Disclaimer: This post is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. If you or someone you know has been injured in a Tennessee motorcycle crash, consult a licensed Tennessee attorney immediately.
A significant share of the motorcycle passengers who get hurt in Tennessee were riding with someone they trust: a friend, a partner, a family member. When the person responsible for the crash is someone the injured passenger cares about, the idea of filing a claim can feel like turning on that relationship, and that hesitation keeps genuinely injured people from getting medical bills covered that they have every right to recover.
That hesitation is understandable, and it is also based on a misunderstanding of what a personal injury claim actually does. Filing a claim after a crash is not a lawsuit against a person’s character or a demand that a friend personally hand over money. In the overwhelming majority of cases, it is a claim against an insurance policy that the friend has already paid premiums into for exactly this situation. Here is what that claim actually targets, and what it does and doesn’t do to the person who caused the crash.
What an Insurance Claim Actually Targets
Tennessee requires every registered driver to carry liability insurance, with minimum coverage of $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident for bodily injury under T.C.A. § 55-12-102, the state’s Financial Responsibility Law. When someone causes a crash, a personal injury claim is directed at that liability policy, not at the at-fault person’s personal bank account, home, or other assets, except in rare cases involving specific facts like a lack of any insurance at all.
Most auto and motorcycle liability policies also include a duty to defend. If a claim escalates into a lawsuit, the insurance company is contractually obligated to hire and pay for an attorney to represent the policyholder, meaning the friend who caused the crash typically does not pay a dollar out of pocket for a legal defense, let alone for the underlying claim itself.
What this means if you are hesitant to file a claim against someone you know: the money at stake comes from a policy that person is already paying for, specifically so that if they cause an accident, the people they hurt can be made whole without the driver going bankrupt over it. Filing a claim uses the coverage as intended. It does not create personal financial exposure for the friend in a typical case.
The Injuries at Stake When the At-Fault Party Is Someone You Trust
In one Freeman & Fuson case, a woman was riding as a passenger on a friend’s motorcycle when he struck a piece of road debris. The bike went down, and she was thrown from it. She spent months in the hospital and underwent multiple surgeries. Part of her leg required a skin graft after severe burns, some from road rash and some from the engine itself landing against her thigh. She also lost roughly half her teeth and needed a dental bridge to replace them, despite wearing a helmet, because a helmet protects the skull but not the jaw.
Motorcycle injuries carry risks that people outside the sport often don’t think about until they are living through one. Burns, whether from road rush against pavement or contact with a hot exhaust or engine, are among the most severe injuries a rider or passenger can sustain, and they frequently require extensive reconstructive treatment well beyond the initial hospital stay.
Her first instinct was the same one a lot of injured passengers have: she didn’t want to sue her friend. He had been doing her a favor by giving her a ride. But she also needed real medical care covered, and covering it required a claim against his insurance.
When the Friend’s Insurance Isn’t Enough, and When It Is
In a typical case, if the at-fault driver carries adequate liability coverage, the claim resolves entirely against that policy and the driver is not personally affected. The only time an at-fault driver faces personal exposure is when their insurance won’t cover the full claim, whether because they carried no coverage at all or because the policy limits are too low for the severity of the injury.
When that gap exists, an injured passenger’s own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage, if she carries it on her own auto policy, can fill it. Tennessee insurers are required to offer UM/UIM coverage on every policy under T.C.A. § 56-7-1201, though a policyholder can decline it in writing. The full mechanics of UM/UIM coverage are covered at length in
How Tennessee Motorcycle Accident Claims Actually Work and Where Riders Lose Money.
In this case, her injuries were severe enough, and her medical bills significant enough, that her health insurer’s lien against the settlement, which had originally sought $124,000, was negotiated down to nothing. Her friend’s insurance paid its policy limits, and because his policy covered the claim, he was not personally affected by the outcome.
Why Health Insurance Liens Matter Even When You’re Not Suing Anyone
A claim between friends is rarely adversarial in the way people imagine. Usually the portion of the settlement an injured passenger keeps is determined by negotiations with the health insurer and any hospital liens, not with the friend. That is true whether the at-fault party is a stranger or someone the injured person has known for years. Waiving or reducing those liens, not extracting money from a friend, is usually where the real financial outcome of the case gets decided.
What this means if you’re worried about the relationship: pursuing a claim protects your own recovery and your medical bills. It does not require blaming your friend publicly, does not typically cost your friend anything beyond what their insurance already covers, and does not have to change how you talk to each other about what happened.
Frequently Asked Questions About Motorcycle Claims Involving Friends and Family in Tennessee
If I’m hurt riding with a friend, am I suing my friend personally?
In a typical claim, no. The claim is directed at the friend’s liability insurance policy, which exists specifically to cover injuries the policyholder causes. Personal exposure for the friend is rare and generally limited to situations where no adequate insurance coverage exists.
Will filing a claim raise my friend’s insurance rates or affect them personally?
A claim may affect future premiums, similar to any other insurance claim, but it does not typically require the friend to pay out of pocket, appear in a lawsuit as a target of blame in any public sense, or lose personal assets, provided the policy covers the claim.
What if my friend doesn’t have insurance?
If the at-fault driver has no liability coverage, the injured person’s own uninsured motorist coverage, if in place, can step in under T.C.A. § 56-7-1201. Without that coverage, recovery options narrow significantly, which is one reason UM/UIM coverage matters even for passengers who don’t own a motorcycle themselves.
Can I still file a claim if I don’t want my friend to feel blamed?
Yes. A claim can proceed without a lawsuit naming the friend as a defendant in most cases, since the claim is negotiated directly with the insurance company. Many claims resolve before a lawsuit is ever filed.
What if my own health insurance wants repaid from the settlement?
Health insurers can assert subrogation rights against a settlement for medical costs they already paid, separate from anything owed to the friend. Tennessee’s Made-Whole Doctrine, from Wimberly v. American Casualty Co. of Reading, Pennsylvania, 584 S.W.2d 200 (Tenn. 1979), can limit or eliminate that repayment obligation when the injured person hasn’t been fully compensated for the loss.
Does it matter that I was a passenger and not the rider?
A passenger has the same right to recover as the operator of the motorcycle. Coverage can come from the at-fault driver’s policy, the motorcycle operator’s own policy if their negligence contributed to the crash, or the passenger’s own UM/UIM coverage, depending on the facts.
Protecting a Friendship and Protecting Your Recovery Aren’t in Conflict
The instinct to protect a relationship after a crash is a good one, and it doesn’t have to come at the cost of getting medical bills covered and being made whole. The insurance system exists to absorb exactly this kind of loss without putting the at-fault person’s finances or the friendship on the line. Understanding what a claim actually targets is usually enough to remove the guilt that keeps injured people from calling in the first place.
Joseph W. Fuson and
Mark T. Freeman are Tennessee’s Law Tigers Lawyers and attorneys at Freeman & Fuson in Nashville, Tennessee, handling motorcycle injury claims across Middle Tennessee and the state. Call
(615) 298-7272.
This article is intended for general informational purposes and is not legal advice. Every situation is different. Please consult an attorney regarding your specific circumstances.
