Joseph G. DeGaetano
Joseph G. DeGaetano focuses his practice in the areas of personal injury and wrongful death, insurance, automobile, motorcycle and tractor-trailer collisions, suits against drunk drivers and the bars and businesses that serve them.
Joe DeGaetano represents injured people and their families in matters involving personal injury, wrongful death, and insurance disputes. He has represented individuals in connection with automobile and tractor trailer collisions, alcohol service liability, unsafe premises, dangerous products, medical malpractice, and workplace injuries. He is particularly interested in pursuing claims against tractor-trailer drivers and their employers, drunk drivers and the business’ that over-serve them, and other careless or reckless drivers whose insurance companies simply will not act fairly toward accident victims. Joe is licensed to practice law in Tennessee and Georgia.
Prior to entering private practice in 2001, Joe served as a judicial law clerk to Judge Phyllis A. Kravitch of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. The United States Court of Appeals is the court of last resort for all but the tiny percentage of federal litigants who are granted review by the United States Supreme Court. From 2001 until 2005, Joe worked as a personal injury and commercial litigator for one of the largest law firms in Tennessee, based in Nashville. From 2005 until 2007, he was that firm’s first and only attorney based in Chattanooga. In 2007, Joe joined the Law Offices of Morgan Adams so that he could spend more time representing injured people and their families.
Joe is licensed to practice law in Georgia and Tennessee, and is admitted to practice in all courts in those states, as well as the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, the United
States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee.
Joe is a member of the Tennessee and Chattanooga Bar Associations, the State Bar of Georgia, the Tennessee Association for Justice formerly the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association, and the American Association for Justice. He has served as a volunteer attorney for Legal Aid of East Tennessee, and recently won an award from that organization for dedicating an exceptional amount of time to the representation of indigent people.
His article “Note, The Need for a Clearer Definition of ’Affiliate’ Under the Securities Act of 1933: An Economic Argument,” was published in the Georgia Law Review,
Spring 1999. Other articles include: Uninsured or Underinsured Drivers.
Joe received his law degree, summa cum laude, from the University of Georgia in 2000. He was a member of the Order of the Coif and The Georgia Law Review, and distinguished himself by attaining the highest grades in his class (A+) in the subjects of Torts, Civil Procedure, and Criminal Law. Torts and Civil Procedure are two of the main bodies of law governing personal injury claims and lawsuits. Joe's overall grade-point-average at the University of Georgia School of Law exceeded 3.9, and earned him the rank of 2nd in a class of more than 220 students.
In 1996, Joe graduated from Vanderbilt University, magna cum laude, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics. While attending Vanderbilt, he served as president of his fraternity.
Joe is married to Heather DeGaetano, a licensed attorney who works as Development Manager for the Tennessee Aquarium. They have a daughter, and enjoy the outdoors and watching college football. Joe plays on soccer teams at Camp Jordan and the Chattanooga Sports Complex.
Law Offices of
Morgan Adams
The Adams Building
1419 Market Street
Chattanooga, TN 37402
T: 423-265-2020
Toll Free: 866-580-4878
