David Stovall v. Christopher Dunn

This appeal involves a state prisoner's civil rights action against a private lawyer appointed to represent him in a post-conviction proceeding. The prisoner filed suit against his former lawyer in the Circuit Court for Maury County alleging that the lawyer, motivated by racial bias, had intentionally deprived him of an opportunity to seek appellate review of an adverse decision of the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals and had refused to provide him with his case file. The lawyer moved for summary judgment on the ground that the prisoner's complaint was barred by the statute of limitations. The trial court granted the summary judgment, and the prisoner has appealed. We have determined that the trial court erred by granting the summary judgment because there is a genuine factual issue regarding whether the prisoner's complaint is time-barred.