the cities or state will come after you. Several years ago my teenage son lost control and hit a guard rail in Brentwood. It only damaged about 10 feet of the rail. The bill? $3,500. I was glad I had property damage insurance on that car. Property damage insurance is required in Tennessee.

Now for the non required coverages. In my opinion the most important coverage of all is uninsured or under insured motorist coverage. That coverage makes your insurance company pay for the damages and personal injuries you receive when the negligent or responsible party has no insurance. The definition of uninsured vehicle by section 56-7-1202 of the Tennessee Code is

(a)(1) For the purpose of uninsured motor vehicle coverage, “uninsured motor vehicle” means a motor vehicle whose ownership, maintenance, or use has resulted in the bodily injury, death, or damage to property of an insured, and for which the sum of the limits of liability available to the insured under all valid and collectible insurance policies, bonds, and securities applicable to the bodily injury, death, or damage to property is less than the applicable limits of uninsured motorist coverage provided to the insured under the policy against which the claim is made; and

In Tennessee you can only buy limits equal to your liability limits. Thus, if you only buy $25,000 in liability insurance you can only purchase $25,000 in uninsured coverage. Why short your self to save a few bucks? Every year I have clients who do not receive the damages they are due under the law because they failed to purchase enough uninsured or under insured coverage. Under insured motorist coverage applies when the damages of the injured person exceed the liability insurance for the negligent party. For example. The responsible party has $25,000 in coverage. You have read this blog and have $100,000 in under insured coverage. A wreck occurs through no fault of yours and you are entitle to recover $75,000. The responsible party pays $25,000 and YOUR insurance company pays the next $50,000 so you get the full $75,000.

Comprehensive coverage is for items like broken glass, flood damage, or vandalism. Its pays basically to make repairs to your car.

Collision coverage is for property damage to your car if the accident was your fault or the responsible party had no property damage coverage. If your vehicle is financed the bank will require you to have this coverage. It will only cover the lesser of the cost of repair or the actual cash value of the car.

Medical payments is for the medical bills of the persons who are hurt in your car regardless of fault. It is dirt cheap but can help big time. (I pay about $50 year for $1 million in coverage!!!) Trust me the insurance company for the negligent party is not going to pay your medical bills until the end. They do not want you to seek medical treatment. Then they argue to the jury you could not have been hurt because you did not go to the doctor. You don’t get to explain “I didn’t have the money to go to the doctor, my emergency room bill was $3,000, I was out of work 2 weeks due to the wreck. I didn’t have health insurance.” More in detail on med pay insurance in another blog.

I hope the above helps. It probably raises more questions than it answers. Thats OK, feel free to e-mail me or call and I will try to help.

Tennessee Accident Roadways

If you have suffered a trucking accident or serious injury on any of the following interstate highways in Tennessee, please contact the qualified trucking accident ATTORNEY George Fusner to discuss your accident and injuries.

Interstate Highways in TN

• I-75 – Interstate 75 runs north to south from the border of Kentucky to Chattanooga before crossing over into North Georgia. Cities along the way include Jellico, Caryville, Lake City, Knoxville, Lenoir City, Sweetwater, Athens TN, Cleveland TN and Chattanooga.
• I-40 – Interstate 40 is one of the longest interstates in Tennessee. Running from east to west from the North Carolina border near Hartford TN, to the Arkansas border by way of Memphis TN. Cities along the way include Knoxville, Cookeville, Dickson, Hurricane, Mills, Mt. Juliet, Lebanon, Nashville, Jackson, Lexington, Kingston Springs, Pegram, Bellevue, and Memphis.
• I–440 Lies entirely in Nashville and forms an inner loop to the South of Downtown
• I-840 Is south of Nashville and Franklin, it connects I-40 East of Nashville near Lebanon with Murfreesboro and I-24 then connects to I-65 just South of Franklin. It is currently being extended to connect with I-40 to the west near Dickson.
• I-24 – Interstate 24 runs diagonally from North Central Tennessee near Clarksville to Chattanooga in SE Tennessee and Interstate 75. Cities along the way include Nashville, Murfreesboro, Manchester, Monteagle, Whiteside, Sewanee, and Chattanooga TN.
• I-65 – Interstate 65 runs north to south from Portland Tennessee near the Kentucky border down to Ardmore TN on the Alabama border. Cities along the way include White House, Goodletsville, Nashville, Brentwood. Columbia, Spring Hill,and Ardmore.
• I-81 – Interstate 81 extends from the northeast near Bristol TN and the Virginia border to Interstate 40 near Dandridge TN.

