Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. v. Epperson

OPINION

in which JANICE M. HOLDER, C.J., and GARY R. WADE, WILLIAM C. KOCH, JR., and SHARON G. LEE, JJ., joined.

We accepted Cracker Barrel’s application for permission to appeal to determine whether the contractual language — “[a]ll costs and expenses of any suit or proceeding shall be assessed against the defaulting party” — creates a contractual right to attorney fees for the successful party in a lawsuit. We determine that neither this contractual language nor the doctrine of judicial estoppel creates a right to recover such fees. Accordingly, the Court of Appeals’ judgment denying an award…