Accord and Satisfaction

"Tennessee Statutes are now housed at LexisNexis. The UCC section on accord and satisfaction remains at Tenn. Code Ann. § 47-3-311. This section has not been amended since its passage in 1995.

The citation to Tenn. Code Ann. § 47-1-308 also remains unchanged."

Tennessee considers an accord and satisfaction a type of contract governed by common law contract principles. Well-established case law teaches that an accord and satisfaction “is an agreement whereby one of the parties undertakes to give or perform” something other than what the opposing party is entitled to in order to satisfy a “claim, liquidated or in dispute, and arising from contract or from tort.” Liberty Mut. Ins. Co. v. Friendship Home Health Agency, LLC, No. M2007-02787-COA-R3-CV, 2009 Tenn. App. LEXIS 262, at *12 (Tenn. Ct. App., Mar. 19, 2009) (quoting Lytle v. Clopton, 261 S.W. 664, 666-67 (Tenn. 1924)). To be a valid accord and satisfaction, the parties must intend the satisfaction to extinguish the pre-existing obligation and this intent must be demonstrated by a “preponderance of the evidence.” Id. at * 13 (quoting Pinney v. Tarpley, 686 S.W.2d 574, 578 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1984)).