Computation of Time: How Do You Count “10 Days” for a General Sessions Court Appeal in Tennessee?

Everybody knows that, in Tennessee General Sessions Courts, you have a right to file a de novo appeal in ten days. But, lawyers sometimes scratch their heads on how to count ten days. Is it business days? Is it calendar days?
Tenn. Code Ann. § 27-5-101 provides the Answer:

Any person dissatisfied with the judgment of a recorder or other officer of a municipality charged with the conduct of trials, in a civil action, may, within ten (10) entire days thereafter, Sundays exclusive, appeal to the next term of circuit court.

So, under the statute, you use calendar days but you exclude any intervening Sundays.
Also, see Tenn. Code Ann. § 1-3-102:

The time within which any act provided by law is to be done shall be computed by excluding the first day and including the last, unless the last day is a Saturday, a Sunday, or a legal holiday, and then it shall also be excluded.

So, if the tenth day falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or a legal holiday, the deadline rolls forward.

Ok, last question, what’s a “legal holiday” in Tennessee? See Tenn. Code Ann. § 15-1-101:

January 1; the third Monday in January, “Martin Luther King, Jr. Day”; the third Monday in February, known as “Washington Day”; the last Monday in May, known as “Memorial” or “Decoration Day”; July 4; the first Monday in September, known as “Labor Day”; the second Monday in October, known as “Columbus Day”; November 11, known as “Veterans’ Day”; the fourth Thursday in November, known as “Thanksgiving Day”; December 25; and Good Friday; and when any one (1) of these days falls on Sunday, then the following Monday shall be substituted; and when any of these days falls on Saturday, then the preceding Friday shall be substituted; also, all days appointed by the governor or by the president of the United States as days of fasting or thanksgiving, and all days set apart by law for holding county, state, or national elections, throughout this state, are made legal holidays, and the period from twelve o’clock (12:00) noon to twelve o’clock (12:00) midnight of each Saturday which is not a holiday is made a half-holiday, on which holidays and half-holidays all public offices of this state may be closed and business of every character, at the option of the parties in interest of the same, may be suspended.

Author: David

I am a creditors rights and commercial litigation attorney in Nashville, Tennessee.

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