Lawyer Monthly Magazine - September 2019 Edition

Personal Injury Trucking Accidents in Tennessee: What Is Different? Managing your own law firm is no easy feat. We get in touch with Michael Ponce this month, who speaks to us about personal injury law and trucking accidents. Why is Tennessee different from the rest of the US when it comes to personal injury? Read on to find out. Michael, you manage your own firm, what is the most challenging part and the best part of managing your own firm? I think the most difficult part is wearing so many hats as manager. You are constantly dividing your time between working on cases, managerial duties and supervision. But it is very rewarding too. You are able to guide the firm in the direction that you want the firm to go and set the standards for the way you wish to have law practiced. Whatmakes this job interesting? Every day is different. Lots of jobs have a regular routine that is not challenging. Litigation by its very nature is going to have different clients, different cases, and different fact patterns. The defenses that are raised are different. It is stimulating because there are such a variety of cases and fact patterns that you have to research areas that you have never considered before. How is practicing in Tennessee different from the rest of the country? We practice primarily in the area of personal injury and I think one of the biggest obstacles are the short statute of limitations. Tennessee has a one year statute of limitations for personal injury cases which is the shortest in the country. This means that we really have to closely monitor the medical treatment of our clients, and stay in close communications with them so that we knowas soon as to when they have completed their medical care. It puts a premium on trying to go into settlement negotiations as soon as our clients have completed their medical care. Unfortunately, this means that many other cases that might have settled if there were longer statute of limitations go in to litigation. Clients who have sustained substantial injuries often will still be receiving medical care at the time when we are required to file suite due to the statute of limitations. This also means that there is often unnecessary litigation, it shortens the time that parties will have to negotiate and reach an agreement. Parties who are unrepresented miss their statute of limitations and go without receiving compensation often because they are not aware of the short time frame to preserve their cause of action. The second major obstacle in Tennessee is that insurance policy limits are still not discoverable. In most other states and in Federal court the amount of an insurance policy is discoverable. We never know how much insurance a defendant has and whether our client might be incurring more in expenses than there is in policy limits. In some instances, this results in cases unnecessarily being filed in court. Super Lawyers By Michael D. Ponce, Ponce Law 74 WWW.LAWYER-MONTHLY.COM | SEP 2019 Contact Michael D. Ponce, CEO 400 Professional Park Drive, Goodlettsville, TN 37072 Tel: 615-851-1776 | Fax: 615-859-7033 Email: michael@poncelaw.com www.poncelaw.com