When do you have to have a written contract? What if you, or the other party, never signed anything? If you don’t have a written agreement or a signature does that mean that there is not a legally enforceable contract? As a general rule, unwritten contracts are legally enforceable in…
In a recent opinion in a real estate litigation case which originated in Murfreesboro, the Supreme Court of Tennessee examined the Tennessee statute of frauds and made two significant rulings about its application. The case involved a settlement agreement which was made after a breach of contract suit had been…
In what might be described as a “battle of the caretakers” undue influence and will contest case, the Tennessee Court of Appeals decided in favor of the proponents (and beneficiaries) of the will, and against the relatives who claimed that the will was the result of undue influence. What makes…
In a case decided by a 3-2 vote which involved coverage under a commercial liability insurance policy issued by Allstate, the Supreme Court of Tennessee held in favor of an insured finding that the insurance company was responsible for a mistake by one of its agents in Tennessee. The case…
What amount of damages a party has incurred as the result of a breach of contract is important to evaluate as thoroughly as possible at the outset of any breach of contract case. Sometimes, the best defense to a breach of contract case is proving that the plaintiff did not…
While the types of contracts and businesses involved in breach of contract cases vary widely, as a general rule, the basic principles of contract law that Tennessee courts apply in breach of contract cases are pretty much the same in most cases. One exception to that general rule is breach…
In a recent decision of the Tennessee Court of Appeals in a breach of shareholders agreement lawsuit appealed from the Chancery Court of Davidson County, Tennessee, the appeals court decided that the Davidson County trial court should not have dismissed the shareholder’s claim that the call option provisions of the…
For parties involved in trustee negligence cases or cases involving trust losses, there is a Tennessee statute, the Tennessee Uniform Prudent Investor Act (which was adopted in Tennessee in 2002), which may well take center stage in the lawsuit. The purpose of the Uniform Prudent Investor Act was to codify,…
In situations in which a tenant under a commercial lease is in default, landlords tempted to lock the tenant out or to repossess the property should proceed with due respect for a Tennessee statute that has been around since 1821. That statute is known as the “forcible entry and detainer”…
Commercial lease cases sometimes involve disputes about lease renewal provisions and/or the lessee’s (tenant’s) right to renew the lease for an additional period of time. There are some general rules which Tennessee courts follow in resolving lease cases where there are disputes about renewal. First, if someone leases property and…