T. Scott Jones

About T. Scott Jones

T. Scott knows the importance of interacting with colleagues to stay abreast of developments and changes in the legal world. T. Scott frequently teaches CLE courses on trial strategy, teaching other lawyers his methods for success in the courtroom, and is certified as a Rule 31 Mediator in the Tennessee Supreme Court. He is a member of the Knoxville Bar Association, the Tennessee Bar Association, the National Trial Lawyers, and both the Tennessee and American Associations for Justice. Read more about T.Scott Jones
Apr 3, 2018

Drug Offenses and Penalties in Tennessee

By |April 3rd, 2018|Criminal Defense|0 Comments

A lot of people have to take prescription drugs to help them combat their illnesses. These medications and other controlled substances are heavily regulated, and misusing, abusing, and/or counterfeiting prescription drugs and other drugs is against the law in the state of Tennessee (and the other 49 states). We think it’s important that you know the penalties and fines related to criminal drug charges for prescription drugs. It’s not that we think you’re dealing your own [...]

Mar 28, 2018

How Dangerous is Distracted Driving?

By |March 28th, 2018|Auto Accidents|0 Comments

Distracted driving includes texting while driving, talking on your smartphone while operating a vehicle, eating, playing with the radio, looking at a GPS system, or any activity that takes your hands off the steering wheel and your eyes off the road. Distracted driving also includes driving while under the influence of alcohol and driving while drowsy. The statistics are overwhelming. Distracted driving is a leading cause of death, catastrophic injury, and permanent harm to vehicle drivers, [...]

Mar 16, 2018

Ways to Avoid a DUI charge on St. Patrick’s Day

By |March 16th, 2018|DUI|0 Comments

St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, 2018, is a day for celebration for Irish communities throughout the world including Knoxville, Tennessee. Even the non-Irish celebrate by wearing green and eating corned-beef and cabbage. For many, it’s also a day of parades and drinking. As with all drinking, there’s no problem if you don’t get behind the wheel. Drivers who do drive after consuming a few beers, an apple martini, Green Guinness, some whiskey, or other intoxicating liquors [...]

Feb 14, 2018

What is Sexual Assault in Tennessee?

By |February 14th, 2018|Criminal Defense|0 Comments

The media has been awash in stories of sexual misconduct perpetrated by men in positions of authority on vulnerable people in the entertainment industry, government, sports and other industries. After a few brave women stepped forward and reported the bad behavior of the men who had taken advantage of them, the proverbial floodgates seem to have opened and many women came forward to tell their stories. Women and men who had been sexually assaulted by men [...]

Feb 1, 2018

How to Prove Liability in a Knoxville Slip-and-Fall Case

By |February 1st, 2018|Personal Injury|0 Comments

Everybody slip and falls at some point in their lives. If you are lucky, you stand up, shake off the dirt and embarrassment and you keep on walking and trying to act as if everything is fine and hoping that no one saw you take a tumble. People slip and fall at home, at work, they trip and fall at the mall, the grocery store, on the courthouse steps and in school hallways. You might emerge [...]

Jan 15, 2018

Tennessee’s Offenses Against Person: What Criminal Homicide Actually Means

By |January 15th, 2018|Criminal Defense|0 Comments

In every day use, the word “homicide” gets swapped with the word “murder” pretty often. In Tennessee, though, those words have different meanings – and different penalties when someone is convicted of the crimes. Criminal homicide is the “unlawful killing of another person,” whether it was intentional or not. In other words, all murder is criminal homicide, but not all criminal homicide is murder. What charges fall under criminal homicide in Tennessee? What are the penalties [...]

Jan 3, 2018

A Garth Brooks Fan Almost Lost an Eye at His Concert – but “She’s Gonna Make It”

By |January 3rd, 2018|Personal Injury|0 Comments

When the music is turned up too loudly, it can hurt your ears. For one Garth Brooks fan, love of music almost cost her an eye. And while we think a good pun is pretty funny, there’s nothing funny about what happened to Jean Ann Crenshaw on December 9th while she was at a concert at the Bridgestone Arena. The short version is this: Trisha Yearwood had a surprise in store for Garth Brooks that involved [...]

Nov 29, 2017

My Property Has Been Damaged; Now What Do I Do?

