Suing an Abuser for Money

If you believe that a case filed against you is an abusive civil action, you can tell this to the judge in two ways:

1. in your written “answer,” which is your legal reply to the civil action; or
2. at any time during the civil action through a motion.¹

The judge can also decide on his/her own that a hearing is necessary to determine if the civil action is an “abusive civil action.”¹ After you inform the judge or the judge decides there may be an abusive civil action, the judge should then hold a hearing, considering any relevant testimony, evidence, and records, to determine if the action is, in fact, an abusive civil action.²

There are also specific situations in which a judge should assume an abuser is bringing an abusive civil action. If evidence of these situations is given to the judge at the hearing, you do not have to prove the abuser filed an “abusive civil action.” Instead, the abuser has the “burden” of proving s/he did not file an “abusive civil action.” The specific situations are:

1. You and the abuser have been in another court within the last five years about the same or very similar issues, and the case or cases were dismissed after the judge conducted a hearing or trial, which is known as being dismissed “on the merits” or “with prejudice” against the abuser;
2. The abuser has used the same or very similar issues as the reason for a complaint against you to a regulatory or licensing board, and the board dismissed the case after a contested case hearing in compliance with Tennessee’s Uniform Administrative Procedures Act;
3. The abuser has been punished (sanctioned) under Rule 11 of the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure, or under a very similar rule or law in another state, or by the federal government, for filing one or more “frivolous, vexatious, or abusive” civil actions within the past ten years involving the same or very similar issues and people as the current case; or
4. A judge in another judicial district has decided that the abuser filed an abusive civil action in that district, and the abuser is or has been under “prefiling restrictions” in that district.³

¹ TN ST § 29-41-103
² TN ST § 29-41-104
³ TN ST § 29-41-105