Brandon Coleman, et al. v. CBL & Associates, Inc., et al.

This interlocutory appeal concerns the relation back doctrine under Tennessee Rule of Civil
Procedure 15.03. The plaintiffs sued a corporate entity for premises liability. The
corporate defendant successfully moved for summary judgment on grounds that it did not
own the subject property. The plaintiffs then filed a motion to alter or amend in which they
sought leave to amend their complaint to name a separate corporate entity as a defendant.
The trial court granted the plaintiffs’ motion, finding that the initial mistake was a
misnomer and that the plaintiffs were not seeking to add a new party even though the
defendant to be added was a distinct corporate entity. The defendants sought permission
to file an interlocutory appeal, which the trial court granted. The record contains no
evidence that the separate corporate entity named by the plaintiffs in their amended
pleading received timely notice of the plaintiffs’ lawsuit. We therefore reverse the
judgment of the trial court.