JEFFREY HEATLEY ET AL. v. ESTATE OF DAVID G. GAITHER ET AL. - Articles

All Content

JEFFREY HEATLEY ET AL. v. ESTATE OF DAVID G. GAITHER ET AL.

Posted by: Azya Thornton on May 29, 2025

Court: TN Court of Appeals

Attorneys 1: G. Kline Preston, IV, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellants, Jeffrey Heatley, and the Estate of Kathryn Heatley.

Attorneys 2: Douglas L. Dunn, Knoxville, Tennessee, for the appellee, Patricia W. Gaither.

Attorneys 3: Gaither’s Inc., and Estate of David G. Gaither, McMinnville, Tennessee, appellees, pro se.

Judge(s): ARMSTRONG

Appellants have filed three related lawsuits against appellee and other entities. Here, appellants claim a continuing nuisance stemming from the alleged discharge, onto appellants’ property, of e. coli-contaminated wastewater from a dismantled septic system, which previously serviced appellee’s property. In a previous appeal, this Court affirmed the grant of summary judgment to the appellees on appellants’ claim of trespass based on our finding of an existing easement appurtenant for the septic system. As relevant here, the trial court granted appellee’s motion for summary judgment on appellants’ claim of nuisance, and they appeal. Because appellants have failed to meet their burden of proof, at the summary judgment stage, to show that there is leaching of contaminated wastewater onto their property, they have failed to establish the existence of the nuisance averred in their complaint. Accordingly, we affirm the trial court’s grant of appellee’s motion for summary judgment.

Attachments: