Close

Day on Torts

Updated:

Public Duty Doctrine Applied To Eliminate Claim

Where a sheriff’s deputy owed a duty to the public at large, but not to plaintiff specifically, to protect cars from running into a downed tree on a state highway, the Public Duty Doctrine barred plaintiff’s GTLA suit and dismissal of plaintiff’s case was affirmed. In Kimble v. Dyer County…

Updated:

Tennessee “Discovery Rule” Applied to Vehicle Crash Case

Where plaintiff knew her husband was killed in a car accident with a firefighter but did not know all the details regarding how the accident occurred, the one-year statute of limitations began to run on the day of the crash and her GTLA suit that was filed more than one…

Updated:

Unsworn declaration created issue of fact to oppose summary judgment.

Where plaintiff filed a declaration in response to defendants’ motion for summary judgment that sought to amend her prior deposition testimony based on her nervousness during the deposition and her refreshed recollection of the incident in question, the Court of Appeals ruled that the declaration should have been considered and…

Updated:

Justice Programs Offering On-Demand CLE

Tennessee Justice Programs has released it Fall 2020 on-demand video seminar CLE programs. Former Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Penny White, former Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Joe Riley, and I started Justice Programs almost 20 years ago.  The seminar program is designed for civil trial practitioners who are interested in…

Updated:

No reasonable reliance on warranty deed where lien was publicly recorded.

Where plaintiffs claimed intentional misrepresentation based on a warranty deed stating that property being conveyed was free from encumbrances, but a bank held a lien on the property and had recorded a deed of trust eight years before the transaction, plaintiffs’ reliance on the warranty deed was not reasonable. In…

Updated:

HCLA pre-suit notice addressed to administrator as an individual did not provide notice to health care facility.

Where an HCLA plaintiff attempted to sue defendant medical center but sent pre-suit notice to the center’s administrator addressed only to the administrator and not referencing the center, dismissal based on a lack of pre-suit notice was affirmed. In Webb v. Trevecca Center for Rehabilitation and Healing, LLC,  No. M2019-01300-COA-R3-CV…

Updated:

Tennessee’s Rule 11 Will Require Email Address on Pleadings

The Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure will be changed July 1, 2021 to require the disclosure of the filer’s email address on papers filed in court.  The rule change still must be approved by the General Assembly.   UPDATE:  The proposed rule change was approved by the General Assembly on…

Updated:

Need CLE? Justice Programs Offers On-Demand Video For Lawyers Who Want to Learn

Tennessee Justice Programs has released it Fall 2020 on-demand video seminar CLE programs. Former Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Penny White, former Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Joe Riley, and I started Justice Programs almost 20 years ago.  The seminar program is designed for civil trial practitioners who are interested in…

Updated:

Dismissal Based on Lack of Foreseeability Reversed.

Where plaintiffs, who were suing on behalf of an employee of an independent contractor on a construction project, alleged facts sufficient to meet the “minimum threshold of foreseeability” against the defendant general contractor, and where discovery had not yet occurred to allow for the inspection of the contracts between the…

Updated:

Expert affidavit created issues of fact to withstand summary judgment in HCLA case

Where an HCLA plaintiff presented expert testimony that defendant doctor deviated from the standard of care for a patient in respiratory distress by “failing to provide necessary treatment before ending his shift,” summary judgment for defendant was reversed because genuine issues of material fact existed. In Davis v. Ellis, No.…

Contact Us