By The Law Offices of John Day, P.C. on Jul 08, 2025 06:08 am
When a trial court’s denial of a TPPA petition for dismissal had been appealed, and the Court of Appeals had remanded the case with instructions for the trial court to enter an order containing sufficient findings of fact and conclusions of law, the plaintiff was not entitled to voluntarily dismiss the case without prejudice. In Richman v. Debity, No. E2024-00919-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. May 21, 2025), the defendants’ request to their HOA to install a fence had been denied. In an effort to show that the HOA did not apply the rules consistently, the defendants took photos of the plaintiffs’ home and yard from the public street. Based on these photos, the plaintiffs filed this suit in general sessions court alleging harassment and invasion of privacy, and asking for a restraining order. The defendants filed a petition to dismiss under the Tennessee Public Protection Act (“TPPA”), Tennessee’s anti-SLAPP statute. The trial court denied the TPPA petition to dismiss, and the defendants appealed that denial to the Court of Appeals pursuant to the statute’s provision that decisions thereunder are immediately appealable. The Court of Appeals found that the trial court’s “ruling does not indicate why the trial court dismissed the TPPA Petition within the context of the burden shifting mechanism found in Tennessee Code Annotated section 20-17-105(a) through (c).” The Court thus vacated the order and remanded the case with instructions for the trial court to enter an order containing sufficient findings of fact and conclusions of law.
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