Tennessee Civil Litigation Legal Questions

Yes it is good for the defendant to get representation separate and apart from the attorney provided by the insurance company when the defendant is sued for an amount in excess of the policy limits. The role of this attorney is to insure (if possible) that any settlement or judgment is within the policy limits or to limit the amount of money that the Defendant has to pay from personal assets.... Read More

What you are asking is whether it is worth your time and effort to put into this? While this may be only restating the obvious, this is really only a question that you can answer because it is your time, effort and money! Some would say that it is a matter of principle and pursue it regardless of the effort and money. Other's would say that it is only a small amount of money, let it go. Since you have taken the time to write out this inquiry, you obviously feel very strongly about it. If it were me, I would try to call them at their customer service number and tell them about the issues that you are having and try to resolve it with them. While I would not sue them in General Sessions Court, this is a decision that you would have to make but I would say that if you do file a claim against it in General Sessions Court, you would probably get some kind of response from it in the form of a refund. Good luck!... Read More

The case can be pending as long as the state decides that it wants to keep in pending. The only way to get it dismissed is for the state to decide not to prosecute or the judge dismisses it either for lack of evidence or failure to prosecute. Since you were only indicted in August, 2015, this is a young case and could, in theory, go on for years.... Read More

It's possible that a different procedure is followed in Tennessee, but in the states in whch I practice, contempt proceedings are generally initiated in the context of an existing lawsuit.  For example, if one party (plaintiff or defendant) fails to comply with a court order, the other side will make a motion to hold the non-compliant party in contempt.  It could well be that the defendant is the movant seeking to hold the plaintiff in contempt.  For example, you, plaintiff, sue your ex, defendant, for divorce.  In that proceeding, the Court orders you to pay your ex $100 per week for child support for the next 10 years.  Three years later, your ex claims that you violated this order.  Your ex would, under the docket number of the original divorce proceeding, in which you are the plaintiff and your ex is the defendant, make a motion to hold you in contempt.... Read More

If you were not served with process (it's not clear to me whether you were served and ignored it, or were never served), the Court never acquired jurisdiction over you.  If you were properly served, the Court could still not acquire jurisdiction over you if you lacked sufficient contacts with Tennessee to allow it to exercise jurisdiction over you without violating the Constitution (which is doubtful given the facts you've recited.)  You should move to vacate the judgment on the basis of lack of jurisdiction.  You can either do that in Tennessee now, or wait until the judgment creditor tries to file the judgment in Texas to begin collection proceedings. However, if you were properly served, have sufficient contacts with Tennessee to allow it to exercise jurisdiction over you (for example, if the contract under which you are being sued would have needed to be performed in Tennessee, you would probably have the requisite "minimum contact" with Tennessee to allow it to exercise jurisdiction over you), and don't have a very good excuse for having defaulted, you lost your chance to defend the claim on the merits.  The creditor will "domesticate" the judgment in Texas, and collect on it by selling your assets, garnishing your wages, restraining your bank accounts, etc. Incidentally, the fact that the contract is governed by Texas law is irrelevant.  States apply the law of other states all the time.  If the contract had a choice of forum provision, along the lines of "any action to enforce this contract can only be brought in the state courts of Texas", that would be a different story.... Read More

If Tennessee is like the jurisdictions in which I practice, there is a procedure for these situations where the Court can authorize another method of service, perhaps by mail, or by publication in a local newspaper, if you can demonstrate that you are  unable to effect service in the normal ways.   BTW, presumably this guy drives to work.  Even if you can't get into his place of business, you may be able to serve him in the parking lot when he arrives at or leaves work.  Also, you should check the rules on service in Tennessee.  It may be sufficient to serve a person of suitable age and discretion at his last known address, or at his place of employment.  In other words, in New York, it would be good service if you left the summons with a person of suitable age and discretion at his place of business and also mailed a copy addressed to him (in a plain envelope) at the same address.  There is no requirement that you hand the summons to the defendant himself.... Read More

If your mutual friend didn't know that your mother had paid for the dress, she might plausibly be able to claim that she had no duty to your mother.  But since she did know that the dress was your mother's, she also knew that your ex was not the owner of the dress, but rather was acting as an agent of your mother when he told her to hold on to the dress.  Thus, the friend was only holding the dress as an agent (a bailee) of your mother.  I assume that she also knew that you had broken up with your ex at the time she released the dress to him, and can't plausibly claim that she thought he was acting on your behalf or your mother's.  It appears that she may have breached that agreement, may have been negligent (in releasing the dress to your ex, assuming she didn't know he was going to hold on to it) and may also have committed the tort of conversion (as has your ex, possibly along with tortious interference with the bailment contract between your mother and the friend.) As for the various states involved, it presents a complex choice of law question.  Most likely, the law of Mississipi would apply, as that is where the contract was performed and the torts took place.  I am not familiar with the particular laws of these jurisdictions, but I doubt that there is a material difference in this area.... Read More

I'm not exactly sure what you mean when you say you "made a statement", but if your intent was to blackmail the debtor by implying that you would either share the bank info with the general public or use it to try to trick the bank into giving you money from the debtor's account, that is probably illegal (I'm not familiar with Tennessee law specifically). You say this person owes you money, but, absent a contract providing for it (and maybe not even then) you have no right to garnish the debtor's bank accounts, or take his property, until and unless a court agrees that you are owed money and awards you a judgment.  Even then, you must follow the proper legal procedures for any actions you take to collect on the judgment.... Read More

You are required to provide all documents you have which are requested in a valid subpoena or other valid legal discovery device, or which your client directs you to produce.  In many states (don't know about TN specifically), third parties can receive some compensation for expenses they incur in complying with a discovery request (e.g. copying costs), but it usually is a minimal amount. Absent a valid subpoena, or authorization from your client, you are not required to produce anything.  Indeed, you have a duty to your client to safeguard his privacy (although, for purposes of the joint tax returns, the wife could be considered your client) until and unless you are compelled to disclose information by legal process. If a subpoena is served on you, you or your client can seek to quash the subpoena if you believe that it is improper.  My advice would be not to litigate the validity of the subpoena, since that would cost you money and time, but rather to leave it to the husband to chalenge the subpoena if he wishes to.  If he does, the Court will likely order you not to respond to the subpoena until its validity is determined. Obviously, you cannot produce any documents which are not in your possession or control.  Just produce what you can.    ... Read More