Title 29, Remedies and Special Proceedings

The attachment by endorser or surety shall be discharged, if the principal will give bond and security, to be approved by the court, in term time, or its clerk in vacation, to indemnify the plaintiff.

(a) In all actions for torts, brought in any court having jurisdiction thereof, where the defendant is a nonresident of this state, or falls within any of the provisions of § 29-6-101 authorizing attachment to issue, it shall be lawful for the plaintiff to commence such suit by a…

(a) In any civil action, when the summons has been returned “not to be found in my county,” as to all or any one of the defendants, residents of the county, the plaintiff may have an alias and pluries summons for the defendant, or, at plaintiff's election, sue out attachment agai…

No judicial attachment shall issue against the estate of any person residing without the limits of the state, unless such process is grounded on an original attachment, or unless the leading process in the suit has been executed on the person of the defendant when within the stat…

When the debtor and creditor, tort-claimant and tort-feasor, are both nonresidents of this state, and residents of the same state, the creditor or claimant shall not have attachment against the property of the debtor, or the tort-defendant unless the creditor or claimant swears t…

Suits by original attachment may be brought in any court, or before any magistrate, having jurisdiction of the cause of action.

Any person may also sue out an attachment in the chancery court, upon debts or demands of a purely legal nature, except causes of action founded on torts, without first having recovered a judgment at law, whenever the amount in controversy is sufficient to give the court jurisdic…

The attachment may be granted by any judge of the circuit, criminal, or special court, by any chancellor or judge of the court of general sessions, or by the clerk of the court to which the attachment is made returnable.

In order to obtain an attachment, the plaintiff, plaintiff's agent or attorney, shall make oath in writing, stating the nature and amount of the debt or demand, and that it is a just claim; or, if the action is for a tort, that the damages sued for are justly due the plaintiff or…

It is no objection to the attachment that the bill, affidavit, or attachment states in the alternative, or otherwise, more than one (1) of the causes for which attachment may be sued out.

The officer to whom application is made, shall, before granting the attachment, require the plaintiff, the plaintiff's agent or attorney, to execute a bond with sufficient security, payable to the defendant, and conditioned that the plaintiff will prosecute the attachment with ef…

(1) The bond to be required before issuance of the writ shall be in penalty as follows:(1) When the amount of the claim is less than the value of the property sought to be attached, a bond in a penalty equal to the asserted amount of the plaintiff's or complainant's debt or lien …

(a) A substantially accurate description of the property to be attached, and its approximate value, shall be set forth in the bill or affidavit praying for the writ of attachment, and if in the bill of complaint, same shall be verified by the oath of the complainant, complainant'…

The affidavit and bond shall be filed by the officer taking them, in the court to which the attachment is returnable, and shall constitute a part of the record in the cause.

If the debt or demand, on which the attachment suit is brought, is not due at the time of the service of the attachment, the plaintiff is not required to file any pleadings until the maturity of such debt or demand.

The writ shall be addressed to the sheriff of the county, unless the suit be before a judge of the court of general sessions, and then it may be addressed to a constable; and it shall command the sheriff or constable to attach and safely keep, repleviable upon security, the estat…

(a) The writ may be substantially in the following form:State of Tennessee, County.To the sheriff of County, greeting:Whereas, A B (or C D, as the agent or attorney of A B) hath complained on oath to me, E F, judge (chancellor or clerk), that G H is justly indebted (or liable) to…

The affidavit and bond shall be returned by the officer granting the attachment to the tribunal to which the attachment is made returnable.

Attachments issued without affidavit and bond, as herein prescribed, may be abated by plea of the defendant.

The attachment law shall be liberally construed, and the plaintiff, before or during trial, shall be permitted to amend any defect of form in the affidavit, bond, attachment, or other proceedings; and no attachment shall be dismissed for any defect in, or want of, bond, if the pl…

Alias writs of attachment or new writs of garnishment may issue without new bond or affidavit, when no property has been found, or not sufficient to satisfy the debt, or when, pending the suit, the plaintiff wishes to garnishee other persons.

In all suits commenced by original attachment in any court of record, or before a general sessions judge, it shall be the duty of the clerk issuing the attachment, upon application of the plaintiff, to issue a summons also against the defendant for the same cause of action, and i…

Attachments sued out in aid of a suit already brought shall be made returnable to the court before whom the suit is pending.

