Opinion ID: 1057597
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: the metropolitan government's failure to file a motion to alter or amend the pretrial order

Text: As a final matter, Gray's Disposal and Mr. Webster contend that the courts need not consider the Metropolitan Government's arguments based on United Haulers because the Metropolitan Government brought it to the trial court's attention in a notice of filing intervening change in controlling authority rather than in a Tenn. R. Civ. P. 59.04 motion to alter or amend. This argument exalts form over substance. The trial court viewed the Metropolitan Government's filing as some sort of subterfuge to circumvent its Tenn. R. Civ. P. 16.05 pre-trial order. We concur with the Court of Appeals that there is simply no basis upon this record for characterizing the Metropolitan Government's filing of a notice of intervening authority as opposed to a motion to alter or amend the trial court's order in such a manner. In addition, it is not readily apparent that the substance of the Metropolitan Government's notice of intervening authority is, in fact, beyond the scope of the pretrial order. The trial court's March 26, 2007 order states that [t]he Court shall conduct a trial ... on the only issue remaining in this case: the amounts owed to Metro in Cause No. 98-3400-II(III). The Metropolitan Government's notice of intervening authority is directly addressed to the amounts owed to the city in that proceeding. Thus, while the Metropolitan Government could have potentially sought to clarify the trial court's Rule 16.05 pre-trial order, it is not apparent that any actual amendment or altering thereof was required to keep the Metropolitan Government's notice of intervening authority within the scope of the trial court's order.
In summary, we conclude that the United States Supreme Court's decision in United Haulers Association, Inc. v. Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Management Authority constitutes an intervening change in the controlling authority in this case and that the lower courts' reliance on equitable principles to avoid applying the United Haulers decision to this case was impermissible under Harper v. Virginia Department of Taxation. Applying the United Haulers decision, we find that the trial court and the Court of Appeals erred by failing to require Gray's Disposal to enter an order, consistent with the trial court's December 12, 2001 order, granting the Metropolitan Government a $66,789.90 judgment against Gray's Disposal and a $55,275.00 judgment against Mr. Webster for unpaid tipping fees. [14] Accordingly, we remand the case to the trial court with directions to enter a final order consistent with its December 12, 2001 order. We also tax the costs of this appeal, jointly and severally, to Gray's Disposal Company, Inc. and Ray Webster.