(a) Any circuit or chancery court may, after making due provision for the rights of innocent persons, in compliance with the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure, enjoin violations of this part by issuing appropriate orders and judgments, including, but not limited to:

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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 39-12-206

  • Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
  • Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
  • Civil forfeiture: The loss of ownership of property used to conduct illegal activity.
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
  • Defendant: means a person accused of an offense under this title and includes any person who aids or abets the commission of such offense. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Enterprise: means a formal or informal ongoing organization, association, or group that has as one (1) of its primary activities the commission of one (1) or more offenses qualifying as racketeering activity, and that consists of three (3) or more persons:
    (A) Who share a common name, identifying signs, colors, or symbols, including, but not limited to, terrorist organizations, hate groups, and criminal gangs as defined in §. See Tennessee Code 39-12-203
  • Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Law enforcement officer: includes a sheriff, sheriff's deputy, and, only for purposes of the enhancement of a crime, a deputy jailer. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
  • Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
  • Person: means any individual or entity holding or capable of holding a legal or beneficial interest in property. See Tennessee Code 39-12-203
  • Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
  • Property: means anything of value, including, but not limited to, money, real estate, tangible or intangible personal property, including anything severed from land, library material, contract rights, choses-in-action, interests in or claims to wealth, credit, admission or transportation tickets, captured or domestic animals, food and drink, electric or other power. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
  • Services: includes labor, skill, professional service, transportation, telephone, mail, gas, electricity, steam, water, cable television, entertainment subscription service or other public services, accommodations in hotels, restaurants or elsewhere, admissions to exhibitions, use of vehicles or other movable property, and any other activity or product considered in the ordinary course of business to be a service, regardless of whether it is listed in this subdivision (a)(38) or a specific statute exists covering the same or similar conduct. See Tennessee Code 39-11-106
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Temporary restraining order: Prohibits a person from an action that is likely to cause irreparable harm. This differs from an injunction in that it may be granted immediately, without notice to the opposing party, and without a hearing. It is intended to last only until a hearing can be held.
  • Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
(1) Ordering any defendant to divest the defendant of any interest in any enterprise, including real property;
(2) Imposing reasonable restrictions upon the future activities or investments of any defendant, including, but not limited to, prohibiting any defendant from engaging in the same type of endeavor as the enterprise in which the defendant was engaged in violation of this part;
(3) Ordering the dissolution or reorganization of any enterprise;
(4) Ordering the suspension or revocation of a license, permit or prior approval guaranteed to any enterprise by any agency of the state; and
(5) Ordering the forfeiture of the charter of a corporation organized under the laws of the state, or the revocation of a certificate authorizing a foreign corporation to conduct business within the state, upon finding that the board of directors or a managerial agent acting on behalf of the corporation, in conducting the affairs of the corporation, has authorized or engaged in conduct in violation of this part and that, for the prevention of future criminal activity, the public interest requires the charter of the corporation forfeited and the corporation dissolved or the certificate revoked.
(b) All property, real or personal, including money, used in the course of, intended for use in the course of, derived from, or realized through, conduct in violation of this part is subject to civil forfeiture to the state. No fee paid for legal, medical or accounting service shall be subject to forfeiture under this section, unless the person or persons to whom such fee was paid had knowledge that the funds used to pay the fee were derived from activity in violation of this part. The state shall dispose of all forfeited property as soon as commercially feasible, subject to the lawful claim of any creditor. If the property is not exercisable or transferable for value by the state, the forfeiture shall expire. All forfeitures or dispositions under this section shall be made with due provision for the rights of innocent persons. The proceeds realized from forfeiture and disposition shall be promptly deposited in the criminal injuries compensation fund established by § 40-24-107.
(c) Property subject to forfeiture under this section may be seized by a law enforcement officer upon court process. Seizure without process may be made, if:

(1) The seizure is incident to a lawful arrest or search or any inspection under an administrative inspection warrant; or
(2) The property subject to seizure has been the subject of a prior judgment in favor of the state in a forfeiture proceeding based upon this section.
(d) If a seizure occurs under subsection (c), a forfeiture proceeding shall be instituted promptly. Property taken or detained under this section shall not be subject to replevin, but is deemed to be in the custody of the law enforcement officer making the seizure, subject only to the order of the court. When property is seized under this section, pending forfeiture and final disposition, the law enforcement officer may:

(1) Place the property under seal;
(2) Remove the property to a place designated by the court; or
(3) Require another agency authorized by law to take custody of the property and remove it to any appropriate location.
(e) The office of the attorney general and reporter shall institute all civil proceedings and RICO lien notices under this part. In any action brought under this section, the circuit or chancery court shall proceed as soon as practicable to the hearing and determination.
(f) In a civil proceeding, relief shall be granted in conformity with the principles that govern the granting of injunctive relief from threatened loss or damage in other civil cases, except that no showing of special or irreparable damage to the person shall have to be made. Pending final determination of a proceeding initiated under this section, the court may enter a temporary restraining order or a preliminary injunction, may require execution of satisfactory performance bond, or may take any other action, including the appointment of receiver, upon a showing of immediate danger or significant injury, including the possibility that any judgment for money damages might be difficult to execute or that such action is necessary to preserve the reachability of property subject to civil forfeiture. Following the entry of any order of civil forfeiture under this section, the trial court may enter a restraining order or injunction, require the execution of a satisfactory performance bond, or take any other action, including the appointment of a receiver, that the court deems proper to protect the interests of the plaintiff.
(g) A final judgment or decree rendered in favor of the state in any criminal proceeding under this part shall estop the defendant in any subsequent civil action or proceeding as to all matters as to which such judgment or decree would be an estoppel as between the parties.
(h) Notwithstanding any other law, a criminal or civil action or proceeding under this part may be commenced at any time within five (5) years after the conduct in violation of this part terminates or the cause of action accrues. If a criminal prosecution or civil action or other proceeding is brought, or intervened in, to punish, prevent or restrain any violation of this part, the running of the period of limitations prescribed by this section with respect to any cause of action arising under subsection (f) that is based in whole or in part upon any matter complained of in any such prosecution action or proceeding shall be suspended during the pendency of the prosecution action or proceeding and for two (2) years following its termination.
(i) The application of one (1) civil remedy under any provision of this part shall not preclude the application of any other remedy, civil or criminal, under this part or any other law. Civil remedies under this part are supplemental and not mutually exclusive.
(j) It is an element of the burden of proof in the final resolution of any civil proceeding instituted pursuant to this section that the defendant committed either the requisite predicate acts or a criminal violation of this part.
(k) In any action in which the plaintiff substantially prevails, including preliminary proceedings under subsection (f), the plaintiff shall also recover reasonable attorney’s fees in the trial and appellate courts and costs of investigation and litigation reasonably incurred.
(l) Personal service of any process in an action under this section may be made upon any person outside the state, if the person was a principal in any conduct constituting a violation of this part in this state. The person is deemed to have thereby submitted to the jurisdiction of the courts of this state for the purposes of this section.
(m) Forfeited property shall be titled in the name of the state of Tennessee and shall be disposed of in accordance with the terms of this subsection (m). The office of the attorney general and reporter may contract for property management services, including, but not limited to, the collection, securing, safekeeping, repair and disposition of property forfeited or seized. The state shall self-insure forfeited and seized property, both realty and personalty, pursuant to title 12, chapter 3, part 9. Liability claims against the state relative to forfeited and seized property shall be presented to the claims commission in accordance with its governing sections and rules.
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