Offer of Judgment Made under Tenn. R. Civ . P. 68 Held to Be Irrevocable During Ten-day Period

The Tennessee Court of Appeals released its opinion Friday in McGinnis ex rel. McGinnis v. Cox, No. M2014-00102-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Oct. 31, 2014).  The summary from the opinion states as follows:

Plaintiffs presented Defendants with an offer of judgment pursuant to Rule 68 of the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure. Prior to Defendants’ acceptance, Plaintiffs attempted to rescind the offer. Defendants nevertheless accepted the offer within the time allowed by Rule 68 and attempted to enforce the offer of judgment. The trial court concluded that Plaintiffs were not entitled to revoke the offer of judgment and entered an order granting the motion to enforce the judgment. We affirm and remand.

Here is a link to the slip opinion:

https://www.tba.org/sites/default/files/mcginnisk_110314.pdf.

NOTE: the ten-day life of an offer of judgment can be extended via Rule 6 of the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure.  This is all the more reason that one must be very careful before making an offer of judgment under Rule 68.