Landers v. Jones

• Decision Date: 23 February 1994
• Docket Number: No. 03-S-01-9308-JV-00044,03-S-01-9308-JV-00044
• Court: Tennessee Supreme Court
• Parties: Tina D. LANDERS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Jay Byron JONES, Defendant-Appellee.

Page 674

872 S.W.2d 674

Tina D. LANDERS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Jay Byron JONES, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 03-S-01-9308-JV-00044.

Supreme Court of Tennessee,

at Knoxville.

Feb. 23, 1994.

Lawrence A. Welch, Jr., Milligan & Coleman, Greeneville, for appellant.

Eric D. Christiansen, Greeneville, for appellee.

OPINION

ANDERSON, Justice.

We are asked to decide whether a defendant's participation in a joint motion for continuance in juvenile court constitutes a general appearance and, therefore, a waiver of the defendant's right to contest the issue of personal jurisdiction. For the reasons set out below, we conclude that a defendant does not waive the right to contest personal jurisdiction by participating in a joint motion for continuance.

BACKGROUND

The plaintiff, Tina Landers, a resident of Greeneville, Tennessee, filed a paternity proceeding in the Juvenile Court of Greene County, Tennessee, alleging that the defendant, Jay Byron Jones, a resident of Richton, Mississippi, was the father of her child. A trial date was unilaterally set for April 22, 1992. Some five months after suit was filed, process was served on April 3, 1992, on the defendant in Mississippi. The defendant employed a Greeneville lawyer who, together with plaintiff's counsel, filed a joint motion to continue the hearing until a later date. The joint motion alleged:

[T]he parties would respectfully show unto the Court that service of process was not obtained upon the Defendant until on or about April 3, 1992, and that he respectfully requests the Court to allow him additional time within which to prepare his defense.

(Emphasis added.) An agreed order was entered continuing the case to be set at a later date.

Jones then made a "limited appearance" for the purpose of moving the juvenile court to dismiss the petition for lack of personal jurisdiction. The motion recited that Jones was a resident of Mississippi and that he had never been in the State of Tennessee.

The Juvenile Court overruled the motion and when Jones did not thereafter respond, a default judgment was entered declaring Jones to be the lawful father of the plaintiff's child and ordering the payment of child support and birth expenses. The judgment recited that Jones

... made a general appearance in this Court, by and through counsel, with the filing of a Joint Motion to Continue and Agreed Order of Continuance. Further, at or before that time an agreement was made with counsel representing Petitioner Tina Landers for blood testing to be performed.

The defendant Jones appealed from the default judgment, challenging the trial court's denial of his motion to contest personal jurisdiction. The Court of Appeals reversed, finding that the joint motion for continuance did not constitute a general appearance because the "motion seeking an enlargement of time in no way recognized the proper pendency of the cause, or the jurisdiction, and sought no affirmative relief." We granted the plaintiff's application for permission to appeal and now affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeals for the reasons set out below.

PERSONAL JURISDICTION

In order to adjudicate a claim, a court must possess both subject matter jurisdiction and personal jurisdiction. Brown v. Brown, 155 Tenn. 530, 296 S.W. 356 (1927). Subject matter jurisdiction relates to the nature of the cause of action and the relief sought and is conferred by the sovereign authority which organizes the court. Cooper v. Reynolds, 77 U.S. 308, 10 Wall. 308, 19 L.Ed. 931 (1870); Turpin v. Conner Bros. Excavating Co., Inc., 761 S.W.2d 296, 297 (Tenn.1988). Personal jurisdiction, by contrast, refers to the court's authority to adjudicate the claim as to the person. Id.

Personal jurisdiction of non-resident defendants may be obtained by service of process under the Tennessee Long Arm Statute (Tenn.Code Ann. § 20-2-214(a)) if, and only if, the non-resident defendant has such minimum contacts with this state that maintenance of the suit does not offend "traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice." International Shoe Co. v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 316, 66 S.Ct. 154, 158, 90 L.Ed. 95 (1945); J.I. Case Corp. v. Williams, 832 S.W.2d 530, 531 (Tenn.1992).

Subject matter jurisdiction differs fundamentally from personal jurisdiction in that the latter can be conferred by express or implied consent. Davis v. Mitchell, 27 Tenn.App. 182, 178 S.W.2d 889, 900 (1944).

In other words, subject matter jurisdiction cannot be waived, but a court's lack of personal jurisdiction may be waived by a defendant; and, one method of waiver is by making a voluntary "general appearance" before the court in order to defend the suit on the merits, rather than a "special appearance" for the purpose of contesting personal jurisdiction. Dixie Savings Stores, Inc. v. Turner, 767 S.W.2d 408, 410 (Tenn.App.1988); Tennessee Dept. of Human Services v. Daniel, 659 S.W.2d 625, 626 (Tenn.App.1983).

As a result of the foregoing, the issue in this case becomes whether the defendant Jones' participation in the joint motion for continuance constituted a waiver by "general appearance," which precluded him from later contesting the court's personal jurisdiction.

Initially, we note that there is a modern legal trend away from the technical requirement that a defendant must enter a special appearance to contest personal jurisdiction. For example, both the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure allow a defendant to raise all defenses, including a challenge to the personal jurisdiction of the court, in either a pre-trial motion or in a responsive pleading. See, e.g., Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b) and Tenn.R.Civ.P. 12.02 ("No defense or objection is waived by being joined with one or more other defenses or objections in a responsive pleading or motion."). Under both the state and federal civil procedure rules, therefore, a defendant is permitted to raise the defense of lack of personal jurisdiction at the same time other defenses are raised. Waiver occurs only if there is no objection to personal jurisdiction in the first filing, either a Rule 12 motion or an answer. The authors of Gibson's Suits in Chancery § 146 (6th ed. 1982) have commented in that connection that Rule 12 of the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure eliminates a "trap for the unwary." Id. Wright v. Universal Tire, Inc., 577 S.W.2d 194 (Tenn.App.1978); see generally 3 Nancy F. MacLean & Bradley A. MacLean, Tennessee Practice, § 12.5 (West 2nd ed. 1989); 5A Charles A. Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure, § 1344 and § 1362 (West 1990).

Although the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure are not by their own terms applicable to paternity cases in juvenile court, ¹ Rule 1(b) of the Tennessee Rules of Juvenile Procedure provides that the "Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure shall govern all...