A snappy, aspirationally weekly newsletter from the lawyers at Horwitz Law, PLLC summarizing the week’s decisions from the Tennessee Court of Appeals.
March 22–March 29, 2024 Witness: Shows up voluntarily for a hearing. Trial Court: “Sir, let me tell you what the law says. This isn’t me, Judge Michael Binkley, saying this. This is the law that I need for you to understand so we don’t
March 16–March 22, 2024 Biological Daughter tells her Elderly Father that she’ll take care of him in his old age, convinces him to transfer her his assets and grant her a remainder interest in his property. Oh no! After he does so, she takes
March 9–March 15, 2024 Pro se plaintiff repeatedly fails to comply with court orders to answer discovery in a car accident case. He has time to file serial motions to disqualify the trial court judge, though. Trial court: Three generations of orders to answer
March 2–March 8, 2024 Trial court issues order forbidding contact between Mother and Father who share a child. To enable court-ordered visitation exchanges, though, the original order is then modified by agreement to require contact between Mother and Father. After Father twice talks to Mother about
February 24–March 1, 2024 Ex-Husband who’s big mad about losing three Subway franchises in the divorce files a Rule 60.02 motion to set aside the judgment, claiming that Ex-Wife committed fraud in her valuation of the franchises. Tennessee Court of Appeals: Lettuce count the ways
February 17–February 23, 2024 Plaintiff sues Health Care Providers for medical malpractice (which Tennessee calls “health care liability” because medical malpractice sounds bad). A major issue at trial was whether Health Care Providers failed to meet the standard of care by failing to administer
February 10–February 16, 2024 Bank 1 sues Bank 2 regarding an “approximately $100 million” loss related to its purchase of collateralized debt obligations—better known as “the toxic assets that catalyzed the Great Recession.” Tennessee Court of Appeals: Because reasonable diligence would have put Bank 1
February 3–February 9, 2024 Mother and Father are divorced. Mother—who is the primary caregiver of the ex-couple’s Children—seeks to relocate with Children more than fifty miles from her current residence, leading to dueling petitions for relief. Tennessee Court of Appeals: All factors favor allowing Mother
January 27–February 2, 2024 Pro se Claimant files a claim for damages against the State of Tennessee in the Claims Commission. Claimant alleges that, back in 1949, she was a victim of infamous child-trafficker Georgia Tann, who ran “a black market for selling babies” and
A “Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation” (a SLAPP-suit) filed by three City of Fayetteville, Tennessee, Aldermen against two citizens who petitioned them must be dismissed with prejudice, the Circuit Court for Lincoln County, Tennessee, has ruled. The Court also awarded the two citizens “their court
