On April 27, 2015, Lewis Thomason landed a victory in the Tennessee Court of Appeals when the court upheld the trial court’s dismissal of a Lewis Thomason client.
Preston Hawkins of Lewis Thomason handled the appeal, wherein the plaintiffs challenged the trial court’s dismissal of Lewis Thomason’s client, who was one of several defendants in a complex litigation. The question on appeal was whether the plaintiffs could challenge the dismissal when they waited over three years to file a notice of appeal when the trial court had dismissed Lewis Thomason’s client, pursuant to Tennessee Rule of Civil Procedure 54.02. The Court of Appeals held that a dismissal pursuant to Rule 54.02 requires that a Notice of Appeal be filed within thirty (30) days of the entry of the Order. Accordingly, because the plaintiffs waited until the remainder of the case was resolved (over three years later), the Court of Appeals held that it had no jurisdiction to address the plaintiffs’ appeal as to Lewis Thomason’s client.