Although Rule 4.03 of the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure requires return of process within ninety days of its issuance, a plaintiff failing to comply with this standard may still keep his or her case alive under Rule 3. In the recent case of Monday v. Thomas, the Tennessee Court of…
The Tennessee General Assembly has passed, and the Governor has signed, legislation adding nurse practitioners to the list of people who are ordinarily exempt from subpoena to trial. Nurse practitioners are still subject to being subpoenaed to give a deposition. Here are the other people who are exempt from…
The Tennessee Court of Appeals recently held that a General Sessions plaintiff cannot skip the procedure for filing unserved process to avoid letting the statute of limitations run. Tenn. Code Ann. § 16-15-902 requires a plaintiff in General Sessions court to return process within 60 days of issuance. § 16-15-902 does…
The Tennessee Court of Appeals recently had the opportunity to discuss the doctrine of prior suit pending in a car wreck case, Farmers Insurance Exchange v. Shempert. The Shemperts filed suit for a wreck in which Mr. Shempert was injured and included his own uninsured motorist carrier, Farmers Insurance Exchange,…
This case is ugly. And when I say ugly, I mean ugly. This case is so ugly that if it tried to sit in the sand a cat would come up and bury it. This case started in Davidson County General Sessions Court. On May 6, 2010, plaintiff filed a negligence action again Davidson Transit…
In Dry v. Steele, the Tennessee Court of Appeals grappled with a procedural nightmare, including three related lawsuits separate from the one actually on appeal – a medical malpractice case, an action for interference with service of process, and a malicious prosecution case. Putting aside the morass of ancillary issues, the…
This case is an example of when it is best to leave well enough alone. Along the tortured path of this case, the parties switched positions i.e, plaintiff became defendant and vice versa. To keep it simple, I am going to refer to Ms. Allain by her last name and the two…
This case is a good illustration of a couple of points: (1) proceeding pro se is in a Tennessee personal injury case is dangerous business, and (2) judges at both the trial court and appellate level can be very patient folks. Plaintiff Jennifer Al-Athari was involved in a motor…
Do you need to file (or oppose) a motion to amend or a motion to intervene in Tennessee state court? If so, start your research with this new case from the Eastern Section of the Tennessee Court of Appeals. The appeal arises from the sale of residential real estate. Plaintiff…
When someone is harmed by another person who dies before a lawsuit is filed, the injured party can still bring a claim for damages based on the wrongdoer’s conduct as long as certain steps are closely followed in Tennessee’s survival statute, Tenn. Code Ann. § 20-5-103. When the wrongdoer…