Top Tennessee Personal Injury Verdicts and Settlements

$55 Million Verdict for Fox Sports Broadcaster Secretly Filmed at Nashville Marriott

A Davidson County jury awarded Fox Sports reporter Erin Andrews $55 million after finding that the Nashville Marriott at Vanderbilt negligently disclosed her room location to a stalker who altered a peephole to film her without consent.

Memphis Jury Awards $38.8 Million in Regional One Birth Injury Case

A Shelby County jury found two Regional One obstetric physicians negligently delayed a C-section through a prolonged labor, leaving a first-time mother's newborn with a brain injury and lifelong disability, and returned a $38,816,500 verdict.

$22.2 Million Verdict for Woman Paralyzed After Spinal Hematoma at Southern Tennessee Medical Center

A federal jury in Chattanooga awarded $22.2 million to a Franklin County couple after an epidural catheter placed for post-surgical pain control triggered a spinal bleed that left 62-year-old Bette Donathan permanently paralyzed from the waist down.

$16.1 Million Verdict for Man Left With Permanent Brain Damage After Bile Leak Went Untreated

A Davidson County jury awarded $16,111,643 to Justin Bing, a 26-year-old Nashville marketing manager who suffered cardiac arrest, strokes, and permanent hypoxic brain damage after two physicians failed to recognize and treat a bile leak that developed following routine gallbladder surgery.

After trial: The jury found two physicians 35 percent at fault each and a settled hospital 30 percent. Tennessee's cap on noneconomic damages and collateral source deductions were pending, and the final judgment, well below $16.1 million, is not public.

Court Awards $13.69 Million to Child With Spina Bifida After Navy Clinic Skipped Folic Acid Advice

After a bench trial in November 2007, a federal court found that a Navy clinic physician in Millington, Tennessee, breached the standard of care by not recommending prenatal vitamins to a patient planning a pregnancy, and held that the lapse caused her daughter's spina bifida. The court entered a $13,690,648.17 judgment on March 31, 2008. The government appealed, and the judgment was set aside on October 9, 2008, when the parties' compromise settlement and a trust for the child were approved.

After trial: The judgment was set aside on October 9, 2008, on the parties' joint motion after the government's Sixth Circuit appeal (No. 08-5699) was remanded for a compromise settlement; it was not reversed on the merits. See more

Cracker Barrel Diner Served Commercial Bleach Wins $9.33 Million Verdict

A Marion County jury awarded $9.4 million after a Cracker Barrel waitress refilled a customer's glass with a mix of water and commercial bleach instead of ice water.

After trial: Reduced by statute: Tennessee's cap cut the $3.6 million noneconomic award to $750,000, leaving about $6.48 million with $730,000 in economic and $5 million in punitive damages. Cracker Barrel said it was weighing its options; no appeal, settlement or payment has been reported.

$6 Million Federal Verdict for Handcuffed Man Beaten by Jailers, Then Left on the Floor for Seven Hours

Nathan Ling was handcuffed in the intake room of the Campbell County jail when officers beat him, breaking bones in his face and an arm, collapsing a lung and causing permanent brain damage. He was left on a concrete floor for about seven hours without treatment. A federal jury found the county liable for failing to train its jailers to intervene.

After trial: Federal Section 1983 verdict, so Tennessee's noneconomic damages cap does not apply. The only Sixth Circuit appeal was interlocutory, filed before the verdict and terminated on January 22, 2024 by stipulation, and no appeal of the verdict or post-trial reduction has been reported. See more

$5 Million FELA Jury Verdict for Norfolk Southern Conductor Struck by Passing Train in Memphis Rail Corridor

A Shelby County jury found Norfolk Southern 100 percent at fault after veteran conductor Thomas David Jordan was struck by a passing BNSF train while working between dangerously close tracks in South Memphis, awarding $5 million under the Federal Employers' Liability Act. Wettermark Keith co-founder Chris Keith was counsel of record for Jordan, and the Tennessee Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment entered on the verdict in 2009.

$12 Million Verdict for Man Who Lost Both Legs, Entered at $4.2 Million Under Tennessee's Damages Cap

A Davidson County jury awarded Charles Ray Peterson Jr. $12 million after a two-vehicle chain-reaction crash on Christmas Day 2017 cost him both legs, but the signed judgment entered against the defendants totals $4,203,547 once Tennessee's statutory damages cap was applied to the verdict.

After trial: The signed Judgment Entry on Jury Verdict, filed December 2, 2021, cut the $12 million jury verdict to $4,203,547 "pursuant to statute", then apportioned that reduced amount between the defendants by their assigned share of fault. The order does not itemize the calculation, though the size of the reduction is consistent with Tennessee's cap on noneconomic damages. See more

Memphis Jury Awards Tanker Driver $3.7 Million After I-55 Rear-End Truck Crash

A Shelby County jury awarded tanker driver Donriel Borne $3,705,000 after a Celadon tractor-trailer rear-ended him in stopped construction-zone traffic on Interstate 55, and the case later set the standard Tennessee appellate courts use to review a reduced verdict.

