TBA Law Blog

TBA Law Blog

Tennessee Supreme Court Rules on Privacy, Collateral Estoppel Cases

Posted by: Azya Thornton on Apr 25, 2025

The Tennessee Supreme Court issued two rulings today. In the first case, the court ruled that a lawsuit against Life Care Center in Tullahoma may proceed, despite the plaintiff's death. The case involves an elderly woman, Annie Jones, who was on camera while being bathed by a nursing home employee who also was conversing on a personal video call. Jones’s daughter filed a lawsuit alleging the nursing home committed the tort of intrusion upon seclusion, a privacy violation. Life Care argued that the suit should end due to Jones’s death. The court disagreed, stating that most tort lawsuits, including privacy claims, can continue even after the plaintiff's death. In the second ruling, the court held that the state’s collateral estoppel doctrine prevents a plaintiff from relitigating the issue of class certification in a refiled case. In this case, plaintiffs sought to certify a class action over TennCare’s $50 cap on non-emergency services. The court ruled that because the issue of class certification had already been denied in an earlier case, it could not be revisited.

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