C O U R T ?

COURT TITLE
Before providing the year in parenthesis, we need to ask the following question:

CAN WE TELL WHAT COURT DECIDED THE CASE BY THE PUBLICATION ABBREVIATION?

In the citation you are creating, there is no way to determine what court decided the case by looking at the South Western Reporter.

Thus, in this citation we do MUST provide the court in parenthesis. The court in this matter was the Tennessee Court of Appeals (civil division). Find TENNESSEE on your Citation-at-a-Glance Sheet, then go to the third column over. This column covers COURT OF APPEALS PUBLICATION ABBREVIATIONS as well as COURT ABBREVIATIONS for the appellate courts in parentheses.

The abbreviation we are looking for is for a court, and will therefore be within parentheses. Tennessee separates its civil and criminal appellate courts, so the abbreviation you use will be the first one listed (in parentheses).