No Automatic Continuance After Showing Up For Trial High on Meth

Tennessee case summary on the divorce process.

Christopher Gray Wallace v. Jessica Tomlin Wallace

At one point, the court took a recess and ordered the husband to take a drug and alcohol test.  The husband tested positive for methamphetamine.

The husband and wife in this Montgomery County, Tennessee, case were married for about ten years before they both filed cross-complaints for divorce.  After the trial court granted the divorce and divided the property, the husband appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals, asserting various procedural errors.

Much of the case involved a piece of property that the husband had begun improving prior to dating the wife.  He also ran a profitable lawn care business, which employed the wife as bookkeeper and accountant.  Profits from the business were over $20,000 per month.

The wife left in 2020, and cited as a large part of the reason the husband’s substance abuse problem.  During the litigation process, the trial court noted that the husband acted “abhorrently” by ignoring various orders and agreements.  His attorney moved to withdraw in 2021, citing a breakdown in communications.  The trial court granted the motion and gave the husband 30 days to find a new lawyer or proceed pro se. He did act on his own behalf, and hired a new lawyer less than a month before the final hearing.  He then requested a continuance and argued that the new lawyer needed time to get up to speed.  The motion was ultimately denied, and the trial proceeded.  At one point, the court took a recess and ordered the husband to take a drug and alcohol test.  The husband tested positive for methamphetamine.  His lawyer did not move for a continuance, but noted that this was against her advice, as the husband wanted to proceed.

After trial, the trial court granted the divorce and divided the property.  After the husband filed a motion for reconsideration, he appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.

The husband first argued that the trial court should have granted his motion for a continuance to allow the new lawyer to prepare.  The appeals court first noted that the standard of review is abuse of discretion.  Unfortunately for the husband, the appeals court concluded that the husband had not properly made a record in the lower court.  In this case, the motion was apparently denied orally, but the husband never tried to get specific findings for the appeals court to review.  For that reason, the appeals court deemed that the issue was waived.

The husband also argued that the trial court should have granted a continuance after he tested positive for methamphetamine.  But the appeals court again agreed that the issue was waived, since his lawyer specifically told the court that the client wanted to continue, despite the attorney’s advice to the contrary.

The appeals court also reviewed the division of property.  On most of the property, the appeals court affirmed, noting once again that the husband hadn’t presented evidence countering the rulings.  But as to one property, the appeals court did find that the lower court had not made adequate findings of fact.  For that reason, it vacated this portion of the judgment and remanded the case.

No. M2022-01279-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Nov. 16, 2023).

See original opinion for exact language.  Legal citations omitted.

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