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Young v. Barrow9/16/2003
I.
On November 24, 1997, Leah Barrow became trapped behind a city bus as she drove north on Gallatin Road in Nashville. She moved into the left lane to pass the bus, but, just as she reached the front of the bus, the light at the intersection of Gallatin Road and Eastland Avenue turned yellow. Ms. Barrow applied her brakes; however, her car slid into the intersection because of the wet roadway. Her motor vehicle came into contact with the driver's side bumper of a motor vehicle being driven by Sylvester Young. Ms. Barrow stopped and provided her insurance information to Mr. Young. She went on her way after observing that Mr. Young's vehicle has sustained only minor damage and that neither Mr. Young nor his three passengers appeared to be injured.
Mr. Young and Ms. Buford retained a lawyer. On November 23, 1998, Mr. Young filed a civil warrant in the Metropolitan General Sessions Court against Ms. Barrow seeking damages for the personal injuries Mr. Young claimed to have sustained in the collision. This case was later removed to the Circuit Court for Davidson County where it was consolidated with a separate lawsuit Ms. Buford had filed against Ms. Barrow.
The lawyer representing Mr. Young and Ms. Buford withdrew prior to trial, and Mr. Young and Ms. Buford decided to represent themselves. The consolidated cases were tried to a jury on November 14 and 15, 2000. Ms. Barrow conceded liability, and the proceeding focused only on the question of damages. Ms. Barrow moved for a directed verdict at the close of the plaintiffs' case. The trial court granted the motion with regard to Mr. Young's claim but permitted Ms. Buford's case to go to the jury. The jury determined that Ms. Buford had not been injured, and the trial court entered a judgment on December 4, 2000 dismissing both claims. Neither Mr. Young nor Ms. Buford appealed this judgment.
On November 30, 2000, Mr. Young, still representing himself, filed another complaint against Ms. Barrow and her insurance agent, Harrison Brothers Insurance. He recited in the complaint that at a "static conference" held before the consolidated trial, the trial court had instructed him to re-file his complaint because his former lawyer had failed to depose his physician or to subpoena his medical records.
Harrison Brothers Insurance filed an answer generally denying liability and a Tenn. R. Civ. P. 12.03 motion for judgment on the pleadings. It pointed out that Mr. Young's renewed complaint did not mention Harrison Brothers Insurance except in its caption. For her part, Ms. Barrow filed a Tenn. R. Civ. P. 56 motion asserting that she was entitled to a judgment as a matter of law because Mr. Young's claim against her had already been litigated. The trial court granted both motions, and Mr. Young has appealed to this court.
II. Standards for Reviewing Claims of Pro Se Litigants
Parties who decide to represent themselves are entitled to fair and equal treatment by the courts. Whitaker v. Whirlpool Corp., 32 S.W.3d 222, 227 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2000); Paehler v. Union Planters Nat'l Bank, Inc., 971 S.W.2d 393, 396 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1997). The courts should take into account that many pro se litigants have no legal training and little familiarity with the judicial system. Irvin v. City of Clarksville, 767 S.W.2d 649, 652 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1988). However, the courts must also be mindful of the boundary between fairness to a pro se litigant and unfairness to the pro se litigant's adversary. Thus, the courts must not excuse pro se litigants from complying with the same substantive and procedural rules that represented parties are expected to observe. Edmundson v. Pratt, 945 S.W.2d 754, 755 (Tenn. C
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