Tennessee Supreme Court hears whether TPPA shields lawyers from malpractice claims

At an oral argument before the Supreme Court of Tennessee in West Tennessee, attorneys for Allen Cartwright and for the law firms Thomas & Hendricks argued whether the Tennessee Public Participation Act (TPPA) allows lawyers to seek dismissal of malpractice suits that arise from litigation conduct.

The question presented is whether a malpractice suit that challenges an attorney’s decision to file and maintain lawsuits can be treated as a legal action “filed in response to a party’s exercise of the right to petition,” triggering the TPPA’s dismissal procedure. The outcome could determine whether some malpractice claims are subject to early dismissal under the statute.

Petitioner’s counsel, identified in the record as Mr. Duncan, told the court that this is a straight legal-malpractice case and that the TPPA should not bar the claim because the right to petition protected by Article I, Section 23 of the Tennessee Constitution (and the First Amendment) is, as this court has recently explained, “only enforceable against a government entity,” not private parties. Duncan argued the underlying trust suits between private parties did not assert a constitutional…