Trau-Med of America, Inc. D/b/a/ Bellevue Clinic v. Allstate Insurance Company

Summary

Deciding a Tenn. R. Civ. P. 12.02(6) appeal, the Tennessee Supreme Court held that a medical clinic's complaint stated a claim for tortious interference with business relationships against Allstate, expressly adopting the tort and overruling the portion of Nelson v. Martin that had declined to recognize it. The court held that an insurer is vicariously liable for defense counsel's acts that the insurer directs, commands, or knowingly authorizes, and rejected the judicial-privilege defense because that privilege is confined to defamation actions. It nonetheless dismissed the clinic's civil conspiracy count under the intracorporate conspiracy immunity doctrine, because every alleged co-conspirator acted within the scope of employment to further the corporation's interests. The Court of Appeals was affirmed in part and reversed in part, and the case was remanded to the Shelby County Circuit Court.