Tennessee Casualty Study Guide

Two Tennessee statutes carry most of the state-specific casualty exam — the Financial Responsibility Law at T.C.A. §55-12-102 and the workers’ compensation definition of employer at §50-6-102 — plus one 1992 case that decided how fault gets apportioned. All three contain a number that changed or that differs from the version circulating nationally.

The auto minimums changed in 2022

Tennessee was a 25/50/15 state for decades. Acts 2022, ch. 860 raised the property damage minimum from $15,000 to $25,000 for policies required after 31 December 2022. The shorthand is now 25/50/25:

• $25,000 bodily injury per person
• $50,000 bodily injury per accident
• $25,000 property damage per accident

There is also a single-limit alternative of not less than $65,000 applicable to one accident — and, for those who prefer not to buy a policy at all, a cash deposit or bond of $65,000 with the Commissioner of Safety satisfies the financial responsibility requirement instead.

Fifty percent is a loss, not a draw

Tennessee applies modified comparative negligence under McIntyre v. Balentine, 833 S.W.2d 52 (Tenn. 1992). A claimant recovers only if their fault is less than the defendant’s — which means a claimant who is 50% or more at fault recovers nothing.

That matters because a great many states run the same doctrine at a 51% bar, where an even split still pays. Tennessee bars at 50. A fact pattern that carefully splits fault down the middle is testing exactly this, and the intuitive answer — “each recovers half” — is wrong here.

Uninsured motorist: offered at your BI limits, rejectable in writing

Tennessee requires UM coverage on auto liability policies, with limits equal to the bodily injury liability limits stated in the policy. The named insured may reject it in writing entirely, or select lower limits — but not below the statutory minimum.

Two refinements the exam likes. First, a signed rejection is “conclusively presumed to become a part of the policy or contract when issued or delivered, regardless of whether physically attached.” Second, once rejected with the same insurer, the coverage need not be re-offered unless the insured asks in writing. Underinsured motorist coverage travels inside Tennessee’s UM coverage and follows the same rules.

Workers’ compensation — five, unless it’s one

The general rule is easy: an “employer” is one “using the services of not less than five (5) persons for pay.” The Bureau of Workers’ Compensation adds that minors, working family members and part-time employees are included in the count — while business owners of sole proprietorships, partnerships and LLCs are not, and corporate officers count only if full-time. A five-person shop whose owner is one of the five may therefore sit below the line.

The exceptions are what get tested, and they arrive from two different statutes:

• Coal mining. The definition itself carves out an employer “engaged in the mining and production of coal,” which is covered from one employee for pay.
• Construction. T.C.A. §50-6-902 gets to the same place by a different route: “all construction services providers shall be required to carry workers’ compensation insurance on themselves,” subject to registry and other exemptions.

So a two-man roofing crew and a two-man coal operation are both covered; a two-man accountancy firm is not.

The rest of the workers’ comp picture

• Wage replacement: temporary total disability pays 66⅔% of the average weekly wage, capped at 110% of the state average weekly wage, which is reset annually.
• How to comply: buy a policy from a private carrier, or qualify as an approved self-insurer. Tennessee has no monopolistic state fund.
• Who administers it: the Tennessee Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, inside the Department of Labor and Workforce Development — not the Department of Commerce and Insurance.

And the guaranty fund, where workers’ comp is the exception

If a casualty insurer fails, the Tennessee Insurance Guaranty Association covers claims in excess of $100 and less than $100,000 — a low cap by national standards. But workers’ compensation claims are paid in full, with no ceiling at all.

The association’s obligation to any single insured and its affiliates otherwise ceases at $10,000,000 in the aggregate — and note the statute’s own wording, because it carries the comp carve-out a second time: the aggregate applies “except in the case of a claim for benefits under workers’ compensation coverage.” Comp sits outside both ceilings, not just the first.