Alex Ikbariah AND I & K Enterprises v. Debra F. Williams

This appeal involves tort and breach of contract claims. The plaintiffs are franchisees of a restaurant chain. They filed this lawsuit against an individual employee of the franchise organization as well as other corporate defendants. The complaint set forth many theories of recovery, but asserted only an extortion claim against the individual employee. The trial court dismissed the extortion claim and, consequently, dismissed the employee from the lawsuit. The plaintiffs’ claims against the corporate defendants remained pending. The plaintiffs filed this appeal of the trial court’s order dismissing the claim against the individual employee. The plaintiffs were not given permission to file an interlocutory appeal, and the order from which the plaintiffs appeal was not designated as final under Tenn. R. Civ. P. 54.02. Thus, we find that the order from which the plaintiffs appeal was not a final order, and therefore dismiss the appeal.