Tennessee Supreme Court, 1979

Moore v. Dreger

Tennessee Supreme Court · Decided February 12, 1979 · Brock, Cooper, Fones, Harbi, Henry, Son

576 S.W.2d 759; 1979 Tenn. LEXIS 466 (South Western Reporter, Second Series)

Cases that cite this one

1 later published case cites this decision.

Butler v. Diversified Energy (Tenn. Ct. App. 1999)

This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.

Opinion of the Court

OPINION

HENRY, Chief Justice.

Respondents Dreger and Konvalinka, two waitresses employed by petitioner Kentucky Rib-Eye, brought this action for slander per se, alleging injury to their occupational reputation. According to the complaint, respondent Moore, who managed the restaurant, stated in the presence of customers:

You all are no longer employed here because of giving bad service. I had to pay for three meals for you [Dreger] and three meals for you [Konvalinka] because of the bad service you all gave.

The trial court granted petitioners’ motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim under Tenn.R.Civ.P. 12.02(6). The Court of Appeals reversed and remanded for trial, ruling that a jury question had been raised. We granted certiorari to consider whether the statement is actionable under the circumstances. Upon consideration, we hold that it is not.

FONES, COOPER, BROCK and HARBI-SON, JJ., concur.

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.