The writ of attachment should direct so much of the property of the defendant to be attached as will be sufficient to satisfy the plaintiff's debt or demand, and all costs.

The process of attachment issues against the property of the defendant wherever the same may be found.

The officer granting the attachment may direct, upon proper application, that counterpart writs of attachment issue to any county in which property of the defendant may be found, or such counterparts may be subsequently applied for and obtained upon good cause shown.

(a) Constables may execute attachments returnable before general sessions judges, and in cases where the defendant is about to abscond or remove. (b) This chapter and chapter 7 of this title in relation to the duties of attaching officers embrace constables whenever they are auth…

Attachments may be levied upon any real or personal property of either a legal or equitable nature, debts or choses in action, whether due or not due, in which the defendant has an interest.

The officer to whom the writ is delivered shall attach and take into the officer's possession, in the first instance, so much of the personal property of the defendant as may be necessary to meet the exigency of the writ, and shall levy the attachment, when necessary, upon the de…

If the officer make an excessive levy, the officer shall be liable as in case of excessive levy by execution.

Any transfer, sale, or assignment, made after the filing of an attachment bill in chancery, or after the suing out of an attachment at law, of property mentioned in the bill or attachment, as against the plaintiff, shall be inoperative and voidable, as elsewhere provided.

If, after the service upon any person of a copy of the bill, or levy of the attachment at law upon debts or effects in such person's hands, any person should pay the debt, or secrete the effects, or purchase in any other claim against the defendant, that person shall be liable to…

If debts or choses in action not due are levied upon, no final judgment or decree shall be rendered until they become payable.

In all cases where choses in action are attached, the officer levying the attachment may collect the same until the writ is returned, unless otherwise ordered.

Money attached by the officer, or coming to the officer's hands by virtue of the attachment, shall forthwith be paid over to the clerk of the court in which the suit is pending, to be by the clerk retained until the further action of the court.

The court before whom the suit is pending, may, at any time, appoint a receiver to take possession of property attached under this chapter or chapter 7 of this title, and to collect, manage, and control the same, and pay over the proceeds according to the nature of the property a…

(a) Perishable property may be sold by order of the court before whom the suit is pending, unless replevied by the defendant. (b) If any, or all, of the property is of so perishable a nature, or so expensive, as to render a sale necessary for the interest of the parties, before t…

(a) The officer granting the attachment may, at the time, direct that, as soon as the attachment is levied, publication be made in some newspaper, requiring the defendant to appear at a time and place to be mentioned in such publication, before the court having cognizance of the …

(a) The order should be entered upon the general sessions judge's docket, as well as endorsed upon the papers, in all attachment cases returned before a magistrate. (b) In all other cases, the entry should be upon the minutes or rule docket of the court.

(a) As soon as the attachment is levied upon property of the defendant, the clerk of the court shall make out, in pursuance of the order of publication, a memorandum or notice thereof, and cause same to be published forthwith in some convenient newspaper according to law. (b) The…

This memorandum or notice shall contain the names of the parties, the style of the court to which the attachment is made returnable, the cause alleged for suing it out, and the time and place at which the defendant is required to appear and defend the attachment suit.

(a) Where publication is made for a nonresident defendant the clerk of the court, in which such suit is filed, shall, immediately after the first publication, mail a copy of the newspaper containing such publication to each of the nonresident defendants directed to each nonreside…

The attachment and publication are in lieu of personal service upon the defendant, and the plaintiff may proceed, upon return of the attachment duly levied, as if the suit had been commenced by summons.

(a) Should the defendant appear in time, the defendant may make defense, and the cause proceed as if the suit had been commenced by personal service of process. (b) If the defendant fails to appear or make defense, the plaintiff may take judgment at law, or obtain a decree in equ…

The defendant in an attachment suit may replevy the real or personal property attached by giving bond, with good security, payable to the plaintiff, in double the amount of the plaintiff's demand, or, at defendant's option, in double the value of the property attached, conditione…

The officer levying the attachment shall take the bond, if tendered, at any time before the officer has made sale of the property or return of the process, in which case the officer will fix the value of the property, and judge of the sufficiency of the security.