By |November 29th, 2017|Auto Accidents, Personal Injury|0 Comments

Mother Nature is unpredictable; just ask the people of Gatlinburg, or Houston, or anyone in California. Humans can be unpredictable, too. As of right now, there have been 151,592 traffic crashes in Tennessee this year, and 10.429 of them have happened in Knox County. Of those 151,592 crashes: 732 were fatal 37,264 involved an injury 113,605 led to more than $400 in property damage When you’re seriously injured in a crash, your first thoughts should be [...]

Nov 15, 2017

4 Tips for Choosing the Right Personal Injury Attorney

By |November 15th, 2017|Personal Injury|0 Comments

Unlike Superman, Achilles and the other heroes of myth, we’re not invulnerable to pain and suffering.  People sustain life-threatening injuries every day: from terrifying natural disasters, unavoidable auto accidents, and simple slips. Fortunately, when you get injured, you are not alone; you can have a personal injury attorney by your side. There are a number of personal injury attorneys here in Knoxville, and choosing the right lawyer to represent you is an important choice. But how [...]

Nov 2, 2017

Congratulations, T. Scott Jones, on Your AV Preeminent® Rating!

By |November 2nd, 2017|Firm News|0 Comments

All of us at Banks and Jones would like to congratulate T. Scott Jones for obtaining an AV Preeminent® rating! The Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Ratings™ system is among the most-respected objective ratings programs for legal excellence, and is typically considered the gold standard when it comes to recognizing attorneys for their work and dedication. Unlike other ratings services, this one must be initiated by the attorneys themselves, which means only those lawyers who have earned the [...]

Oct 17, 2017

Why Many Car Accidents Happen at Intersections

By |October 17th, 2017|Auto Accidents|0 Comments

Statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration confirm that 40% of car accidents in the United States occur at intersections. Intersection accidents are common because there at least two crossing roads. Roads typically have at least two lanes of travel, which means most intersection traffic involves four lanes of travel. Cars at intersections can either turn left, right, or travel straight through the intersection. Drivers need to look out for all three types of traffic [...]

Oct 4, 2017

Understanding Tennessee’s Dram Shop Law

By |October 4th, 2017|Criminal Defense|0 Comments

In the United States, there are a lot of laws regarding the purchase, sale and consumption of alcohol, and those laws can vary from state to state. Both federal and state law require, however, that a person must be 21 years old or older before he or she can drink alcoholic beverages. There’s another law governing underage drinking in Tennessee. We call it a “dram shop” law, or social host liability. The exact wording or nature [...]

Sep 20, 2017

Legal Limits on the Acceptable Height, Width, and Length of Trucks

By |September 20th, 2017|Truck Accidents|0 Comments

Trucks are dangerous vehicles for many reasons, including their dimensions. The large height, width, and length of trucks make it difficult for small cars and motorcycles to see in front and around them. The extreme dimensions of trucks also make it much more difficult for the truck driver to see other vehicles – because most trucks rely on side mirrors and not rear-view mirrors to navigate through traffic. The most recent federal regulations for the dimensions [...]

Sep 6, 2017

Event Data Recorders Can Help Build a Case After a Car Crash

By |September 6th, 2017|Auto Accidents|0 Comments

You are driving into the sunrise or sunset when suddenly you collide with another vehicle. Finding the answers to who, what, why, and how is important in a successful auto accident case, and one method to find said answers is to look at your vehicle’s event data recorder (EDR). What is an event data recorder? The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says that an EDR is a device, installed in an automobile, that records a [...]

Aug 14, 2017

How Motorcycle Riders Can Make Themselves More Visible

By |August 14th, 2017|Motorcycle Accidents|0 Comments

There’s an old saying that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. That adage applies to motorcycle drivers and passengers. Many motorcycle accidents cause death or catastrophic injuries because the motorcycle rider can fall straight to the hard ground or be thrown into the truck or car that caused the accident. The best strategy is to try to do everything you can to avoid being hit. One of the best things drivers can [...]

Jul 19, 2017

The Dangers of the Dragon’s Tail

By |July 19th, 2017|Motorcycle Accidents|0 Comments

With 11 miles and 318 curves in Blount County, Tennessee and Swain County, North Carolina, Deals Gap is a beautiful and popular American road for motorcyclists and sports car drivers. It also is one of the most dangerous stretches of road in the United States, as the June 3rd deadly crash involving two young men demonstrates. Both the rider and the driver died after the driver lost control of his bike. Police reports show that both [...]

