Congratulations to Lewis Thomason shareholders Casey Shannon and Brian Faughnan who won in the Court of Appeals of Tennessee this week. We represented a municipality in litigation with a corporation lasting over a decade but were able to resolve all matters with a written settlement agreement. The lower court entered a Consent Order of Dismissal with Prejudice, but one year later, under Tennessee Rule of Civil Procedure 60.02, a member of the corporation moved to set aside the final judgment. The corporation claimed that it did not approve the settlement agreement and the signature on the settlement agreement was a forgery. We argued on behalf of the municipality that a corporate representative participated in the settlement discussions and a corporate executive director signed the settlement agreement. In addition, the Corporation had accepted settlement payments for months before abruptly changing course.
The Corporation moved to set aside the judgment arguing lack of consent and fraud. The trial court denied the motion, and the Court of Appeals affirmed.