Miscellaneous

June 6, 2016

Proof of Actual Malice in False Light Case

A recent Court of Appeals case serves as a reminder of the difficulty of proving actual malice in a false light claim made by a public official.

In Eisenstein v. WTVF-TV, No. M2015-00422-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. May 3, 2016), plaintiff was a Davidson County General Sessions Judge suing a TV station and various reporters regarding a story aired in 2011. The story focused on whether plaintiff “hired an unlicensed individual to act as a psychologist for the drug court program.” The Court of Appeals opinion contained a transcript of the broadcast, which revolved around a Dr. Casey who was paid by the drug court and allegedly held out to some drug court defendants to be a psychologist, but who was not in fact licensed as a psychologist in Tennessee. The report included a statement that plaintiff judge “wanted to put Casey on staff using federal money, writing in this memo that Casey had proven himself an excellent psychologist.” The broadcast showed the reporter approaching plaintiff judge, and plaintiff not answering questions posed by the reporter.

Plaintiff argued that the “broadcast placed him in a false light by implying that he lied on a federal grant application and by indicating that he was uncooperative.” Because plaintiff was a public figure, he had to show actual malice to prove his false light claim, and defendants moved for summary judgment on the basis of plaintiff’s inability to make such a showing.

June 3, 2016

No Reasonable Reliance in Money Washing Scheme

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

In a 40-plus page opinion that reads like a prince-handing-out-gold email scam, the Tennessee Supreme Court affirmed a trial court’s judgment that a plaintiff had not proven intentional misrepresentation because his reliance on the statements made could not possibly have been reasonable.

In Estate of Lambert v. Fitzgerald, No. E2015-00905-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. April 28, 2016), plaintiff had known defendant attorney for over forty years. Defendant somehow became involved with an “investment” scheme wherein he was promised astronomical returns on his money. Defendant was giving large sums of cash to a “diplomat” in London, who had obtained possession of six crates containing a total of $150,000,000 in U.S. currency from a man in South Africa. The money, though, allegedly had to be washed and go through various other procedures to be released. Upon its release, defendant said he had been promised $25,000,000. At some point, defendant got plaintiff involved with the promise that plaintiff too would receive $25,000,000, and plaintiff began writing large checks to defendant when asked to do so for the investment. The head of this investment scheme, Brindley, kept giving reasons it failed to close when promised—an additional license was needed, the money had to be moved to a mint in Scotland, he had to get an anti-terrorism certificate from the government—and asking for more money to help accomplish the eventual release of the cash. All information plaintiff received about the investment came from defendant, and plaintiff only spoke to Brindley two times on the phone. Even after multiple promised payout dates fell through, plaintiff continued to give more money to the scheme. Plaintiff ultimately “invested” more than $500,000 in the scheme through defendant, and defendant alleged that he invested $517,000 of his own money as well.

April 5, 2016

2016 Day on Torts Book Supplement Available

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

Day on Torts: Leading Cases in Tennessee Tort Law is in its third edition, and now that edition is being supplemented with a 300+ page volume.

The 650+ page third edition of the book contains a ready reference to hundreds of leading Tennessee tort cases, organized by subject. The 2016 supplement adds eight new chapters, 91 new sections, and over 160 new cases. Some cases which I previously designated as “leading cases” have been supplanted by other, more recent decisions.

I compiled the cases for this book to give Tennessee tort lawyers and judges an easy way to find the leading case on any particular tort law subject, giving them a starting place for more in depth research.

January 7, 2016

Gross Negligence Affirmed where Advertisement Misrepresented Mini Storage

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

In Kuhn v. Panter, No. M2015-00260-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Nov. 25, 2015), the Court of Appeals affirmed a finding of gross negligence against the owners of a mini storage facility.

Here, defendants had advertised the mini storage facility as “clean and dry.” Plaintiffs rented one of the units in 2011 and stored many personal belongings there, including photographs, a family Bible, clothes and furniture. In May 2013, plaintiffs found that their unit had flooded and ruined all of their personal property.

