Car Accident Lawyers in Murfreesboro

The strict one-year filing deadline in Tennessee

Tennessee enforces one of the shortest deadlines in the United States for personal injury claims. Under Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-104, you have exactly one year from the date of the collision to file a civil lawsuit. This window only extends to two years if criminal charges are brought against the at-fault driver and that prosecution begins within the first twelve months. Because the timeframe is so compressed, we must begin gathering evidence and interviewing witnesses immediately.

Untangling liability in multi-vehicle collisions

Tennessee's fifty percent line is absolute, and in a chain-reaction commuter wreck it is rarely obvious which side of it you are on. Under the modified comparative fault rule established in McIntyre v. Balentine, you can only recover damages if you are less than fifty percent responsible for the crash. If you hit that fifty percent mark, you recover nothing. In a pileup on the interstate, defense attorneys will aggressively argue that you stopped too abruptly or followed too closely, attempting to push your share of the blame past the legal threshold.

The hazards of the daily interstate commute

Driving the same corridor every morning breeds complacency. Motorists navigating the heavy volume between Rutherford and Davidson counties often multitask, check their phones, or tailgate to prevent other vehicles from merging. When traffic suddenly halts at a known chokepoint, a distracted driver traveling at highway speed cannot stop in time. We subpoena cell phone records and analyze vehicle data to prove that the driver behind you was not focused on the road.

The danger of the same chokepoints every day

A commuter corridor does not spread its crashes out evenly. The same merges, the same exit backups, and the same bottlenecks on Interstate 24 produce collisions in the same places day after day. That history can become evidence. When a location has a documented pattern of rear-end and merge crashes, it helps establish that a reasonable driver should have anticipated the stopped traffic ahead. We investigate the specific stretch where you were hit to show that the other driver ignored a hazard that regular commuters know is there.

Serving commuters across the region

Our Murfreesboro team works from 105 N Maple St., Suite 6, representing injured drivers throughout Rutherford, Williamson, Davidson, Wilson, Cannon, Bedford, and Marshall counties. Our practice covers victims living in Nashville, Smyrna, La Vergne, Franklin, Brentwood, Lebanon, and Mount Juliet.

Tracking down your official collision records

After a crash, commuters routinely pursue the wrong agency to obtain their accident report. If your collision occurred on Interstate 24, the Tennessee Highway Patrol handles the investigation, not local city officers. For wrecks that happen on city streets, the Murfreesboro Police Department retains the records. If your crash took place outside the city limits on a county road, you will need to request the documentation from the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office.

Speak with a Murfreesboro car accident attorney

You need a legal team that understands the complexities of commuter litigation. Contact our office at (615) 880-6327 to schedule a free consultation. We handle cases on a contingency fee basis, meaning you owe no attorney fee unless we secure compensation for your injuries.

Common questions

What if I was rear-ended but the driver claims my brake lights were out?

This is a common tactic to shift fault. We can inspect the filament of your taillight bulbs, which often reveals whether they were illuminated at the moment of impact, proving the other driver is not telling the truth.

Who is responsible if I was pushed into the car ahead of me after being rear-ended?

When you are struck from behind and forced into the vehicle in front of you, the driver who hit you is typically responsible for both impacts. We use the physical damage patterns and the sequence of the collisions to show that you were a passive middle vehicle, not a cause of the pileup.

How do we handle a crash caused by someone abruptly cutting across the gore point to make an exit?

Late lane changes at exit ramps are a frequent cause of severe side-swipe collisions. We look for dashcam footage from surrounding vehicles and analyze the angle of impact to demonstrate that the other motorist made an illegal maneuver.