TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Kate Prince on Jul 8, 2021

The Tennessee Supreme Court today reversed the dismissal of a lawsuit that had been refiled after having been previously dismissed ahead of trial. The decision stems from a 2014 lawsuit filed by Regions Bank against a Shelby County man. Finding that Regions did not timely prosecute the case, the trial court dismissed the suit, but did not give notice to either party. Upon learning of the dismissal, Regions asked the trial court to set aside the dismissal and allow the suit to proceed. The court denied that request but noted the dismissal didn’t prevent Regions from refiling at a later time. However, when Regions refiled the suit, the trial court dismissed it, citing res judicata. The Supreme Court unanimously held that the original dismissal did not prevent refiling the lawsuit because that dismissal had not resolved the lawsuit on its merits. Read the high court’s opinion authored by Chief Justice Jeff Bivins on the Administrative Office of the Courts website.