Summer is a magical time for children. At the top of every child’s list of favorite activities is being able to go swimming on a beautiful sunny summer afternoon. However, this fun filled activity can be a complete nightmare for parents. The thought of one’s young child accidentally falling into a pool and drowning has resulted in many young parents staying clear of homes with in ground or above ground pools.

One recent incident in Chapmansboro, Tennessee, involved a two year old little girl who wandered away from her mother while visiting at a friend’s home. The child somehow found her way to the pool and fell in. The child was rushed to Vanderbilt Medical Center via Life Flight helicopter. Sadly, the child was not able to recuperate and passed away two days after the ordeal.

In hopes of avoiding such incidents, the Tennessee Legislature recently passed a bill that would require all new swimming pools be equipped with an alarm. Specifically, the bill requires residential swimming pools installed after next Jan. 1 to have a motion-detecting pool alarm. It does not apply to pools installed before that date.

The Tennessee State Statute says that when an electrical inspection is required for the installation of a pool, the inspector may not give final approval for the electrical wiring unless a properly functioning swimming pool alarm has been installed. A violation would be punishable by a fine of up to $100 and up to $500 on second and subsequent offenses. During the House debate, legislators said there is virtually no enforcement mechanism and nothing to prevent a pool owner from removing the alarm after the initial inspection. However, I would suspect that as case law develops, that any homeowner, who is found to have removed the devise in violation of the bill, would be subject to increased liability in any civil suit arising from an accident involving a guest or an unsuspecting subsequent homeowner.

The bill designates the act as “Katie Beth’s Law,” named after Katie Beth Maynard, 17-month-old granddaughter of state Sen. Charlotte Burks, D-Cookeville, and the bill’s Senate sponsor. The toddler drowned last June in an above-ground pool in the backyard of her home when she apparently slipped briefly out of her mother’s and brother’s view.

So what exactly is a swimming pool alarm?

An evaluation of swimming pool alarms conducted by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in 2000 tested three different types of pool alarms: surface wave sensors, subsurface disturbance sensors, and a wristband sensor. Surface wave sensors float on the surface of the water. Subsurface disturbance sensors attach to the side of the pool, and a portion of the sensor is submerged below the water’s surface. The wristband sensor is worn by the child and the alarm sounds if the sensor goes underwater, however, this form of alarm is specifically excluded from the bill recently passed in Tennessee and does not satisfy the requirements of the law.

The CPSC’s study included many different tests of each type of alarm in 6 backyard swimming pools of various styles and shapes. The goals of the study were “to determine whether the surface and subsurface wave sensors would alarm when a test object entered the pool, and to determine whether the wristband would alarm when exposed to pool water.” Additionally, the study tested for false alarms that that possibly might go off inadvertently due to weather such as wind and rain, and those that may be triggered by an object such as a volleyball or large pool float.

According to the results of the CPSC study, the surface wave sensors performed less positively as the subsurface disturbance sensors when a test object was thrown into the pool. The study concludes that subsurface disturbance sensors “were more consistent in alarming and less likely to false alarm than the surface alarms.” The wristband sensor sounded an alarm each time it was submerged in pool water and each time it was exposed to other water sources, such as that from a faucet or hose.

The CPSC study did not include tests of infrared motion detection alarms, which are another type of swimming pool alarm system. Infrared motion detection systems routinely set of an alarm when a child, adult, or object enters the beam path that surrounds the pool. Some alarm systems include a subsurface disturbance sensor in addition to the motion detection feature to increase the level of protection.

It is estimated that the addition of an alarm on new pools will add anywhere from $50 to $200 on the cost of a pool, a small price to pay to help safeguard Tennessee’s children from accidental drowning.