$2.56 Million Judgment After State Farm Fought an Uninsured-Motorist Claim, Driver Found 85% at Fault

After State Farm denied uninsured-motorist coverage and defended the driver who caused the crash, a Memphis jury held him 85 percent at fault for the collision that killed Kathryn Sadowski and injured her 90-year-old husband, Emil.

After trial: The jury awarded about $3.17 million and put 15 percent of the fault on Emil Sadowski. After that reduction and Tennessee's $750,000 cap on pain damages, the judgment came to about $2.56 million, which the Court of Appeals affirmed in 2015.

Shelby County Jury Returns $2.5 Million Verdict in I-240 Semi-Truck Collision

A Shelby County jury awarded Julius Malone and his wife $2,519,772 after an ASF Intermodal semi-truck merged into his lane on I-240 in Memphis, and Tennessee's noneconomic-damages cap later reduced the judgment to $1,529,772.

After trial: Tennessee's noneconomic-damages cap reduced the judgment to $1,529,772.

Nashville Jury Finds Driver 75% at Fault in Crosswalk Death of Credit Union Lending Executive

Eddie Gentry, 54, a vice president of lending at Educators Credit Union, was struck in a Nashville crosswalk on November 20, 2001 and died eight days later. A Davidson County jury found driver Dereck Cook 75 percent at fault and set damages at $1,638,561. The court directed a verdict for Metro on the failed 'Don't Walk' bulb claim. Judgment after Gentry's 25 percent share of fault was $1,228,921.

After trial: The $1,638,561 verdict was reduced to a $1,228,921 judgment for the 25 percent of fault the jury assigned to Gentry. We could not confirm whether the judgment was paid or whether any appeal was filed, and found no record of one.

$4.5 Million Verdict for Surgical Retractor Left in Abdomen Eight Years

Part of a surgical retractor was left in Cynthia Yebuah's abdomen during a 2005 kidney removal and stayed there for eight years, looping around her small bowel. A Nashville jury awarded her family $4.5 million. Tennessee's cap on noneconomic damages cut it to $750,000, and the Supreme Court held that the cap is one limit shared by an injured patient and her spouse rather than one each.

After trial: Final. The jury returned $4,500,000 in noneconomic damages in February 2018, and the Tennessee Supreme Court fixed the judgment at $750,000 on June 2, 2021, holding that a single aggregate cap covers the injured plaintiff and a spouse's loss-of-consortium claim together. See more

$703,105 Jury Verdict for Handyman Whose Neck Injury Curtailed His Career

A Davidson County jury awarded $703,105 to a Nashville handyman who sustained a cervical injury when a vehicle operated by Acer Landscape Services collided with his, leaving him unable to perform basic tasks at the pace and volume his livelihood required.

A Ceiling Tile Fell on a Guest in the Crowne Plaza's Grand Ballroom. A Knox County Jury Awarded $600,000.

A woman attending an event in the grand ballroom of the Crowne Plaza hotel in Knoxville was struck on the head by a falling ceiling tile and suffered a mild traumatic brain injury. A Knox County jury returned $600,000, of which $500,000 was economic loss.

After trial: The jury returned $600,000 in October 2022 ($500,000 economic, $100,000 noneconomic). Plaintiff's counsel moved for a new trial arguing the award was inadequate, and how that motion was resolved is not public. See more

Davidson County Jury Awards $347,134 After Nursing Home Fails to Give Diabetic Resident Her Insulin

A Nashville jury awarded $347,134 after a nursing home admitted it never administered insulin to an elderly diabetic woman during her five-day respite stay, leaving her in a hypoglycemic crisis when her family came to pick her up.

$320,000 Verdict for 73-Year-Old Woman After Knee Replacement Caused by Uninsured Driver

A Davidson County jury awarded Cinda Haddon $320,000 after an uninsured driver ran her right-of-way and left her with a patellar fracture that progressed to a full knee replacement.

Reyadh v. Trulite Glass: $277,966 for a Torn Rotator Cuff After a Low-Damage Truck Crash

A commercial truck rolled into a driver stopped at a Nashville red light, and a Davidson County jury awarded $277,966, including $165,000 in non-economic damages, for the rotator cuff tear that followed.

Davidson County Jury Awards $125,143 After a Runaway Hot Tub Trailer Causes a Head-On Crash

A trailer hauling a hot tub broke loose on U.S. 31W and struck an oncoming Nashville driver head-on, and a Davidson County jury awarded $125,143 for soft-tissue injuries and the aggravation of pre-existing conditions.