Plaintiffs filed suit in sessions court and were awarded a judgment there, which defendants appealed to circuit court. During a bench trial, the evidence showed that the building had “drainage issues” during construction and the city issued a stop work order on it. Moreover, when the building was eventually completed, there was never a final inspection by the city and a certificate of occupancy was never issued. A witness for plaintiffs testified that the building housing their storage unit was “eleven inches lower than the surrounding storage buildings.” Further, it was shown that an “agent [of defendants] testified in a prior hearing that the unit rented to [plaintiffs] had flooded on a prior occasion.” Based on these facts, the trial court found defendants had committed gross negligence, and the Court of Appeals affirmed.

December 8, 2015

Parents Win Dismissal of Case For Allowing Minor Daughter to Drive ATV

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

In Ward v. Ward, No. M2014-02237-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Oct. 30, 2015), plaintiff sued for injuries her daughter sustained in an ATV accident. Daughter, who was 15 years old, was staying with her step-grandmother, the defendant in this action. Defendant gave daughter permission to drive defendant’s ATV to accompany defendant’s nephew as he drove a friend home. The destination was approximately one mile from defendant’s home. Daughter’s friend rode on the ATV with her. Daughter drove to the destination, but before returning to defendant’s home daughter switched with her friend and her friend drove on the return trip. The friend failed to make a turn and drove the ATV off a cliff.

Plaintiff asserted several theories of liability, but the only claims at issue on appeal were for negligent entrustment and negligent supervision. The trial court granted summary judgment to defendant on both of these claims, and the Court of Appeals affirmed.

To prove negligent entrustment, “a plaintiff must demonstrate that (1) a chattel was entrusted, (2) to a person incompetent to use it, (3) with knowledge that the person is incompetent, and (4) that its use is the proximate cause of injury or damage to another.” (internal citation omitted). Defendant first asserted that she was entitled to summary judgment because she only entrusted the ATV to daughter, not to the friend. Defendant pointed to testimony given by daughter in her first deposition where she testified that Defendant told her to drive. Plaintiff refuted this fact, though, with evidence that during daughter’s second deposition she testified that defendant did not specify who was supposed to drive, and that defendant told daughter and friend that “they” could use the ATV. The Court found that this evidence created a genuine issue of material fact, so summary judgment was not appropriate based on the argument that defendant did not entrust the ATV to the friend.

November 29, 2015

On Eulogies and Obituaries

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

Keith Lee at Associate’s Mind has a great post titled “Do You Feed Your Resume or Your Eulogy?” He was inspired to write the post by this column written by David Brooks.

Keith starts his post with these words from Brocks’ column: “It occurred to me that there were two sets of virtues, the résumé virtues and the eulogy virtues. The résumé virtues are the skills you bring to the marketplace.”The eulogy virtues are the ones that are talked about at your funeral ….”

Both the column and the post are worth the read. About ten years ago I started moving down the “eulogy” path, deciding I would not undertake any new professional association, etc. work unless it was something I wanted to do and wanted in my obituary. There are just too many demands and too little time. As a result, I have turned down many opportunities that were presented to me but have managed to spend more time with my family and on my practice.

October 22, 2015

Circumstantial Evidence and Summary Judgment

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

In Jenkins v. Big City Remodeling, No. E2014-01612-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Sept. 29, 2015), plaintiffs had hired defendant general contractor to construct a home for them. General contractor, in turn, had hired defendant flooring subcontractor for the project. When the home was almost complete, it caught fire and resulted in a total loss. Plaintiffs sued the general contractor and subcontractor for negligence, including negligence based on the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur. The trial court granted summary judgment to all defendants. On appeal, the Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment as to the general contractor but reversed as to the claim of negligence against the flooring subcontractor.

The facts established that the day before the fire, the owners had been in the home, and they had retained a key during construction. Further, the construction site was not fenced or otherwise blocked from public access. When the fire occurred, one of the only remaining projects was to stain the wood floors in the home. On the day of the fire, several subcontractors had been working on the house, including Julian Luu, who was working on the floor stain. Based on camera footage from a neighboring property, Mr. Luu was the last person to leave the property at around 6:10 p.m., and the fire started around 7:50 p.m.

Plaintiffs’ theory was that the flooring subcontractors, who had been known to smoke a lot on the site, “allowed flammable rags to remain on or near the exterior deck and also smoked cigarettes in the area.” Plaintiffs claimed that “the improper disposal of cigarette butts resulted in the stain-soaked rags igniting, causing the fire.” Although the fire destroyed any evidence of rags, buckets with staining rags and cigarette butts were found in a dumpster on the property. Plaintiffs’ expert testified that “he believed the fire began on the exterior deck,” but the expert admitted that he could not be certain and that he could not conclusively rule out arson or electrical problems.

