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Where plaintiff was injured by a dangerous condition on state property created by the gross negligence of a state employee, the Claims Commission Act did not provide a cause of action.

In Gordon v. State of Tennessee, No. W2023-01012-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Oct. 10, 2024), plaintiff child was injured when she cut her foot on a broken metal pipe under the surface of a state-owned lake. Plaintiff and her mom filed an action with the Claims Commission pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann. § 9-8-307(a)(1)(C), which “relat[es] to negligently created or maintained dangerous conditions on state property.”

The Claims Commission initially ruled for plaintiff, finding that the pipe remnant was left in the lake when the pipe was replaced, and that “the child’s injury was foreseeable and proximately caused by the State’s negligence.” The State filed a motion to alter or amend, arguing that the Recreational Use Statute provided immunity here. The Claims Commission agreed that the Recreational Use Statute applied, but it ruled that the facts of this case constituted gross negligence, which is an exception to immunity under the Recreational Use Statute. The Claims Commission affirmed the damages award to plaintiff, and defendant State appealed.

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The Tennessee Supreme Court has affirmed that the filing of a TPPA petition to dismiss by a defendant does not bar a plaintiff from voluntarily dismissing a case.

In Flade v. City of Shelbyville, — S.W.3d —, No. M2022-00553-SC-R11-CV (Tenn. Oct. 9, 2024), plaintiff filed suit against several defendants asserting claims for libel, intentional interference with business, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. These claims were based on statements allegedly made by defendants about plaintiff on social medial and through text messages.

In addition to motions to dismiss, two defendants filed petitions to dismiss under the Tennessee Public Protection Act (“TPPA”). Before the scheduled hearing for these petitions, plaintiff filed a notice of voluntary dismissal. The trial court dismissed the matter without prejudice pursuant to Tennessee Rule of Civil Procedure 41.01, and it denied defendants’ “Notice of Intent to Proceed” with their TPPA petitions. The Court of Appeals affirmed the allowance of the nonsuit and the refusal to consider defendants’ TPPA petitions thereafter, and in this opinion, the Tennessee Supreme Court affirmed this ruling.

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The following graphs demonstrate the resolution of personal injury, wrongful death, and other tort cases in Unicoi County, Tennessee during the last six fiscal years ending June 30, 2023.

BirdDog Law shares this information for every county in Tennessee. Click on BirdDog’s County Pages, go to the county of choice, and click on Court Statistics.

Click on the link for more information on the Unicoi County court system.

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Where there was a question of fact regarding when the plaintiff should have discovered her injury in a health care liability case, as the pain she experienced was a potential side effect of her dental procedures, summary judgment for the defendant dentist was reversed.

In Price v. The Center for Family and Implant Dentistry, PLLC, No. E2023-01100-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Oct. 8, 2024), plaintiff filed an HCLA claim against defendant dentist after being told by another dentist that dentures could not be made to fit the implants installed by defendant. Plaintiff began her treatment with defendant in April 2019, which involved extracting all her teeth and installing implants in preparation for dentures. After procedures in June, August and October 2019, plaintiff experienced pain, but she was told these were normal side effects. Plaintiff also noticed that her temporary dentures would slip out of her mouth. According to plaintiff, she received wax rims on December 9, 2019, but adjustments needed to be made. Plaintiff returned in February 2020 to try the new set of teeth. According to plaintiff, defendant was rude at the appointment, so plaintiff met with a different dentist thereafter. That dentist, as well as another dentist, informed her that teeth could not be made that would fit the existing implants.

Plaintiff gave pre-suit notice under the HCLA on December 8, 2020, then subsequently filed this malpractice action. Defendant moved for summary judgment based on the statute of limitations, arguing that plaintiff experienced pain, bleeding and other symptoms after her June 2019 procedure; that she experienced complications after her October 2019 procedure; and that her temporary dentures did not fit in 2019. Based on these facts, defendant argued that plaintiff should have discovered her injury well before December 9, 2019, making her suit untimely. The trial court agreed and granted defendant summary judgment, but the Court of Appeals reversed.

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The following graphs demonstrate the resolution of personal injury, wrongful death, and other tort cases in Fentress County, Tennessee during the last six fiscal years ending June 30, 2023.

BirdDog Law shares this information for every county in Tennessee. Click on BirdDog’s County Pages, go to the county of choice, and click on Court Statistics.

Click on the link for more information on the Fentress County court system.

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Where the trial court found plaintiff credible, and defendant city presented no material countervailing evidence, a GTLA verdict for plaintiff was affirmed.

In a memorandum opinion in Clay v. Memphis Sanitation Division, No. W2023-00519-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Oct. 1, 2024) (memorandum opinion), plaintiff filed suit under the GTLA based on an injury he received while standing near a garbage truck. Plaintiff was a contractor completing a home improvement project at a client’s home. The project included replacing a door. Plaintiff placed the old door on the curb next to a garbage can, but later remembered that the door had an alarm sensor. When he went outside to retrieve the sensor, the garbage truck came by.

According to plaintiff, one of the workers engaged him in a conversation about a potential project. Plaintiff testified that he had his back to the truck, and a second worker put the door into the truck and started the compactor. When the compactor started, the door rose and struck plaintiff in the head.

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The following graphs demonstrate the resolution of personal injury, wrongful death, and other tort cases in Humphreys County, Tennessee during the last six fiscal years ending June 30, 2023.

BirdDog Law shares this information for every county in Tennessee. Click on BirdDog’s County Pages, go to the county of choice, and click on Court Statistics.

Click on the link for more information on the Humphreys County court system.

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The following graphs demonstrate the resolution of personal injury, wrongful death, and other tort cases in Union County, Tennessee during the last six fiscal years ending June 30, 2023.

BirdDog Law shares this information for every county in Tennessee. Click on BirdDog’s County Pages, go to the county of choice, and click on Court Statistics.

Click on the link for more information on the Union County court system.

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Summary judgment for a landlord in a premises liability suit was reversed where the landlord had not installed a stair rail (also known as a handrail) up to code.

In Franz v. Funes, No. E2023-01256-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Sept. 30, 2024), plaintiff leased a residential property from defendant, who owned and built the property. The townhouse had stairs connecting the first and second floor, but the stairs only had a handrail on the bottom portion and “lacked a code-compliant handrail going the length of the stairs.” When going down the stairs one morning, plaintiff fell and injured himself.

Plaintiff filed this premises liability case asserting claims for negligence and negligence per se. The defendant landlord moved for summary judgment, which the trial court granted, relying heavily on the finding that the dangerous condition was open and obvious and that defendant thus had no duty. The trial court also found that summary judgment was appropriate based on plaintiff’s comparative fault. On appeal, summary judgment was reversed.

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A third complaint filed more than one year after dismissal of the original complaint did not fall within the savings statute and was time barred.

In Abdou v. Brown, No. 2023-01593-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Sept. 23, 2024), plaintiff filed a complaint alleging several tort claims, including assault, battery, and trespass. This was the third complaint alleging these claims against the same defendant. The first complaint was filed in July 2017 and voluntarily dismissed in September 2019. The second complaint was filed in October 2019 and voluntarily dismissed in September 2022. This third complaint was filed in September 2023.

Defendant filed a motion to dismiss based on the statute of limitations. The trial court granted dismissal, and the Court of Appeals affirmed.

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