Attorney Portrait

In March 2026, a Los Angeles jury awarded $6 million to a family whose child was harmed by Instagram and YouTube. By June 2026, approximately 2,700 families nationwide had filed similar lawsuits — and Meta, TikTok, Snap, and Google had already begun settling cases.

If your Middle Tennessee child or family member developed depression, anxiety, an eating disorder, body dysmorphia, self-harm, or suicidal thoughts tied to heavy use of Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook, or YouTube, you may qualify to file the same kind of claim.

Tennessee’s one-year filing deadline is one of the shortest in the country. Do not wait. Call 866-837-1010 today for a free, confidential case review. You pay nothing unless we win.

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Quick Eligibility Check

You may qualify if all four of the following apply:

  • ✓ The user is 25 or younger today, or was a minor when heavy use began
  • ✓ They used Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook, or YouTube 3 or more hours per day, starting before age 18
  • ✓ They were diagnosed with depression, anxiety, an eating disorder, body dysmorphia, self-harm, or suicidal thoughts
  • ✓ They received treatment from a doctor, psychiatrist, therapist, or counselor

All four boxes checked? Call 866-837-1010 — your case may be ready to file.

Not sure about one? Call 866-837-1010 anyway. Our intake team walks through your situation at no cost and no obligation.

Social Media Addiction Lawsuit at a Glance

  • Litigation: In re: Social Media Adolescent Addiction / Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation, MDL 3047
  • Court: U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
  • Judge: Hon. Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers
  • Defendants: Meta (Instagram, Facebook), ByteDance (TikTok), Snap Inc. (Snapchat), Google (YouTube)
  • Cases pending: Approximately 2,700 individual claims as of June 2026
  • First bellwether verdict: $6 million for the plaintiff — KGM v. Meta Platforms, Inc. (March 2026)
  • Tennessee filing deadline: Just 1 year from injury — one of the shortest in the U.S. Product-liability claims allow up to 6 years. Wrongful death: 1 year from death.
  • Attorney fees: 33–40% contingency — you pay nothing unless we win

Tennessee’s One-Year Deadline — Why Nashville Families Must Act Quickly

Under Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-104, Tennessee personal injury claims must generally be filed within one year of the date of injury — one of the shortest filing deadlines in the United States. Most other states allow two or three years; Tennessee allows one.

Product liability claims — the legal theory used against social media platforms — can extend up to six years under Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-28-103, subject to a 10-year statute of repose. For minors, the clock is tolled until age 18, at which point the minor generally has one year to file. For wrongful death (including suicide), the deadline is one year from the date of death under Tenn. Code Ann. § 20-5-113.

The bottom line: call us immediately. Even waiting a few months can be fatal to your case. We will tell you the exact deadline that applies to your situation and what evidence to preserve.

Why Nashville Families Choose Fob James Law Firm

Tennessee-licensed attorneys. Fob James IV is licensed in Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. We file directly in Tennessee state and federal courts.

You speak with your lawyer. Direct attorney access — no call center, no paralegals running your case.

Lower contingency fees. 33-40% versus the 45% charged by many national mass tort firms.

Selective representation. Fewer cases, more attention. Your family is not lost in a queue of thousands.

More than 40 years of combined trial experience holding corporations accountable in pharmaceutical, medical device, toxic exposure, and personal injury matters.

No fee unless we win. Pure contingency basis. No upfront cost.

Nashville-Area Mental Health Providers

We work with families whose children received care at major Middle Tennessee providers, including:

  • Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt — pediatric inpatient and outpatient psychiatric services
  • Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital — adolescent and adult psychiatric care
  • TriStar Centennial Medical Center — behavioral health services
  • Rolling Hills Hospital — adolescent and adult psychiatric residential treatment
  • Cumberland Heights — adolescent substance use and co-occurring mental health treatment
  • Park Center, Centerstone, and other community mental health providers
  • The Renfrew Center of Nashville — eating disorder treatment
  • Tennessee Eating Disorders Center — specialized eating disorder care
  • Private practice psychiatrists, psychologists, and licensed therapists across the Nashville metro

Strong clinical documentation from these providers — including intake assessments, treatment plans, and notes referencing social media use — is often the foundation of a successful claim.

Nashville-Area School Districts

We represent families whose children attended schools across the region, including Metro Nashville Public Schools, Williamson County Schools, Rutherford County Schools, Wilson County Schools, Sumner County Schools, Cheatham County Schools, Robertson County Schools, Franklin Special School District, Lebanon Special School District, Murfreesboro City Schools, and private and independent schools across the region. School records — attendance, counselor notes, behavioral records, academic performance trends — are often pivotal in establishing causation.

