Wife Can’t Get Attorney’s Fees After Husband Voluntarily Withdraws Post-Divorce Litigation

Tennessee case summary on attorney’s fees after divorce.

Vanessa Colley v. John S. Colley, III

The husband and wife in this Davidson County, Tennessee, case were divorced in 2012.  Even after the final judgment, the litigation was prolific.  In early 2019, the husband filed a motion seeking relief from alimony.  Later that same year, the husband filed a motion to enforce an alleged settlement agreement regarding a tax issue.  In November 2019, the trial court held that there was no settlement agreement.  Eventually, the husband filed a notice of nonsuit, but not before the wife had made a motion for sanctions for an abusive lawsuit, which included her attorney’s fees.  She based this upon a Tennessee statute allowing for such damages in an “abusive lawsuit.”

The trial court dismissed the action due to the notice of nonsuit, but ruled that the lawsuit was not “abusive” for purposes of the statute.  It held, however, that the wife could file a motion for attorney’s fees, since the marital dissolution agreement provided for attorney’s fees to the prevailing party.  The trial court awarded the wife $16,500 in attorney’s fees, and the husband appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.

The Court of Appeals first turned to the issue of whether attorney’s fees were proper due to the Abusive Lawsuit Statute.  But it quickly held that this statute was not applicable, because the lower court had held that the lawsuit was not abusive, and the wife had not appealed that finding.  Therefore, it turned to the other ground for relief, which was the original settlement agreement in the case.

That marital dissolution agreement allowed attorney’s fees to the prevailing party, and in some cases, a party is prevailing if the other party files a nonsuit.  But in this case, because there was no adjudication on the merits of the case, the appeals court held that neither party was prevailing.  Therefore, attorney’s fees were not appropriate under their agreement.

For these reasons, the Court of Appeals reversed the lower court’s order and remanded the case.

No. M2021-00731-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Nov. 17, 2022).

See original opinion for exact language.  Legal citations omitted.

To learn more, see The Tennessee Divorce Process: How Divorces Work Start to Finish.