NWCDN Members regularly post articles and summary judgements in workers’ compensations law in your state.
Select a state from the dropdown menu below to scroll through the state specific archives for updates and opinions on various workers’ compensation laws in your state.
Contact information for NWCDN members is also located on the state specific links in the event you have additional questions or your company is seeking a workers’ compensation lawyer in your state.
May 2026
Tennessee Legislature Revises Statutory Standards for
Award of Attorney’s Fees
Under the Tennessee Workers’
Compensation Law, the standard model for awarding fees to attorneys who
represent injured workers is for the attorney to take the fee out of the
employee’s settlement or court award – up to 20%. However, there are some circumstances where
the Court can order the Employer to pay attorney’s fees and costs to the
Employee’s attorney.
Under TCA section 50-6-226(d)(1),
in addition to the standard 20% attorney fee described above, the Court has
authority to order an Employer to pay reasonable attorney’s fees and reasonable
costs to the Employee’s attorney when the Employer unreasonably denies a claim
or unreasonably fails to pay any type of workers’ compensation benefit.
When that statute was enacted
several years ago, there was a concern among Employers that this provision
would open the door to frequent attorney fee awards on denied claims, but that
did not happen because the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board interpreted this
provision very narrowly. The Board cautioned that attorney’s fees should very
rarely be awarded under this provision at the expedited hearing level and
should generally be deferred until the compensation hearing at the end of the
case. Effectively, that meant that this provision was utilized very
infrequently by the Court. But that may be about to change….
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee
signed Tennessee Public Chapter 845 on April 27, 2026, which reinforces a
Court’s ability to award attorney’s fees and costs under this section – especially
at the expedited hearing level. The new law states that if the workers’
compensation judge conducting an expedited hearing concludes that the Employer
unreasonably denied the claim or unreasonably failed to provide workers’
compensation benefits, then the court may award attorney’s fees and costs at
that time. In addition, if the judge finds that the evidence of such
unreasonableness is clear and convincing, then the award of attorney’s
fees and costs must not be deferred to the compensation hearing.
This new law applies to injuries
on or after July 1, 2026.
Clearly, this new law is intended
to make it easier and more likely that a workers’ compensation judge will be
able to award attorney’s fees and costs at the expedited hearing level. While the
new statute includes a slightly increased “clear and convincing” standard, this
still may not be enough to prevent a significant increase in attorney’s fee
awards.
Employers and Carriers should
take greater caution when denying claims and/or denying the payment of workers’
compensation benefits, and they should ensure that they are analyzing potential
awards of attorney’s fees and costs if the denials are not upheld by the Court.
For any questions, please contact:
Fredrick R. Baker, Member
Wimberly Lawson Wright Daves & Jones, PLLC
1420 Neal Street, Suite 201
P.O. Box 655
Cookeville, TN 38503-0655
Phone: 931-372-9123
Fax: 931-372-9181
fbaker@wimberlylawson.com
www.wimberlylawson.com