Suing an Abuser for Money

Tennessee law allows you to to file a claim in court for an “abusive civil action.” An abusive civil action is when someone with whom you have a “civil party relationship” is filing lawsuits or other claims in civil court against you “primarily to harass or maliciously injure” you. For example, if you win sole custody in court, but the abuser files for a change in custody without good reason and primarily to harass you, the abuser may have filed an abusive civil action.

To prove a civil action was filed “primarily to harass or maliciously injure,” you have to prove it was filed for one of the following reasons:

• to drain your finances without a valid reason to do so;
• to prevent or interfere with your ability to raise your and the abuser’s children in the way you decide is appropriate without a “good faith basis” to do so;
• to force or coerce you to agree to make financial, custodial, or other legal decisions that aren’t good for you, when a judge has already decided in your favor about these issues;
• to force or coerce to do something, or to stop doing something, that you have the right to do;
• to harm your health or well-being, or the health or well-being of someone who legally depends on you, like your child or other dependent;
• to prevent or harm your ability to maintain your lifestyle in the same way you did before the abuser sued you;
• to harm your reputation in the community; or
• to isolate you from your friends, coworkers, attorneys, or business associates by unreasonably involving them in lawsuits.¹

One of the following things must also be true for the civil action to be considered an abusive civil action:

• The legal arguments the abuser is making are not supported by an existing law, a reasonable argument for a change in an existing law, or the creation of a new law;
• The legal arguments the abuser is making aren’t supported by the evidence; or
• The abuser has filed lawsuits about this issue before in one or more other courts, and those lawsuits were decided in a way the abuser didn’t want (unfavorably).²

Abusive civil actions are a form of litigation abuse. You can read more about litigation abuse in general on our Litigation Abuse page.

¹ TN ST § 29-41-101(6)
² TN ST § 29-41-101(1)