Team Design v. Gottlieb

OPINION

This appeal raises important issues regarding the permissible range of court-annexed alternative dispute resolution procedures available under Tenn. S.Ct. R. 31. The case began in the Davidson County General Sessions Court as a dispute over payment for artwork and graphic design for a country music album. All the parties were dissatisfied with the general sessions court’s disposition of their claims and perfected de novo appeals to the Circuit Court for Davidson County. When a dispute arose over the inability of two of the parties to be present on the agreed-upon trial date, the trial…