The Tennessee Supreme Court recently reversed a Court of Appeals opinion and reinstated a trial court’s refusal to grant a motion to alter or amend. The trial court had granted defendant’s summary judgment motion based on plaintiff’s HCLA expert being unqualified to testify as to causation and plaintiff not obtaining…
Sometimes companies that do business or cause harm in Tennessee have not registered to do business in Tennessee or have not appointed a registered agent in the state. If you want to sue them in a civil action (but not a worker’s compensation action), on whom to you serve the…
Motions to amend a complaint or answer are a routine part of trial practice in Tennessee state court. Here is a recent statement on the law of motions to amend: Trial courts have broad authority to decide motions to amend pleadings and will not be reversed absent an abuse of…
Rule 15 of the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure allows complaints and answers to be amended under the conditions set forth in the rule, but amendments do not make the statements in the original pleading disappear. In Lanier v. Bane, No. M2000-03199-COA-R3CV, 2004 WL 1268956, at *2 (Tenn. Ct. App.…
Tennessee law will permit a plaintiff who properly voluntarily dismisses a suit in state to timely re-file it and avoid a statute of limitations defense, but the correct procedure must be followed. Frye v. Blue Ridge Neuroscience Center, P.C., 70 S .W.3d 710, 716-717 (Tenn.2002) tells us that “absent service…
Occasionally, a plaintiff does not learn until after more than one-year after an event that the person who caused plaintiff’s injuries and losses was working in the course and scope of employment at the time of the incident. How can a plaintiff add the employer as a party defendant and…
A defendant sued within the statute of limitations states in its answer or amended answer that a person not a party to the lawsuit negligently contributed to cause plaintiff’s injuries. Plaintiff decides to sue the nonparty, and rely on Tenn. Code Ann. §20-1-119 to avoid a statute of limitations defense.…
An order awarding sanctions to defendants after plaintiffs sent a letter to healthcare providers allegedly interfering with ex parte interviews between defense counsel and the deceased’s patients former healthcare providers was not appealable as a final order. In Ibsen v. Summit View of Farragut, LLC, No. E2018-01249-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App.…
Does a plaintiff have the right to amend a complaint while a motion to dismiss is pending and no answer has been filed? Yes. Rule 15.01 of the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure provides a party may amend its pleading “once as a matter of course at any time before…
The Tennessee Supreme Court has adopted proposed amendments to several rules of civil procedure. Rules 5 and 5B have been amended to account for changes in the court system given the expansion of e-filing across the state. Rule 33 has been amended in the hope of eliminating gamesmanship in answering…