Where plaintiff’s workers’ compensation attorney received documents that provided notice of a potential HCLA claim, that notice was not imputed to plaintiff because the HCLA claim was not within the scope of the attorney’s representation of plaintiff. In Marc v. Eck, No. E2023-01643-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Aug. 29, 2024), plaintiff…
Articles Posted in Limitation of Actions
The Duty to Inquire and Limitation of Actions
Tennessee court holds that publicly available information triggered the duty to inquire and claim being barred by the statute of limitations. The Facts In First Community Bank, N.A. v. First Tennessee Bank, N.A., No. E2022-00954-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Feb. 13, 2024), plaintiff bank purchased “approximately $135 million in asset-backed securities…
Tennessee’s Discovery Rule Applied by the Court of Appeals
Where there was a question of fact regarding when plaintiff was put on notice of his potential HCLA claim, and plaintiff provided an expert affidavit in support of his claims, summary judgment based on the statute of limitations and a lack of proof on causation and damages was reversed. In…
Two-year statute of limitations did not apply where driver was cited for municipal code violation.
Where defendant received a citation for violating a Tennessee municipal ordinance in a car accident, the one-year statute of limitations applied. The limitations period was not extended to two years under Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-104(a)(2) because the municipal code violation was not a criminal charge or criminal prosecution. In…
Statute Extending Statute of Limitations Does Not Extend Time for Service of Process
Where a car accident plaintiff filed suit, had service issued but not served, and then failed to have new process issued within one year from the issuance of the first service, the plaintiff could not rely on the fact that defendant received a traffic citation in the accident to extend…
Legal malpractice claim barred by statute of limitations.
Where a pro se plaintiff knew about defendants’ alleged legal malpractice more than one year before he filed suit, summary judgment based on the statute of limitations was affirmed. In Garrett v. Weiss, No. E2022-01373-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. May 25, 2023), plaintiff filed a legal malpractice claim against defendant attorneys…
City ordinance violation does not extend Tennessee’s typical one-year personal injury statute of limitations.
Ordinarily and subject to several important exceptions, the statute of limitations in Tennessee personal injury cases is one year. One exception to that rule is Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-104(a(2), which addresses situations where the civil defendant faced criminal charges as a result of a incident giving rise to…
Dismissal based on statute of limitations affirmed; court relied on judicial notice of court file
Where the trial court took judicial notice of items from the court case underlying a tort action for invasion of privacy, abuse of process, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, it did not convert the motion to dismiss to a motion for summary judgment and dismissal of the claims based…
Tennessee HCLA Case Dismissed under Statute of Limitations.
Where a patient left the hospital with known pressure ulcers and no wound treatment plan, the statute of limitations for his HCLA (health care liability act, formerly known as medical malpractice) claim related to those skin wounds began to run on the day he was discharged from the hospital. In…
Dismissal reversed on claims against church defendants based on alleged cover-up of sexual abuse of minors.
Where plaintiffs alleged that “church entities were negligent regarding the sexual abuse of minors” by a clergyman, and the allegations included claims of fraudulent concealment through an investigation that was actually a “whitewash,” dismissal based on the statute of limitations was reversed. Further, dismissal of plaintiffs’ claim for negligent infliction…