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Givens v. Mullikin11/28/2000
Plaintiff filed this action against defendant in an underlying personal injury suit and the defendant's liability insurance carrier, alleging that the defendants are vicariously liable for the actions of the attorneys the insurance company hired pursuant to its policy to represent the insured in defense of plaintiff's personal injury suit. The complaint alleges that said attorneys were guilty of abuse of process, invasion of privacy, inducing the breach of a confidential relationship, inducing the breach of an implied contract of confidentiality, and inducing the breach of an express contract. The trial court denied defendants' motions to dismiss, and this case is before this Court on a Tenn.R.App.P. 9 interlocutory appeal.
Tenn.R.App.P. 9; Interlocutory Appeal; Judgment of the Circuit Court is Reversed in Part, Affirmed in Part, and Remanded
W. Frank Crawford, P.J., W.S., delivered the opinion of the court, in which Alan E. Highers, J. and David R. Farmer, J., joined.
OPINION
Plaintiff, Connie Jean Givens, filed her complaint against Defendant, Larry McElwaney , and Defendant, Allstate Insurance Company, for damages allegedly caused by a law firm Allstate hired to represent McElwaney in defense of the personal injury action filed by Plaintiff. The complaint alleges that the Defendants are liable for actions of the law firm under the doctrine of respondeat superior. The complaint is 20 pages long, consists of 81 paragraphs, and extensively sets out the factual allegations on which Plaintiff bases her claims of abuse of process, invasion of privacy, inducing the breach of a confidential relationship, inducing the breach of an implied contract of confidentiality, and inducing the breach of an express contract. The trial court denied Defendants' motions to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, and Defendants were granted an interlocutory appeal.
This case arises from an underlying personal injury lawsuit involving Plaintiff, Connie Givens, and Defendant, Larry McElwaney. In that lawsuit, Ms. Givens sued Mr. McElwaney for injuries she sustained in an automobile accident on January 5, 1988. At the time of the accident, Mr. McElwaney carried a liability insurance policy with Defendant, Allstate Insurance Company ("Allstate"). That policy obligated Allstate, inter alia, to provide legal counsel to defend any suit instituted against Mr. McElwaney for damages. Allstate engaged Attorney Harold Nichols to represent Mr. McElwaney in the personal injury lawsuit and later substituted the Richardson Law Firm (the "Richardson Firm" or "Firm") on October 20, 1993.
Plaintiff alleges that, while representing Mr. McElwaney, the Richardson Firm engaged in discovery practices which damaged Plaintiff's position in the underlying lawsuit and which caused her to suffer "great embarrassment, anger and stress." Plaintiff claims that, through the acts of their agent, the Richardson Firm, Defendants Allstate and McElwaney are liable for abuse of process, invasion of privacy, inducing the breach of an express contract, inducing a breach of confidential relationship and inducing a breach of an implied contract of confidentiality between Plaintiff and her physician.
Plaintiff alleges that the Richardson Firm acted improperly by exceeding the limit of interrogatories under local court rules by issuing approximately 237 interrogatories and by insisting upon a second deposition of Plaintiff which allegedly took 8 hours to complete and which included overly personal questions. Plaintiff also avers that the Richardson Firm abused the subpoena process by issuing 97 subpoenas to records custodians, most of which
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