Rule 71.Condemnation of Property

Rule 71 keeps its own footprint small. Condemnation of real and personal property under the power of eminent domain proceeds under Tennessee’s dedicated condemnation statutes first, with the civil procedure rules filling gaps only where they do not conflict with, contradict, or contravene what those statutes require. The numbering can mislead a reader familiar with federal practice: Tennessee’s Rule 71 does not correspond to the federal rule of the same number, which addresses enforcing judgments in favor of nonparties. Instead it lines up with a different federal rule governing eminent domain procedure specifically.

A 1979 amendment trimmed language that could have been read as locking condemnation practice into whatever procedure existed before the civil rules took effect. Stripping that language clarified the rule’s purpose: avoiding conflicts between the general civil rules and the specific eminent domain statutes, not preserving older practice for its own sake. Tennessee courts have found no conflict between the condemnation statutes and ordinary tools like summary judgment, meaning general civil procedure remains available in a condemnation case wherever the statutes are silent on a given point.

Because Rule 71 defers so heavily to statute, a lawyer handling a condemnation case needs to start with Tennessee’s eminent domain statutes rather than the civil procedure rules, treating the rules as a secondary source that applies only when the statutes leave a genuine gap.