Bailey & Greer PLLC

Tennessee's New Tort Reform Law Takes Away Your Rights

The tort reform bill designed by a coalition of business interests, and supported by the Republican Party and Governor Haslam, passed the House and Senate last week. Governor Haslam is expected to sign the bill any day. The bill dramatically changes the landscape for personal injury and wrongful death victims in Tennessee. Here are some of the changes to Tennessee law:

• Changes venue rules to limit the places where corporations can be sued
• Makes all cases against nursing homes fall under the medical malpractice act
• Places an arbitrary cap on non-economic damages at $750,000 for most cases and $1,000,000 in rare exceptions
• Places an arbitrary cap on punitive damages
• Takes away the rights of Tennessee citizens to bring a consumer protection claim for unfair and deceptive acts
• Increases protections to manufacturers of products

In March of this year, before the bill passed, I spoke with local attorney Vince Perryman from the Germantown Public Access TV show LegalEase about the proposed legislative changes. We discussed Tennessee's current civil justice system and I explained why the new legislation is not only unnecessary, but takes away the rights of ordinary Tennesseans. For ease of viewing, the videos are split into three sections.