A review of Tennessee case law, published and unpublished, demonstrates that the affirmative defense of accord and satisfaction is asserted far more often than it is successful. Nevertheless, it can be effective. Whether an accord and satisfaction defense is successful is dependent on the unique facts of each case, and,…
When you are faced with a lawsuit or have filed a lawsuit, do yourself a big favor, hire a Tennessee lawyer with trial experience (aka a “Tennessee trial lawyer”) at the outset of your legal matter. Having practiced trial law and handled litigation and arbitration matters for nearly 25 years,…
If you are bringing or defending an undue influence case in Tennessee, including a will contest based on undue influence, the presence of a power of attorney may be a game changer for your case. Why would a power of attorney matter so much in such a case? Because a…
In many, if not most, of the cases in which I am involved, I end up explaining to clients what a summary judgment motion is and how a summary judgment might affect their case. The concept of a summary judgment is a pretty simple thing. If a summary judgment is…
Last month, I was in the hallway of the Wilson County Courthouse when I was told that the jury had reached a verdict in the will contest case which I and Jeremy Oliver, another lawyer in our firm, had been trying for four days. During the trial, the jury…
What if the person who made a will misunderstood facts that existed at the time the will was made? What if the person had been lied to at the time he or she made the will? In Tennessee, a will may be set aside for mistake or for fraud. There…
The law of undue influence in Tennessee can be quite a bit to try to get one’s head around considering the numerous different factual situations in which undue influence cases arise and considering the numerous “suspicious circumstances” that Tennessee courts have instructed judges and juries to use in making their…
Whether you are involved with a breach of contract case, will dispute case, real estate case or any type of commercial litigation case in a Tennessee court, you can help yourself by knowing a little about the basic rules of evidence that apply in Tennessee state court cases. In my…
If you hire a will contest lawyer in Tennessee to defend a will which has been offered for probate and which is being challenged as invalid, or if you hire a lawyer to try to invalidate a will which has been offered for probate, will the attorneys’ fees of your…
In probate litigation in Tennessee, disputes sometimes center on what the person who made the will (the “testator” or “testatrix”) meant in the will. Such litigation can fairly easily be avoided by careful will drafting. Nevertheless, wills are sometimes not sufficiently precise or are susceptible to different interpretations–particularly wills drafted…