Jul 5, 2017

Be Aware of Summertime Dangers

By |July 5th, 2017|Personal Injury|0 Comments

Summer is time for fun in the sun, to stay cool at the pool, and other playful, rhyming activities. It’s vacation time, and you want to have the best possible experiences with your family. Still, just as it does to the other three seasons, danger casts its shadow over summer. So we want you to stay safe this year, and avoid some of the most common injuries and illnesses that occur during the warmer months. [...]

Jun 21, 2017

The Future is Now: Federal Guidelines for Driverless Vehicles

By |June 21st, 2017|Auto Accidents|0 Comments

Driverless cars used to be the perfect symbol for the future. Thanks to companies like Tesla and Google, though, the future is now – and driverless cars are a real thing. As exciting as that is, though, there are still issues when it comes to liability and driver safety, so back in 2016, the United States Government unveiled guidelines concerning driverless vehicles. The guidelines cover many points. We’ve created a summary of them here, so you [...]

Jun 7, 2017

Bristol School Bus Crash with a Semi-Truck Under Investigation

By |June 7th, 2017|Truck Accidents|0 Comments

Shortly after 6:30 a.m. on May 1, 2017, a semi-trailer, transporting material made from pine trees, rear-ended School Bus 2-H near the Avoca Baseball Field in Bristol, Tennessee. While no one was seriously injured this time (a silver lining), emergency responders sent five high school and middle school-aged students and the truck driver to hospitals for those injuries. Authorities believe that the crash was the semi driver’s fault. News Channel 11 reports that “Police said according [...]

May 24, 2017

Side Underride Truck Accidents are Preventable

By |May 24th, 2017|Truck Accidents|0 Comments

Side underride crashes where a passenger car slams into and then slides under a large, commercial truck can be devastating, and almost always end with a fatality. The trucks sit so high off the road that many smaller passenger vehicles can end up crushed underneath the truck. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration estimates that approximately 200 people are killed every year in commercial truck underride crashes. The solution to this safety problem is one that [...]

May 10, 2017

Motorcycle Accidents–Protective Clothing to Prevent Road Rash and Other Injuries

By |May 10th, 2017|Motorcycle Accidents|0 Comments

Last fall we published a blog post with tips about How to Stay Safe on Your Motorcycle This Year. Today we are going to dive a bit deeper and focus on protective gear while you are riding your motorcycle. Part of the thrill of riding a bike is feeling that connection with the world around you as travel down the road. But to be safe on a motorcycle you need to cover your body with safety [...]

Apr 26, 2017

Faulty Guardrails Causing Injury and Death in Tennessee

By |April 26th, 2017|Auto Accidents|0 Comments

There is a critical piece of safety equipment that can protect you from serious injury if it works and kill you if it fails. We are not talking about safety belts or airbags, but the guardrails that you see every day along the side of the highway, but probably don't even notice. What most drivers do not know is that not all guard rails are created the same. Some guardrail terminals, instead of slowing down a [...]

Apr 12, 2017

NHTSA Reports Seat Belt Use at an All Time High of 90%

By |April 12th, 2017|Auto Accidents|0 Comments

Seat belt use saves lives: period. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has crunched those numbers for us. In 2014, the CDC found: In fatal crashes, more than 50% of teens and adults under 44 were not wearing seat belts. About 1 in 7 people don’t use a seat belt. Overall seatbelt use throughout the country was 87%. (from DefensiveDriving.org) The National Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) published a report recently that shows overall seat [...]

Mar 22, 2017

Honda’s Self-Balancing Motorcycle

By |March 22nd, 2017|Motorcycle Accidents|0 Comments

  Our world is changing every day; new regulations and new technologies are emerging constantly. An example of this emerging new technology is autonomous vehicles, and this new technology now includes autonomous motorcycles. Honda recently showcased a motorcycle that can both drive and stabilize itself. Called “Moto Riding Assist,” Honda’s self-balancing motorcycle decreases the likelihood of the motorcycle flipping over while it merely sits in slow-moving or stopped traffic. When the motorcycle is moving at less [...]

Mar 9, 2017

Drunk Drivers Put Us All at Risk

By |March 9th, 2017|Auto Accidents|0 Comments

Drivers share the roads in Tennessee with operators of various vehicles, including motorcyclists and truckers. No one can control anyone’s actions, except for his or her own, so there’s always a risk of an auto accident because of a drunk driver out on the road. Unfortunately, sometimes auto accidents are deadly, and a recent example of deadly auto accidents is the case of Tennessee trucker Randall Weddle. What are the basic facts of the Weddle case? [...]

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