July 1, 2015

The Probable Cause Defense to Malicious Prosecution Claims

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

A recent Court of Appeals decision serves as a good refresher on the elements and defenses in a malicious prosecution case. In Preston v. Blalock, No. M2014-01739-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. May 29, 2015), tenant’s plastic surgery business had signed a lease to rent landlord’s office suite. Tenant stopped paying rent, and landlord filed a breach of contract claim for rent, build-out costs and attorneys’ fees. Landlord was awarded a default judgment, and tenant eventually paid to satisfy that judgment. Landlord subsequently filed another complaint seeking additional attorneys’ fees. Landlord then nonsuited that complaint but filed again seeking additional rent that he claimed had come due.

While this complaint was pending, tenant filed an abuse of process complaint against landlord. The factual basis for tenant’s complaint was that landlord had filed against tenant personally as a guarantor before filing against the business as the principal, that landlord had filed a document entitled partial satisfaction of judgment when tenant had paid the entire judgment, that landlord had given “false and misleading testimony at depositions,” and that landlord had filed “a multiplicity of claims in order to drive up the amount of attorney’s fees.” The trial court granted summary judgment to landlord in the abuse of process case.

After the abuse of process case was finalized, landlord filed a complaint alleging malicious prosecution against tenant and tenant’s lawyer. He asserted that “defendants filed the abuse of process suit…for an improper purpose and without probable cause in an attempt to gain an advantage in the pending breach of lease litigation[.]” The trial court granted summary judgment to tenant/defendant, and the Court of Appeals affirmed.

March 16, 2015

Sandy Hook Parents Sue Mother of Murderer

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

The parents of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting have sued the shooter’s mother.

The complaint alleges that the late Nancy Lanza, mother of Adam Lanza, negligently allowed her son access to the Bushmaster A-15 used in the shootings when she knew or should have known made her son a danger to others.

The shootings resulted in the deaths of twenty children and six adults.

February 4, 2015

Tennessee Supreme Court Oral Arguments Scheduled

by The Law Offices of John Day, P.C.

Here are the civil cases set for oral argument in Nashville on February 4 and 5, 2015:

The Chattanooga-Hamilton Co. Hospital Authority d/b/a Erlanger Health Systems v. United Healthcare Plan of the River Valley, Inc. d/b/a Americhoice and TN Attorney General – Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga filed suit against Americhoice claiming that the TennCare-managed health plan did not pay in full for services rendered in its emergency room. Americhoice, which did not have a contract with the hospital, said they were only responsible for the rates specified in the TennCare regulations. The hospital’s claims were dismissed by the trial court, but the Court of Appeals reversed. The Supreme Court will hear the appeal of Americhoice and the Tennessee Attorney General.
Action Chiropractic Clinic, LLC v. Prentice Delon Hyler & Erie Ins. Exchange– This case involves a patient of Action Chiropractic Clinic of Nashville who assigned his rights to an insurance settlement over to the clinic, which was treating him for injuries caused in an automobile accident. Erie Insurance Exchange did not honor the assignment. Action Chiropractic Clinic sued, but the trial court ruled for Erie. The Court of Appeals agreed. The Supreme Court will consider whether such assignment of insurance proceeds is allowed.
Richard Moreno v. City of Clarksville – Mr. Moreno filed a claim with the State Division of Claims Administration after a tree on state property fell on his car and injured him. The claim was then passed along to the Claims Commission and Mr. Moreno filed a complaint there. The state then alleged that the City of Clarksville was also to blame for the injury. When Mr. Moreno filed suit against the City of Clarksville, the city said the deadline for filing a complaint had passed. The trial court agreed, but the Court of Appeals said he had met the requirements by filing the original Claims Commission complaint on time. The Supreme Court will consider whether the requirements were indeed fulfilled.
In re Estate of Sarah Margaret Wilkins – This case from Robertson County considers whether a son who had a health care power of attorney for his mother was required to submit to arbitration before proceeding with a lawsuit against the nursing home for abuse and neglect of his mother. The trial court said the arbitration was required, but the Court of Appeals disagreed. The Supreme Court will determine if the son was authorized to execute an arbitration agreement on behalf of his mother.