Ex-Husband Sues After Divorce, Case Tossed Out as Abusive
Tennessee case summary on abusive actions after divorce.
Timothy Wilson v. Tawana Wilson et al.
The husband and wife in this Davidson County, Tennessee, case were divorced after the wife obtained a default judgment against the husband. The husband attempted to re-open the default judgment, but was unsuccessful. He brought a first appeal to the Tennessee Court of Appeals, but was unsuccessful, since the appeals court affirmed the lower court’s ruling in 2021.
That case included the husband’s allegation that the wife had forged the husband’s signature on a deed, but the trial court denied the husband relief. While that appeal was still pending, the husband filed a second lawsuit against the wife, as well as the notary who notarized the deed and her employer. He alleged that the defendants engaged in a conspiracy against him.
The wife moved to dismiss this complaint on various grounds, including that the claim should have been brought as part of the divorce action. Since it wasn’t, she argued, the case should be dismissed under the doctrine of res judicata. She also moved to dismiss the case under the Tennessee abusive civil action statute. The trial court agreed and dismissed the case on those grounds. It also awarded the wife her attorney’s fees. After some post-trial wrangling, the husband brought a second appeal to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.
The appeals court first noted that the husband’s brief did not comply with the court rules, in that the facts were not properly referenced to the record. It declined to throw out the appeal on those grounds, but did point out that it would not go searching for the facts. It quoted earlier cases stating that “judges are not like pigs, hunting for truffles buried in briefs.” Therefore, these shortcomings in the brief impeded the court’s review of the husband’s issues.
Turning to the merits, the appeals court found that the issue raised by the husband was nothing more than an attempt to relitigate issues from the original divorce, which was not proper. In particular, the alleged forgery was raised in the divorce case, and could not be litigated again.
The court then went on to address whether the abusive civil action statute—which calls for costs and attorney fees—applied. It agreed with the lower court that the statute applied. It ruled that the husband’s action in bringing the suit were for the purpose of harassing or maliciously injuring the wife.
The appeals court also agreed that the elements of res judicata were met in the case, and that the trial court had properly thrown the case out on those grounds as well.
The wife asked the appellate court to dismiss the appeal under the doctrine of unclean hands. But since that issue was not raised below, the appeals court declined to do so. It did, however, award the wife her attorney’s fees for defending the appeal. In particular, the abusive civil action statute provided a basis for the award. It remanded the case to the lower court to determine the amount of those fees.
No. M2021-01307-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. July 27, 2022).
See original opinion for exact language. Legal citations omitted.
To learn more, see The Tennessee Divorce Process: How Divorces Work Start to Finish.
