Tennessee Courts are Very Generous in Computing Six year Statute of Limitations

I sue borrowers on unpaid debts all the time. I generally calculate the six year statute of limitations in Tennessee on unpaid debts by working backwards from the date of default.

In doing that, I generally look for the first date of default, add 6 years to that date, and there’s your deadline to file the lawsuit.

A recent opinion from the Tennessee Court of Appeals suggests that there’s a more creditor-friendly way to do this.

The case is Deutsche Bank National Trust Company v. Stacy Lee, et. al., M201801479COAR3CV, 2019 WL 2482423 (Tenn. App. June 13, 2019).

In that case, the debtors had not made a payment on the debt for eight and a half years. The creditor, nevertheless, filed a collections lawsuit, but the creditor only sued for those installment payments that came due in the 6 years prior to the lawsuit (which included a final, fully matured balloon payment). Needless to say, this lawsuit was, essentially, for the entire amount owed (minus, of course, about 12 months of installment/interest payments).

The Court found that each installment missed was an independent cause of action, prompting a new, later statute of limitations deadline for each installment with each passing month. Specifically, the Court wrote:

“As it pertains to an installment note, the law is well settled that the cause of action accrues on each installment when it becomes due, and that the statutory period begins to run from that moment on that installment.” Consumer Credit Union v. Hite, 801 S.W.2d 822, 824 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1990). Here, Deutsche Bank sought missed monthly payments going back six years from the date of the filing of the complaint, which was January 20, 2017. Because a cause of action accrues with respect to each missed installment payment in an installment note, monthly payments that became due and owing since January 20, 2011 are not barred by the statute of limitations.

This is somewhat counter-intuitive, since you’d think a six year old, long defaulted debt would have expired, well, six years from the default. But, it’s not the case. In fact, the only debts that would have expired are the specific installments that came due beyond that six year period.

I’m as pro-creditor as anybody, but this seems like an unfair outcome.