The question remains whether it would be negligent for a homeowner not to have an alarm or enclosure around their swimming pool regardless of any statutory requirement? Considering the inherently dangerous nature a swimming pool can pose to a small child, any homeowner who routinely has small children at their home, either as guests or residences, or who are aware of neighborhood children that may have access to the swimming pool, then it could be argued that their failure to install adequate safety measures on the pool would be negligent both socially and legally. Of course the exact extent of said negligence and any resulting liability would be fact specific and could vary greatly from case to case. Contact an experienced personal injury lawyer to evaluate you case if such a tragedy were to occur.

Accidents involving semi trucks, buses, or 18-wheelers can be extremely damaging. The sheer size of the vehicle generally ensures that damages will be much higher than in an accident involving only passenger cars. But there are some legal difficulties as well that can make receiving compensation for your accident much more difficult than it would seem. Here are a few of the factors that come into play with truck accident cases.

Commercial Insurance Policies: 18-wheelers and their drivers are insured by commercial insurance policies that are typically valued much higher than policies covering passenger cars usually a minimum of $750,000. Often the trucking companies are self insured or have high deductibles. There is a lot of money involved in these cases and the insurance carriers and trucking companies will do everything they can to keep from paying up.

Ruthless Insurance Adjusters: Commercial insurance companies employ the most aggressive and toughest insurance adjusters in the business. These adjusters have proven their ability time and time again to deny claims just like yours. They will be working around the clock to make sure their company doesn’t pay you.

A Team of Defense Experts Working Against You: Often before the 18-wheeler driver has even left the scene, and while you are helpless in the hospital, a team of defense attorneys and accident recreation specialists are on the scene working to build a case against you. They will be taking witness testimonies, looking for physical evidence, and doing whatever else they can think of to make sure the blame for this accident is pinned on you not their driver.

Legal Gray Areas: Interstate carriers such as trucking companies and bus companies are regulated by the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration. There are numerous regulations that govern their conduct. These regulations overlap with state laws and provide a legal gray area for defense attorneys to get their clients off the hook using technicalities you may have never even heard of. They often help your case, however, you must hire an attorney who knows the regulations and thus can help you.

Unscrupulous Truck Drivers: While most truck drivers are good people who work hard for their living, there are still many of them that cause accidents and do not own up to the responsibility. For the driver of the big rig everything is at stake. His or her entire career likely rests on this case. He or she might be highly motivated to do or say whatever it takes to place the blame on you and not on himself.

As you can see, the odds are against you. Against such an orchestrated effort, you need a team of experts of your own to fight back. The Law Office of George Fusner has years of experience going after truck drivers, trucking companies, and their merciless insurance carriers. He has helped run a trucking company and thus knows what he is talking about.

Tennessee has a high fatality rate when it comes to truck accident deaths, despite strict safety inspections and trucking laws. Trucking accidents can happen for many reasons, but one of the most prevalent factors, and one that can be prevented, is driver fatigue. There are set regulations as to how many hours a trucker can drive without taking a break, known as the federal Hours-of-Service, but truckers frequently break the rules and falsify their logs. Studies have found that fatigue is a serious problem and can lead to catastrophic tractor-trailer accidents.

According to the National Transportation Board, as many as 30 to 40 percent of heavy truck accidents may be linked to trucker fatigue. Truckers feel the pressure to deliver their loads on time and unforeseen events, such as poor weather or traffic, can put them behind schedule. Many trucking companies put the drivers on such a tight schedule that it is virtually impossible for a driver to meet the schedule without violating the law. In an effort to catch up for lost time, they may make the fatal mistake of forgoing a much needed rest break, driving in hazardous conditions, speeding, or continuing on when they are fatigued.

The only way to check the compliance with the Hours-of-Services regulation is for an officer to review a trucker’s logbook. Some safety advocates have alluded that truckers falsify logbooks so that they can make up time and mileage. An experienced truck accident attorney also knows how to check for compliance with the regulations.

The current federal regulation allows a trucker to drive a maximum of 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty. Truck drivers are also permitted under federal law to drive a maximum of 60 hours in a seven-day period or 70 hours during an eight-day period.

If you have been injured in a Middle Tennessee truck accident that you believe may have been caused by a trucker, you should contact an experienced Nashville truck accident lawyer who can explain your legal rights. Attorney George Fusner has 32 years of legal experience and can help you recover compensation the law allows for your injuries. Call the Law Office of George R. Fusner, Jr. today at 800-427-8960 or 615-251-0005 to personally speak with Mr. Fusner.