June 14–20, 2025
- Appellant (on April 4, 2025) appeals final order entered by trial court on March 3, 2024. Tennessee Court of Appeals: Show cause why this appeal should not be dismissed as untimely. Appellant: … Tennessee Court of Appeals: We mean it, show cause why this appeal should not be dismissed as untimely. Appellant: … Tennessee Court of Appeals: The timely filing of a notice of appeal is a jurisdictional requirement, and because this appeal was filed two days late, it’s dismissed as untimely. [Editorial note: Looks like the lawyer who blew the filing deadline has had some issues like this before. Too bad Tennessee doesn’t require lawyers to carry malpractice coverage.]
- Tennessee Court of Appeals: Almost exactly the same thing in this case, though we note the availability “of Rule 60.02 as a limited ‘escape valve’ to prevent injustice when a notice of appeal was untimely filed due to excusable neglect[.]”
Firm Updates
New Tennessee Public Participation Act Petition! This one has been filed on behalf of two single moms who have been sued for speaking out about child abuse at a Grundy County daycare. Read all about it here. (The lawsuit is among the worst SLAPP-suits your summarist has ever encountered.)
Side note: The TPPA makes representations like this possible. Before we got involved, one of the moms tried to crowdfund a legal defense; she raised $695. It is only because fee-shifting is available under the TPPA (well, theoretically available, thanks to a bad Tennessee Supreme Court decision from last year) that victims of SLAPP litigation can get representation and the rest of society can hear the important things that they have to say.
