Alice Cartwright Garner, et al. v. Thomason, Hendrix, Harvey, Johnson & Mitchell, PLLC, et al.

Under the Tennessee Public Participation Act, a party may seek dismissal of a lawsuit that was filed “in response to that party’s exercise of the right to free speech, right to petition, or right of association.” Tenn. Code Ann. § 20-17-105(a) (2021). In this case, two lawyers sought to dismiss a tort action brought by the sister and brother-in-law of a former client. The lawyers had represented the former client in a series of unsuccessful lawsuits against the sister and brother-in-law related to their administration of a family trust. Dissatisfied with their representation, the former client sued the lawyers for legal malpractice and fraudulent concealment. Based on that alleged conduct, the sister and brother-in-law also sued the lawyers under the tort-of-another doctrine. The lawyers sought to dismiss the tort action on the theory that it was filed in response to the lawyers’ exercise of the right to petition in the underlying trust litigation. We hold that the lawyers failed to show that the tort action was filed in response to their exercise of the right to petition. Assuming that filing a lawsuit is an “exercise of the right to petition” within the meaning of the statute, a lawyer who files a lawsuit on behalf of a client does not personally exercise that right. Instead, a lawyer at most facilitates his client’s exercise of the right. Because the lawyers here cannot show that the action was filed in response to their exercise of the right to petition, the action should not be dismissed under the Tennessee Public Participation Act. We reverse the Court of Appeals’ contrary holding and remand to the trial court for further proceedings.