Tennessee Slip and Fall Accident Funding

One year from the date of the fall for a personal-injury claim (Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-104) — one of the shortest statutes of limitations in the country. Because the window is so compressed, preserving notice evidence quickly (incident reports, video-preservation letters, witness statements) is a materially more urgent, time-sensitive step in Tennessee than in almost any other state on this list.

Tennessee applies modified comparative fault with a 50% bar: a plaintiff found 50% or more at fault recovers nothing (McIntyre v. Balentine, 833 S.W.2d 52 (Tenn. 1992)). As in other comparative-fault states, whether a hazard was open and obvious generally functions as evidence for the jury's fault allocation rather than an automatic bar, but given the 50% threshold, that allocation is directly outcome-determinative once it crosses the midpoint.

Non-economic damages are capped at $750,000 (or $1 million for catastrophic injury) under Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-39-102, a cap the Tennessee Supreme Court upheld in McClay v. Airport Mgmt. Servs., LLC, 596 S.W.3d 686 (Tenn. 2020).

Pre-judgment interest is discretionary with the court under Tenn. Code Ann. § 47-14-123, rather than automatic or categorically unavailable.

Proper in the county where the claim arose or where the defendant resides (Tenn. Code Ann. § 20-4-101).

Tennessee regulates consumer litigation funding under the Litigation Financing Consumer Protection Act, Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 47-16-101–110. A litigation financier may charge a consumer an annual fee of no more than 10% of the original amount provided — structured as a maximum yearly fee of $360 per $1,000 provided — for up to 3 years, charged only once per year per claim regardless of the number of transactions on that claim.

Why does Tennessee's one-year statute of limitations change how a claim should be handled from day one?

With only one year to file suit, there is far less room to slowly build a notice case than in a state with a two- or three-year window. Surveillance footage, incident reports, and witness memory all degrade quickly, so early documentation becomes absolutely critical to a Tennessee claim.

Retail and commercial defendants in particular often overwrite surveillance video on short cycles, sometimes as little as thirty days. A preservation letter sent promptly after the fall can be the difference between having and not having the central piece of notice evidence by the time the case is fully evaluated.

How does the 50% bar interact with Tennessee's compressed timeline?

Because a plaintiff found 50% or more at fault recovers nothing, and the short filing window leaves less time to develop rebuttal evidence on an obvious-hazard defense, building the comparative-fault record early is especially important for any claim brought in Tennessee.

A case where the plaintiff's conduct at the time of the fall is contested benefits disproportionately from prompt witness statements and scene documentation. This is true given how little time exists to develop that record later once memories fade and evidence is lost.

How does the non-economic damages cap affect case value?

Non-economic damages are capped at $750,000, or $1 million for a catastrophic injury, under Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-39-102, which limits the pain-and-suffering component of a verdict regardless of jury sentiment in an otherwise severe or sympathetic injury case before the court.

Economic damages, including medical bills, lost wages, and future care costs, are not subject to this cap at all. A case with substantial documented economic loss is therefore affected quite differently by the cap than one where non-economic harm predominates the overall value.