Frederick B. Ingram v. William F. Earthman

This appeal involves a dispute between two former friends and business associates over a sizeable personal debt. After one of the friends failed to repay a $1,700,000 loan, the friend who had loaned the money filed suit in the Chancery Court for Davidson County seeking to recover the loan and interest. The borrower asserted that the lender had delayed too long in filing suit and counterclaimed for allegedly unpaid compensation and retirement benefits. A jury awarded the lender $5,667,122.84 on the debt, and the trial court, with the parties’ consent, awarded the lender an additional $400,000 for his legal expenses. On this appeal, the borrower raises numerous issues relating to the denial of his motions for directed verdict, the adequacy of the jury instructions, the instructions limiting the use of the evidence of the lender’s prior criminal conviction, and the excessiveness of the verdict. We have determined that the judgment should be affirmed.