Nashville Business Litigation Attorney

Tennessee Litigation Lawyers

At Thompson Burton, our commercial and business litigation attorneys have broad experience in dispute resolution. We represent clients among all industries and are dedicated to keeping their best interest top-of-mind. Whether you’re a small business owner or CEO, we are available to represent you and help move your company forward.

Commercial Litigation Services

Our litigation lawyers at Thompson Burton are passionate about representing Tennessee professionals. If you need legal support to resolve a business-related issue, contact us. Our dedicated team has years of experience in commercial and business litigation regarding a variety of matters, such as:

Breach of contract cases
Real estate litigation
Construction litigation
Employment disputes
Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) litigation
Business partnership issues
Fraudulent activity
Business malpractice

No matter how stable your business is, commercial disputes can severely disrupt your operations while costing you a lot of money. If you’re experiencing an issue, it is imperative that you take legal action as soon as possible to avoid risking a negative potential outcome

Contact Our Law Firm of Business Litigation

Have you been faced with a business dispute? If so, don’t hesitate to contact us. We will efficiently review your case and swiftly move the litigation process along.

Enforcing Out of State Judgments in Tennessee

By Cole Dowsley, August 6 2013

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The goal of a lawsuit is usually to win and obtain a money judgment against the other party. Unfortunately, a judgment is nothing more than a piece of paper. A judgment creditor does not get “paid” unless and until the judgment is enforced and the debt collected. What happens when the judgment debtor is located in another state or re-locates to another state without paying the judgment? What happens when all of the judgment debtor’s assets are located in another state? Is a judgment obtained out-of-state enforceable in Tennessee? No, a judgment obtained out-of-state is not enforceable in Tennessee, unless the out-of-state judgment is properly domesticated in a Tennessee court. Fortunately, judgments obtained in other states are ordinarily entitled to “full, faith and credit” in Tennessee. That is, Tennessee courts are required by Art. IV § 1 of the Constitution of the United States to give full faith and credit to judgments of other […]

Health Care Non-Compete Agreements

By Cole Dowsley, July 2 2013

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Introduction As a general rule, courts in Tennessee will enforce non-compete agreements where the restrictions are found to be reasonable. As outlined in my recent blog post, there are a number of factors to consider when determining the reasonableness and enforceability of a non-compete agreement. However, non-compete agreements for health care professionals implicate certain public policy concerns absent in other industries. Non-compete agreements for physicians and other health care professionals pose the unique issue of balancing the interests of patients against a physician’s practice or employer. On one hand, a patient’s freedom to seek treatment with the physician of her choosing and similar ethical concerns lean in favor of finding health care non-compete agreements unenforceable. On the other hand, the sanctity of contract law and the desire to protect a medical practice’s business interests from departing employees support the enforcement of such provisions. The American Medical Association, in its Code of Medical […]

Can My Business Use Background Checks to Screen Candidates?

By Cole Dowsley, June 12 2013

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The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) recently filed race discrimination lawsuits against two large companies for use of pre-employment criminal background checks. On June 11, 2013, the EEOC filed a lawsuit against Nashville based Dollar General over criminal background checks used in its hiring practices. A copy of the lawsuit can be found here. The EEOC alleges that Dollar General has subjected a class of black job applicants to discrimination because of their race by using criminal justice information in its hiring process. The EEOC claims that Dollar General’s use of background checks has a disparate impact on black applicants because blacks have criminal convictions at a rate disproportionately greater than their representation in the general population. On the same day, the EEOC filed a similar lawsuit against BMW related to its hiring practices at a manufacturing facility in South Carolina. A copy of the lawsuit can be found […]

Fifth Circuit Holds that Firing a Nursing Mother for Expressing Breast Milk Violates Title VII

By Cole Dowsley, June 10 2013

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This article was written by Thompson Burton commercial litigation attorney, Melissa Martin Burton. Melissa has represented clients before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and in state and federal courts. Melissa has defended employers against claims for discrimination based on age, gender, and race. In Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Houston Funding II, Ltd., No. 12-20220, 2013 WL 2360114 (5th Cir. May 30, 2013), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held late last month that “discharging a female employee because she is lactating or expressing breast milk constitutes sex discrimination in violation of Title VII.” The employee, Donnicia Venters, was told that her position had been filled after she asked her employer whether she could use space in a back room at work to express breast milk. In the opinion, the Fifth Circuit holds that “lactation is a medical condition of pregnancy for the purposes of the” Pregnancy Discrimination […]

Tennessee’s Trade Secrets Act

By Cole Dowsley, June 6 2013

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In a recent blog post, I outlined the general principles governing the enforceability of non-compete agreements in Tennessee. Many well-drafted non-compete agreements contain provisions protecting the employer’s confidential or proprietary information by restricting the employee from disclosing such information to others during employment and after the employment relationship ends. Non-compete and non-disclosure agreements, especially for salespeople, often define such confidential information to include customer lists, account information, sales strategy and tactics, and pricing data. Outside the sales context, many agreements protect other important proprietary information of the employer, such as formulas, data, programs, designs and similar intellectual property. Businesses will often seek to enforce non-compete and confidentiality agreements to protect their valuable trade secrets, confidential and proprietary information. Claims for misappropriation of confidential information, interference with contract, and violations of the Tennessee Trade Secrets Act are often made in conjunction with claims for breach of a non-compete, non-disclosure or other […]