Back To (Federal) Reality- Tennessee Supreme Court Ruling Modifies Summary Judgment Standard

Since 2008, state courts in Tennessee have decided motions for summary judgment according to the ruling laid out by the Tennessee Supreme Court in Hannan v. Alltel Publishing Co. Unlike the summary judgment standard in federal court, a party seeking summary judgment under the Hannan standard had to either (1) affirmatively negate an essential element of the nonmoving party's claim; or (2) show that the nonmoving party cannot prove an essential element of the claim at trial. The Hannan standard was an extension of prior Supreme Court precedent rather than a reasoned comparison between the summary judgment standard found in Rule 56 of the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure and its federal counterpart.