Tennessee Supreme Court Upholds Attorney Fee Award in Alimony Dispute

Nashville, Tenn. – Today the Tennessee Supreme Court held that a trial court could order a man who voluntarily dismissed his own lawsuit to pay his ex-wife’s ’s attorney fees associated with that lawsuit  

The couple involved in this case, Middle Tennessee attorney John Colley and Vanessa Turner (formerly Colley) divorced in 2012. Their marital dissolution agreement (MDA) included alimony to Ms. Turner. Years of post-divorce litigation followed, and afterward both the trial court and the Court of Appeals ordered Mr. Colley to pay Ms. Turner’s attorney fees.

Under the MDA, Ms. Turner’s alimony would end in the event she remarried, which she did in March 2019. A couple months beforehand, in January 2019, Mr. Colley filed a petition to end his alimony payments two months early. Almost two years of heated litigation ensued. Mr. Colley’s discovery requests included ordering Ms. Turner to give him her cell phone, all photographs and videos taken at her fiancé`s home and contact information for her fiancé`s family.

Days before the hearing, Mr. Colley voluntarily dismissed his petition. Ms. Turner asked the trial court to order Mr. Colley to pay her attorney fees for defending against his petition. Mr. Colley argued that Tennessee law only authorized attorney fee awards to “prevailing parties” and Ms. Turner did not “prevail” because his dismissal was voluntary. The trial court awarded her $16,500 in attorney fees, commenting that Mr. Colley “has been a bully and he has bullied Ms. Turner for years.”

Mr. Colley appealed, and the Court of Appeals reversed. The Tennessee Supreme Court granted Ms. Turner permission to appeal.

The Supreme Court held that Tennessee law authorized the trial court to order Mr. Colley to pay the attorney fees. Under Tennessee law, the Court said, “the challenger who forfeits, loses, and his opponent wins.” Even if the dismissal was voluntary, it held, Ms. Turner successfully kept her alimony and “prevailed” over Mr. Colley’s effort to end it. The Court affirmed the award and ordered Mr. Colley to pay Ms. Turner’s attorney fees on appeal.  

Justice Sarah K. Campbell wrote a separate opinion concurring in the judgment, joined by Justice Jeffrey S. Bivins.  Justice Campbell agreed that Ms. Turner was entitled to attorney’s fees. But in her view, Mr. Colley’s voluntary dismissal of his petition alone did not make Ms. Turner a “prevailing party” as that legal term of art is ordinarily understood. Ms. Turner was a prevailing party because the court previously awarded her alimony, and she had to defend against Mr. Colley’s petition to preserve that earlier relief. Justice Campbell cautioned that the majority’s reasoning should be limited to the family-law context.

To read the majority opinion in Colley v. Colley, authored by Chief Justice Holly Kirby, and the separate opinion authored by Justice Sarah Campbell, visit the Supreme Court opinions section of TNCourts.gov.  

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