The Court of Appeals clarified the requirements for an amended complaint to relate back to the filing date when the plaintiff mistakenly sues the wrong defendant. In Ward v. Wilkinson Real Estate Advisors, Inc., No. E2013-01256-COA-R3-CV, (Tenn. Ct. App. Nov. 30, 2013) Plaintiff sued Glazers for a slip and fall…
What constitutes "excusable neglect" under Rule 59 of the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure? Ms. Hayes, who goes by the stage name Shania Twang, entered into a written contract with Mr. Cunningham to perform in a musical show in Branson, Missouri. The show was to run a little over 5 months,…
Tennessee’s rules of civil procedure now permit the use of declarations in lieu of affidavits. TRCP Rule 72 provides as follows: Wherever these rules require or permit an affidavit or sworn declaration, an unsworn declaration made under penalty of perjury may be filed in lieu of an affidavit or sworn…
The Tennessee Court of Appeals recently issued an opinion of interest to every Tennessee personal injury lawyer. The Court of Appeals held in a car accident case that a plaintiff who serves a summons by certified mail must file the return receipt “promptly.” The court did not say what “promptly”…
T.C.A. Section 20-1-119 is one of the most important statutes for those of us who practice personal injury law in Tennessee, and the recent Mills v. Fulmarque opinion issued by the Tennessee Supreme Court has changed the way many people thought about this statute. Subject to several important limitations, the…
Tennessee summary judgment law changed on July 1, 2011 to allow the use of "put up or shut up" motions. (The law only applies to cases filed on or after July 1.) This change will increase the use of summary judgment motions in Tennessee and will probably result in…
The Tennessee Supreme Court has ruled that Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007), and Ashcroft v.Iqbal, ___ U.S. ___, 129 S. Ct. 1937 (2009) do not apply to cases filed in Tennessee state courts. The extremely well-written opinion marshals the arguments against the application of the federal standard…
The authors of this article have called for substantial changes in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Included in their proposals is this call for shifting the cost of discovery: In General. A party submitting a request for discovery is required to pay the reasonable costs incurred by the…
The Nevada Supreme Court has affirmed a trial judge order that struck a defendant’s ability to argue liability, limiting it to contesting compensatory damages. In Bahena v. Goodyear, the trial judge struck the defendant’s answer as to liability after it failed to follow prior court orders concerning several discovery…
The Kentucky Supreme Court has ruled that a plaintiff who asserted a claim of mental injury waived her right to assert that the psychotherapist-patient privilege protected her prior mental health records. In Dudley v. Jefferson Circuit Court, 2010-SC-000458-M (Ken. S.C. 6/10/2011) plaintiff brought a medical malpractice claim alleging, inter alia,…