TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Apr 29, 2025

The Tennessee Supreme Court has found that a trial court could order a man who voluntarily dismissed his own lawsuit to pay his ex-wife’s attorney fees associated with that suit. The court said that under Tennessee law, “the challenger who forfeits, loses, and his opponent wins.” Even if the dismissal was voluntary, it held, the wife successfully kept her alimony and prevailed over efforts to end it. Justice Sarah K. Campbell wrote a separate opinion that concurred in the judgment and cautioned that the majority’s reasoning in the case should be limited to the family law context. She was joined in the concurring opinion by Justice Jeffrey S. Bivins. Read more about the case in a news release from the Administrative Office of the Courts or read the opinions.