What Is the Social Media Addiction Lawsuit?

Families across the U.S. have sued Meta (Facebook and Instagram), ByteDance (TikTok), Snap Inc. (Snapchat), and Google (YouTube) alleging that the platforms were designed to be addictive to minors and that the companies hid the foreseeable mental-health harms from parents.

The federal cases are consolidated as MDL 3047 before Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in the Northern District of California. Tennessee plaintiffs file individual federal cases that are transferred into the MDL.

In March 2026, a Los Angeles jury delivered a $6 million verdict against Meta and Google in the first individual bellwether trial. In May 2026, all four platforms collectively settled the Breathitt County (KY) federal school district bellwether before trial. As of June 2026, approximately 2,700 individual cases are pending in MDL 3047, plus more than 800 school district cases.

The lawsuits allege the platforms used addictive design (infinite scroll, push notifications, algorithmic feeds, variable-reward mechanisms), knew internally about the mental-health harms, failed to warn parents, failed to implement meaningful age verification, and amplified harmful content for vulnerable minors through their recommendation algorithms.

Do You Qualify?

A Nashville social media addiction claim generally requires:

  • The user is 25 or younger now, or was a minor when sustained heavy use began
  • The use was sustained — typically three or more hours per day on one or more major platforms (Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook, YouTube)
  • The pattern began before age 18
  • A documented diagnosable injury — depression, anxiety, eating disorder, body dysmorphic disorder, self-harm, suicidal ideation, suicide attempt, or completed suicide
  • Treatment by a clinician (Vanderbilt, Rolling Hills, Centerstone, private practice provider, etc.)
  • Evidence connecting platform use to the harm (clinical records, school records, screen-time data, family observations)

Not sure? Call us at 866-837-1010. Initial consultations are free and confidential — and unlike most things, they don’t run on Tennessee’s one-year clock.

What Are Tennessee’s Damages Caps?

Tennessee imposes statutory caps on certain damages in personal injury cases:

  • Non-economic damages (pain and suffering, mental anguish): capped at $750,000 under Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-39-102, with higher caps available for catastrophic injuries
  • Punitive damages: capped at the greater of two times compensatory damages or $500,000 under Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-39-104
  • Economic damages (medical expenses, lost income): no cap

The application of these caps in social media addiction litigation is being litigated. We will advise you on how the caps may affect your case.

Frequently Asked Questions

Tennessee’s one-year deadline scares me. Is there any way around it?

There are limited tolling provisions: minor status, mental incapacity, fraudulent concealment, defendant absence from the state, and the discovery rule. Product liability claims have a longer window (up to six years) than typical personal injury. But you should not rely on tolling. Call us today to confirm your specific deadline.

My child was treated at Vanderbilt. Will those records help our case?

Yes — Vanderbilt’s pediatric psychiatric records are often detailed and well-organized, which is helpful for establishing diagnosis, treatment course, and causation. We can help you request complete records.

Will you handle Memphis or Knoxville cases too?

Yes. We represent families across all of Tennessee, including Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga, and rural communities. We can meet by phone, video conference, or in person depending on what works for you.

My child has a pre-existing diagnosis of anxiety. Does that hurt our case?

Pre-existing conditions do not bar recovery, but they affect the causation analysis. Defendants will argue the pre-existing condition caused the harm rather than platform use. Strong clinical documentation showing the worsening of symptoms tied to the period of heavy use is critical.

Can I sue if my child died by suicide?

Yes. The personal representative of the estate may file a wrongful death claim. In Tennessee, wrongful death must be filed within one year of the date of death. The first step is opening an estate and being appointed personal representative. We can help with that process.

How are settlement values determined?

There is no public settlement matrix yet. Values will be informed by the next several bellwether trials. Factors include injury severity, treatment costs, evidence of causation, the platform(s) involved, the user’s age, and the strength of damages evidence. Some early projections place individual personal injury cases in the high five-figure to low seven-figure range, but actual outcomes will depend on the bellwether trajectory.

Contact a Nashville Social Media Addiction Lawyer

Tennessee’s one-year deadline does not wait. Call Fob James Law Firm today at 866-837-1010 for a free, confidential case evaluation. We will tell you whether you have a viable claim, what the filing deadline is, and what evidence to preserve.

No cost to call. No obligation. No fee unless we win.