A snappy, aspirationally weekly newsletter from the lawyers at Horwitz Law, PLLC summarizing the week’s decisions from the Tennessee Court of Appeals.
October 11–17, 2025 Attorney sues Client for unpaid legal fees resulting from an appeal in which Attorney represented Client successfully. The trial court rules that no further fees are due beyond what Client has already paid because any further amount would be unreasonable under
October 4–10, 2025 Inmate at a state prison facility is found guilty of violating prison disciplinary rules for cursing at another inmate while in the gym. After exhausting administrative appeals, he petitions for certiorari (he loses). Inmate then files a motion to alter or
September 20–October 3, 2025 Medical malpractice Plaintiff sues Doctor (directly) and Doctor’s Medical Practice (vicariously). Doctor doesn’t maintain a valid mailing address on the Tennessee Department of Health’s website, though, so plaintiff mails pre-notice of her claim to the place where Plaintiff’s surgery took
September 6–19, 2025 Decedent dies after receiving $231,416.24 in long-term care and support services from TennCare, Tennessee’s Medicaid program. After Decedent’s death, TennCare files a claim for reimbursement against the Decedent’s estate, seeks to collect against the Decedent’s home. [Editorial note: If this shocks
Horwitz Law, PLLC has secured a record-setting $290,000.00 settlement from Rutherford County, Tennessee arising from the suicide of an arrestee housed in the Rutherford County jail. The settlement represents a near-maximum recovery—awards for negligence claims filed against the government are capped by state law
August 30–September 5, 2025 Bystanders are mistakenly shot by Metro police (who were aiming for someone else). Afterward, Bystanders sue Metro for negligence. Six years later, Metro asserts that the lawsuit is barred by the Tennessee Governmental Tort Liability Act’s civil rights exception, and
August 23–29, 2025 Pro se appellant files grossly defective brief in which he asks the Tennessee Court of Appeals to “order the removal of [the trial court judge’s] inappropriate and defamatory remarks from both the court transcript and the official orders” and to issue
August 2–22, 2025 Town sues LLC and the LLC's Individual Members over alleged misrepresentation made by one Member about the LLC’s willingness to pay for traffic improvements in connection with a development project. The LLC’s Individual Members dispute that they can be sued individually, and the
July 26–August 1, 2025 Plaintiff sues someone in North Carolina. Plaintiff then discovers that a Tennessee Business might have relevant documents, so Plaintiff obtains a subpoena in North Carolina and domesticates it in Tennessee under the Uniform Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act. Afterward, Plaintiff
July 19–25, 2025 Driver wraps her car around a pole, ends up in a ditch. After troopers respond, an open bottle of Tito’s is found in Driver’s glove compartment, she exhibits multiple signs of impairment, one officer says she smells of alcohol, and she
