Ernest Hobbs v. Russell L. Leonard - Concurring ( 2019 )

02/15/2019 IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT NASHVILLE January 9, 2019 Session ERNEST HOBBS v. RUSSELL L. LEONARD ET AL. Appeal from the Circuit Court for Coffee County No. 43271 Vanessa Jackson, Judge ___________________________________ No. M2018-00317-COA-R3-CV ___________________________________ Richard H. Dinkins, J., concurring. In our resolution of this appeal, we hold that the General Release, which the parties executed when Case No. 2014-CV-170 settled, was not against public policy. I concur with that conclusion, under the facts presented. My qualification is based on the fact that the release includes a prohibition on the defendants in this case “assist[ing]. . . the initiation by any other person or entity of any claims or demands against the RELEASED PARTIES arising from or relating to any allegations contained in the above-referenced action from the beginning of the world to the date of the Release[.].” (Emphasis added). I believe that, under the appropriate circumstance not presented here, it may be against public policy for a releasing party to agree with a released party not to assist in a legal, administrative, or regulatory proceeding involving the conduct of the released party, particularly where the releasing party has not initiated the proceeding and whose assistance may be compelled. _________________________________ RICHARD H. DINKINS, JUDGE