TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Jun 26, 2025

On June 25, Davidson County lawyer Robert Greene received a public censure from the Tennessee Supreme Court. While representing clients in defense of a lawsuit, Greene made an error in calendaring the trial date, which led him and his clients to not appear for trial and the court to enter a default judgment. The Supreme Court found that Greene was not forthright in subsequent communications with the clients about the trial date was missed. He then filed a motion to set aside the default judgment. The court found that the motion was frivolous as it was untimely filed and did not recite any legal authorities to support tolling of the statutory deadline. In an affidavit, Greene falsely claimed that the trial date was missed due to confusion with opposing counsel. He later filed a motion to withdraw that falsely claimed the clients had failed to provide certain documentation. He then paid a significant portion of the judgment out of personal funds, without prior notice or consent from his clients. These actions were determined to violate Rules of Professional Conduct 1.1, 1.2(a), 1.3, 1.4, 1.8(e), 1.16(d), 3.1, 3.3(a)(1) and 8.4.