Tennessee Personal Injury Trials Have Dropped 55% Since 2000.

Analysis:  This post is another in a continuing series of posts that analyze the Tennessee Judiciary Annual Report that was recently published providing court statistics for fiscal year 2012 - 2013 (July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2013).  Today I am going to discuss the very significant reduction in the number of personal injury/death cases that proceed to trial over the last 15 years. 

For fiscal year 2012 – 2013 there were a total of 10,137 personal injury/death cases that were disposed of in Tennessee in one way or another.  Out of these cases, 438 of them were disposed of by trial (4.3%).  Only 213 of these trials were jury trials (2.1%).  Davidson, Hamilton, Knox and Shelby Counties had a total of 216 cases that proceeded to trial which was 49.5% of the total personal injury cases that went to trial in Tennessee.

These statistics also show that there has been a great reduction in trials in Tennessee over the last 15 years.  In the 2000 - 2001 fiscal year (the first year Tennessee kept these statistics), there were a total of 967 personal injury or death cases that proceeded to trial.  In 2013 there were only 438.  This means that since 2000 we have had a 55% reduction in trials in personal injury/ death cases.  This has been due to many factors including tort reform and the encouragement of mediation in Tennessee.  It also shows why a lot of attorneys struggle to get good trial experience early in their career.