After July 1, 2016, under certain limited circumstances, real property owners in Tennessee may abate a nuisance on their property (of which they were unaware), and avoid the harsh effects of an injunction, without intervention from the Court. Currently, a Tennessee real property owner may be named as a defendant in an action to enjoin a nuisance on the owner's property even when the owner is not the person responsible for the nuisance and has no knowledge of it. Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-3-103. If a petition to enjoin a nuisance is granted, such an owner may have the doors to her property shuttered and may face a Class C misdemeanor charge if the property is used in violation of the injunction order regardless of whether they have taken any steps to abate the nuisance. Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 106 and 111. Indeed, a plaintiff in a nuisance action is required to give a defendant a mere five (5) days written notice of the injunction hearing. Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-3-106(a).
After July 1, 2016, however, an owner named as a defendant in an action to enjoin a nuisance on her property may move the court to dismiss the petition if the owner proves that she (a) was unaware of the nuisance prior to receiving notice of the petition to enjoin the nuisance, (b) is "not the person keeping, maintaining, or carrying on the nuisance," and (c) "has voluntarily taken steps after receiving notice to abate the nuisance without the involvement of the court." 2016 Tenn. Pub. Acts 1067. The Tennessee General Assembly enacted this law so that property owners were not penalized for a nuisance of which they did not create and were unaware. Nonetheless, given the short five (5) day notice period, innocent and unknowing owner-defendants, and their counsel, should act quickly to abate the nuisance in order to avoid the potential harsh effects of an injunction.
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