Opinion ID: 714979
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Life Care's Motion for Directed Verdict as to the Defendants' Liability

Text: 106 At the close of the Defendants' case, Life Care asked the district court for a judgment as a matter of law under Fed.R.Civ.P. 50(a), asserting that the Defendants had no defense to its claim for wrongful termination. The district court agreed. This decision must be reversed inasmuch as it was necessitated in part by the district court's determination that, as a matter of law, Life Care's solicitation had not violated its fiduciary duty to Charles Town. This ruling must be vacated and, as a consequence, the directed verdict upon which it rested must be set aside as well. 107
Management/Burden of Proof Issue 108 The Defendants also argued that Life Care was not entitled to a directed verdict because of the absence of competent evidence that it fully complied with all of the terms and conditions of the management agreement. The district court disagreed, holding that it was the Defendants' burden to prove Life Care's lack of performance as an affirmative defense. 109 This decision by the district court must be vacated because its conclusions on Life Care's fiduciary obligations were erroneous. Therefore, the burden of proof issue, which has been raised by the Defendants, is moot. However, inasmuch as it is likely that the Defendants will reargue their position in connection with the new trial, the district court will reach the same conclusion, and the Defendants will appeal the issue once again, the Court will address the parties' respective burdens of proof at this juncture in the interest of judicial economy. 110 The law in Tennessee is completely silent as to the allocation of burdens of proof in a breach of contract case. Neither party has been able to produce a single Tennessee case that is apposite to this case. Nevertheless, the Court must use its best judgment in an effort to predict how the Tennessee Supreme Court would rule if confronted with this question. Cathey v. Johns-Manville Corp., 776 F.2d 1565, 1569 (6th Cir.1985), cert. denied, 478 U.S. 1021, 106 S.Ct. 3335, 92 L.Ed.2d 740 (1986). 111 It is clear that, under Tennessee law, a plaintiff cannot recover for a breach of contract if he has not fully performed under the contract. See TENNESSEE PATTERN CIVIL JURY INSTRUCTION § 13.01. However, this does not mean that the plaintiff has the burden of proof on the issue of his own performance. 112 The Defendants cite a number of cases from other jurisdictions which, in their opinion, suggest that the plaintiff in a breach of contract case always has the burden of proof as to his own performance under the contract. Those cases are wholly unpersuasive with respect to Tennessee law on the subject. 113 Typically, the plaintiff has the burden of pleading and proving every essential fact and element of his cause of action, not merely every fact that has been unnecessarily pleaded. 29 AM.JUR.2D EVIDENCE § 158. In the breach of contract context, it makes no sense to require the plaintiff to plead and prove the performance of a contract as an essential fact and element of the plaintiff's cause of action. The reasons for this conclusion are two-fold. 114 First, contracts frequently contain many provisions, some of which may be completely unrelated to the dispute in a lawsuit. Thus, from a judicial economy perspective, it is wholly impractical to impose upon the plaintiff the burden of peremptorily having to prove his own performance under those sections of a contract to which there is no challenge. Such a rule, if imposed, would obligate the aggrieved party to produce evidence that would inundate the record unnecessarily. Therefore, the performance of the plaintiff should not be an issue in the case unless and until the defendant raises it as an affirmative defense. Id. at § 160. 115 Second, allocating the burden of such an affirmative defense on the plaintiff would allow the defendant to sidestep certain relevant legal principles under Tennessee law. Under the laws of Tennessee, the Defendants are not entitled to defend against Life Care's charges of an alleged breach of contract on grounds other than those that were announced at the time of its termination of service of employment. Notwithstanding this rule, the Defendants' theory on the proper allocation of burdens would require Life Care to prove adequate management of the nursing home, thus opening the door for the Defendants to introduce mismanagement evidence as rebuttal material. In this manner, the Defendants would be able to produce evidence indirectly which could not be introduced directly. Such an outcome must be rejected. 116 On the basis of the foregoing, therefore, the Court concludes that the basic elements of a breach of contract case under Tennessee law must include (1) the existence of a contract, (2) breach of the contract, and (3) damages which flow from the breach. The plaintiff's performance under the contract is not an element of his claim, but rather an affirmative defense. Therefore, the district court's disposition of this issue must be affirmed. 117