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Monday, October 26, 2015

New Tennessee Supreme Court Health Care Liability Action Opinion: Hannan v. Alltel Overruled by the Court; Summary Judgment Granted to Defense on All Claims

Today, the Tennessee released its opinion in Rye v. Women's Care Ctr. of Memphis, MPLLC, No. W2013-00804-SC-R11-CV (Tenn. Oct. 26, 2015).  Here is the summary from the opinion:
We granted permission to appeal in this healthcare liability action to reconsider the summary judgment standard adopted in Hannan v. Alltel Publishing Co., 270 S.W.3d 1 (Tenn. 2008). The Court of Appeals concluded that the Hannan standard requires reversal of the trial court‘s decision granting summary judgment to the defendants on certain of the plaintiffs‘ claims. We hereby overrule Hannan and return to a summary judgment standard consistent with Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. We hold, therefore, that a moving party may satisfy its initial burden of production and shift the burden of production to the nonmoving party by demonstrating that the nonmoving party‘s evidence is insufficient as a matter of law at the summary judgment stage to establish the nonmoving party‘s claim or defense. Applying our holding to the record in this case, we conclude that the defendants are entitled to summary judgment on all the plaintiffs‘ claims at issue in this appeal. Accordingly, we affirm in part and reverse in part the judgment of the Court of Appeals and remand this matter to the trial court for entry of summary judgment on these issues and for any other proceedings that may be necessary.
Here is a link to the majority opinion:

http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/sites/default/files/ryem.m.opn_.pdf

Justice Kirby did not participate in the decision.

Justice Lee authored a concurring opinion that can be found at this link:

http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/sites/default/files/ryem_con_lee.opn_.pdf

Justice Bivins  authored a concurring opinion also, which can be found at this link:

http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/sites/default/files/ryem_con_bivins.opn_.pdf

Justice Wade authored a dissenting opinion that can be found at this link:

 http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/sites/default/files/ryem_dis_wade.opn_.pdf

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