Recently, the Court of Appeals of Tennessee issued an opinion in the case of Vidafuel, Inc. v. Kerry, Inc., which gives Tennessee commercial litigators further guidance on the contours of the economic loss doctrine in Tennessee. To review, in the seminal 2021 case of Milan Supply Chain Solutions, Inc. v.…
Under Tennessee law, the prevailing party in a lawsuit, with some exceptions, cannot recover a judgment from the opposing party in the case for the attorney’s fees the prevailing party incurred in prosecuting or defending the case. By far, the two most prevalent exceptions to that rule are: (1) When…
A plaintiff may obtain a judgment against a defendant under Tennessee law, and under federal law, if the defendant does not file a responsive pleading within the required time. Under the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure, a defendant must file a written response to a complaint within thirty (30) days…
General contractors typically have commercial general liability policies (“CGLs”). (CGL policies are not the same as performance bonds, which might also be in place for a particular construction job.) In my experience, the key provisions of most CGL policies are identical or are substantially similar. In fact, one task of…
In a recent case decided by the Court of Appeals of Tennessee in which an insurance agency was sued for failure to procure an adequate commercial general liability insurance policy, the court reversed some of the trial court’s rulings on expert testimony, which resulted in the summary judgment in favor…
Our firm undertook representation of a local interstate trucking company, Dark Horse Express, LLC (“Dark Horse”) in a cargo insurance claim case in which Lancer Insurance Company (“Lancer”) issued the cargo insurance coverage which was at issue. At the district court level, Lancer argued that it was entitled to summary…
Sometimes in a breach of contract case, or other commercial litigation matter, a party will be met with the defense that it is not entitled to recover because a condition precedent to the parties’ contract was not fulfilled. Under Tennessee law, a party is not required to perform under a…
Under Tennessee law (T.C.A. §48-25-102), a foreign business entity which is transacting, or has transacted, business in Tennessee without obtaining a certificate of authority from the Secretary of State of Tennessee cannot maintain an action in a Tennessee court. This rule applies to lawsuits filed in Tennessee state courts, as…
In many Tennessee cases involving written contracts, the contracts will contain provisions whereby the parties agreed that the substantive law of a state other than Tennessee would apply in any litigation between them. (In the absence of such a provision, Tennessee follows the rule of lex loci contractus whereby it…
Under Tennessee law, if an insurance company denies a claim, it can be subject to a bad faith failure to pay penalty. The maximum amount of the penalty is 25% of the claim amount which the insurance company should have paid. Moreover, the penalty does not apply unless the refusal…