Day on Torts

March 22, 2024

Legal malpractice dismissal based on statute of limitations affirmed.

Where the substance of a complaint sounded in legal malpractice, and the complaint was filed more than one year after plaintiff should have been aware that he had been injured by the alleged negligence, judgment on the pleadings for defendants was affirmed.

In Houbbadi v. Kennedy Law Firm, PLLC, No. M2022-01166-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Jan. 9, 2024), plaintiff filed a complaint against the law firm and lawyers that had previously represented him in a divorce and order of protection proceeding. In his complaint, plaintiff asserted that defendants defrauded plaintiff when he hired them, failed to represent plaintiff in good faith, and agreed to a continuance when they should not have. Plaintiff argued that defendants’ failure to move for him to have exclusive possession of the marital residence led to him returning to the house and murdering his wife.

The trial court granted defendants judgment on the pleadings, ruling that to the extent plaintiff claimed breach of contract and fraud, those claims were not pled with sufficient particularity, and to the extent he claimed legal malpractice, the claim was time barred. The ruling for defendants was affirmed on appeal.

March 21, 2024

Davidson County Tort Case Statistics and Outcomes – July 1, 2017- June 30, 2023

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

The following graphs demonstrate the resolution of personal injury, wrongful death, and other tort cases in Davidson 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 Davidson County court system.

March 19, 2024

Bedford County Tort Case Statistics and Outcomes – July 1, 2017- June 30, 2023

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

The following graphs demonstrate the resolution of personal injury, wrongful death, and other tort cases in Bedford 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 Bedford County court system.

March 14, 2024

Anderson County Tort Case Statistics and Outcomes – July 1, 2017- June 30, 2023

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

The following graphs demonstrate the resolution of personal injury, wrongful death, and other tort cases in Anderson 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 Anderson County court system.

March 12, 2024

Marshall County Tort Case Statistics and Outcomes – July 1, 2017- June 30, 2023

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

The following graphs demonstrate the resolution of personal injury, wrongful death, and other tort cases in Marshall 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 Marshall County court system.

March 7, 2024

Shelby County Tort Case Statistics and Outcomes – July 1, 2017- June 30, 2023

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

The following graphs demonstrate the resolution of personal injury, wrongful death, and other tort cases in Shelby 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 Shelby County court system.

March 6, 2024

Summary judgment for plaintiff in conversion case affirmed.

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

Where defendant in a conversion case admitted all of plaintiff’s statement of facts and only asserted in his additional facts that he acted in good faith and honesty, summary judgment for plaintiff on the conversion claim was affirmed.

In Melton v. Melton, No. E2023-00649-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Dec. 27, 2023), plaintiff was the personal representative of his mother’s estate, and he filed this breach of fiduciary duty and conversion claim against his brother both in his capacity as personal representative and his individual capacity. The facts showed that a few months before the mother’s death, defendant had traveled to her home in Tennessee and had the mother execute a power of attorney naming defendant her attorney-in-fact. In the weeks before the mother’s death, defendant drained the mother’s bank accounts, purchasing multiple vehicles and a recreational vehicle for himself, cashing checks to himself, and only paying one small bill for the mother. One of these accounts was payable to plaintiff brother on death, and the others would have gone to the estate.

Plaintiff filed a motion for summary judgment supported by a detailed statement of material facts. Defendant responded by admitting all of plaintiff’s facts, and filing only one additional material fact which stated that defendant “at all times acted with the utmost good faith, honesty, and loyalty to his mother…” The trial court ruled that defendant had not created an issue of material fact and granted plaintiff summary judgment, and the Court of Appeals affirmed.

March 5, 2024

Sumner County Tort Case Statistics and Outcomes – July 1, 2017- June 30, 2023

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

The following graphs demonstrate the resolution of personal injury, wrongful death, and other tort cases in Sumner 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 Sumner County court system.

March 5, 2024

Summary judgment vacated where no time for discovery was allowed.

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

Where defendant in a negligence and premises liability case filed a motion for summary judgment just three days after filing her answer, and the trial court denied plaintiff’s motion for additional time to conduct discovery and granted summary judgment to defendant, that ruling was vacated on appeal.

In Graves v. Calloway, No. W2022-01536-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Dec. 19, 2023), plaintiff filed a negligence and premises liability claim against two defendants, including defendant homeowner, after he was injured when he fell off a ladder while accessing defendant’s attic to help her install squirrel traps. Defendant homeowner filed her answer, then filed a motion for summary judgment just three days later. Plaintiff filed a motion requesting more time to conduct discovery pursuant to Tennessee Rule of Civil Procedure 56.07, as well as a motion to amend. The trial court ultimately denied the motion for more time and granted summary judgment to defendant homeowner, but this ruling was vacated on appeal.

In its opinion, the Court of Appeals noted that the “Tennessee Supreme Court has held that after adequate time for discovery has been provided, summary judgment should be granted if the nonmoving party’s evidence at the summary judgment stage is insufficient to establish the existence of a genuine issue of material fact for trial.” (internal citation and quotation omitted). Rule 56.07 provides that a party opposing summary judgment can request more time in which to conduct discovery, and plaintiff in this case followed the mechanism set out by the Rule. Plaintiff’s counsel submitted an affidavit stating that he had had no opportunity to conduct discovery, and that he had written defendant’s attorney requesting dates for depositions, but the request had been denied.

February 23, 2024

Gross negligence GTLA claim against 911 board can proceed.

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

Where plaintiff filed suit against several governmental entities, including an emergency 911 board, based on the failure of the multiple entities to respond to and close a road that suffered a mudslide in a timely manner, the public duty doctrine barred plaintiff’s claims against two of those entities. For the claim against the 911 board, however, immunity was removed by plaintiff’s claim of gross negligence pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-20-108, and the claim fell within an exception to the public duty doctrine, allowing plaintiff to proceed against that defendant only.

In Lawson v. Hawkins County, No. E2020-01529-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Dec. 5, 2023), plaintiff filed a GTLA claim after her husband was killed when his car rolled down a mountain after a portion of highway on the mountain was washed away by a mudslide. On the night of the accident, a driver called 911 to warn that the road was washed away at 12:58 a.m. A sheriff’s deputy arrived at the scene at 1:13 a.m., who then called 911 again to discuss the situation. Neither the deputy nor the dispatcher suggested closing the road. The 911 dispatcher placed several calls to various agencies, but at around 1:46 am, the deputy called 911 again reporting that plaintiff’s husband’s car had flipped down the mountain. Shortly thereafter, the deputy stated that a second car had gone down the mountain, at which time the dispatcher stated that she would ask a neighboring county to block the road.

The trial court granted defendants’ motions for judgment on the pleadings, finding that the GTLA “gave defendants immunity from claims alleging recklessness and that the public-duty doctrine independently barred any claims based on negligence.” In its first opinion in this case, the Court of Appeals reversed, holding that the GTLA “did not provide immunity for claims based on gross negligence or recklessness.” On appeal to the Tennessee Supreme Court, the Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals, holding that “when the GTLA removes immunity for negligence, it does so for ordinary negligence only.” The case was then remanded back to the Court of Appeals.