Day on Torts
Information is now available on the number of tort trials and jury verdicts in Williamson County, Tennessee (county seat – Franklin) for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022.
There were 255 tort cases closed in Williamson County (not including health care liability act cases) and 4 tort trials. Here is how that compares with prior years:
A couple observations. First, note that despite huge increases in population (and traffic volume) Williamson County personal injury and wrongful death filings are less than they were five years ago.
Second, note that about 2% of all closed cases in Williamson County are tried to judgment, a number which is generally consistent with past years. When your client asks you “what are the odds my case will go to trial” you can say that, on average 98% of filed cases are resolved (through voluntary dismissal, dismissal on motion, or settlement) before a jury verdict or judgment is announced.
The number of trials – 4 – tells only part of the story, however. Only 2 of those trials were jury trials – the other 2 were tried to the court. The plaintiff made a financial recovery in one-half of those cases. Note: the fact that the plaintiff recovered in 50% of the cases does not mean the plaintiff “won” about 60% of the cases. Why? Because we do not know whether the plaintiff’s recovery exceeded the pretrial offer. We can say that in Williamson County last year defendants received a defense judgment in 50% of the cases that were tried. Here is the data in a graph:
What monies were recovered by the plaintiff in the 2 cases where a recovery occurred? We have the answer only in three broad bands of recoveries — less than $100K, $100K – $999K and $1,000,000 and over. Here are the numbers:
As you can readily see, there was one award of less than $99,999 and the other was less than $500,000.
You can find information about trials and verdicts in tort cases for every county in Tennessee by visiting the Free Resources at www.birddoglaw.com. Click on this link to find a list of every county in the state, click on the relevant county, and go to “Case Statistics.” (Note: we are still inputting the 2021-22 data so some counties will have data only through June 30, 2021. All information will be complete before May 1.