Background
Southern Auto Source Finance, LLC filed a civil warrant in Shelby County General Sessions Court against Airways Towing & Recovery, alleging breach of contract, conversion, violations of the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act, and related claims totaling $25,000. After a December 2024 trial, the court entered judgment for Southern Auto Source in the amount of $31,999.99, including $7,000 in attorney’s fees, plus possession of the disputed property.
The day after judgment, Timothy Gaston — the non-attorney sole member and registered agent of Airways Towing & Recovery, LLC — filed a notice of appeal to the Shelby County Circuit Court in the name of “Timothy Gaston/Airways Towing & Recovery, LLC.” Although Airways had been represented by counsel in general sessions court, Gaston filed the notice himself. Counsel later appeared, and the parties conducted discovery over several months.
More than a year after the notice was filed, Southern Auto Source moved to dismiss the appeal, arguing the notice was a nullity because a non-attorney cannot perfect an appeal on behalf of an LLC under Tennessee law. The circuit court denied the motion, reasoning that Tennessee Code Annotated § 16-15-729 prohibits dismissal of general sessions appeals for “any informality” and that the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure — including Rule 11’s signature requirements — do not apply to general sessions proceedings. Southern Auto Source then sought and obtained permission to file this extraordinary appeal under Tennessee Rule of Appellate Procedure 10.
The Court’s Holding
The Court of Appeals reversed the circuit court and remanded for dismissal. The court held that, regardless of whether Rule 11 applies in general sessions court, the longstanding Tennessee principle that a corporation or LLC cannot appear or act in court without licensed counsel is not a creature of Rule 11 — it is an independent rule rooted in the prohibition on unauthorized practice of law. Because an LLC is a legal entity separate and distinct from its members, Gaston’s pro se right of self-representation under Tennessee Code Annotated § 23-1-109 did not extend to filing documents on behalf of the company. A notice of appeal filed by a non-attorney on an LLC’s behalf is therefore a nullity that fails to vest jurisdiction in the circuit court.
The court further held that Shelby County General Sessions Court Civil Division Local Rule 7 — which expressly requires that any litigant not representing itself be represented by a licensed Tennessee attorney — independently compelled the same result. Because a corporation cannot represent itself pro se, it must be represented by counsel, and Gaston’s filing did not satisfy that requirement. The court analogized to its prior decision in Elm Children’s Educational Trust v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., 468 S.W.3d 529 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2014), where it dismissed an appeal for lack of jurisdiction when a non-attorney trustee signed the notice of appeal on behalf of a trust.
The court also rejected Airways’ newly raised argument — advanced for the first time in its appellate brief — that it was actually a sole proprietorship rather than an LLC, and therefore Gaston had a right to appear pro se. The court held that Airways had judicially admitted its LLC status by captioning its own notice of appeal as “Airways Towing & Recovery, LLC” and by consistently referring to itself as an LLC throughout the trial court proceedings. A party may not raise a theory on appeal that is directly at odds with its own admissions in the court below.
Key Takeaways
- In Tennessee, an LLC — like a corporation — cannot appear in court through a non-attorney member, officer, or agent; doing so constitutes the unauthorized practice of law and renders the filing a jurisdictional nullity.
- This rule applies independent of Tennessee Rule of Civil Procedure 11: even in courts where Rule 11 does not govern (such as general sessions court), the separate-entity doctrine and local rules requiring licensed counsel can still prohibit non-attorney filings on behalf of entities.
- The § 16-15-729 “no informality” protection for general sessions appeals does not rescue a defective notice of appeal filed by an unauthorized person — proper filing by an authorized party is a jurisdictional prerequisite, not a mere formality.
- A party is bound by its own judicial admissions, including the characterization of its own business structure in pleadings and notices; it may not shift to an inconsistent theory for the first time on appeal.
Why It Matters
This decision reinforces a strict rule that Tennessee practitioners and business owners should heed: when an LLC or corporation loses at the general sessions court level, the notice of appeal to circuit court must be filed by a licensed attorney. Filing the notice pro se — even using an official court form, and even when the member is the sole owner — is not a curable informality but a jurisdictional defect that forfeits the right to a de novo trial. The ten-day appeal window is short, and the consequences of missing it with an unauthorized filing are severe and apparently irreversible.
The opinion also highlights the importance of local court rules. Shelby County’s Local Rule 7 played a decisive role, and attorneys handling general sessions matters in other jurisdictions should verify whether similar rules apply in their courts. The decision draws on a broad survey of out-of-state authority to note that Tennessee, unlike some states, has enacted no statutory exception permitting corporate self-representation in its small-claims equivalent courts — making the rule here stricter than in many other jurisdictions.