Unearthing the Dead
You never know what – or who – lies beneath the surface. Imagine you are engaged in construction, landscaping, or some other improvement to real property, and suddenly you make a grim discovery. [...]
Thinking Inside the Box: Six Lessons on Drafting and Litigating Contracts After IHS v. BCBS
In January 2019, the Tennessee Supreme Court issued a landmark decision on interpreting contracts: Individual Healthcare Specialists, Inc. v. BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, Inc., 2019 WL [...]
Title Insurance and Bankruptcy
What happens if the seller of property files for bankruptcy and the bankruptcy trustee tries to undo the transaction? Is the buyer protected by the buyer’s title insurance policy? The Tennessee [...]
Fee Shifting in Fraudulent Conveyance Cases? Yes, Sometimes.
Tennessee follows the American Rule that a successful litigant normally has to bear its own attorneys fees. The typical exceptions to the rule are: (1) if the statute the party is suing under [...]
A Little-known, but Big, Change in the Rules on Assets Held by Spouses
Assume that Alex and Casey own a house. If they bought the house during the marriage, they are presumed to own it as “tenants by the entireties.” Entireties property is not subject to the [...]
Sucker Punch: Manny Pacquiao and Nondisclosure Litigation
In Game 6 of the 1970 NBA Finals, Willis Reed tore his thigh muscle. No one thought he would play in Game 7. As usual, people bought tickets and placed bets. Then, moments before the game [...]
Discharge of Attorneys Fees
The holy grail of litigation is winning the case and getting the other side to pay your attorneys fees. When this happens the loser may consider bankruptcy to avoid having to pay the judgment [...]
When PR Bites Back
For anyone involved in a newsworthy dispute, refusing to acknowledge our media-saturated modern world can be a dangerous proposition. As Amy Rao Mohan has already explained in the pages of this [...]
The Essence(s) of the Matter
Two not-altogether-wrong characterizations of lawyers are that we like Latin words and thrive on uncertainty. And if you’re analyzing statutes of limitations, you get to enjoy both. Sometimes [...]
Lawyers: You Have the Right to Remain Silent, but What You Don’t Say Will Be Held Against You
We touched on many issues in our recent crisis communications CLE, but one topic seemed to generate a lot of questions. Lawyers, perhaps by their very nature, are guarded, suspicious, and [...]
