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IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT NASHVILLE
0ctober 21, 1998

FILED

FREDERIC B. INGRAM, Plaintiff/Appellee, VS.

WILLIAM F. EARTHMAN, Defendant/Appellant.

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Cecil W. Crowson Appellate Court Clerk

Davidson Chancery No. 94-842-III Appeal No. 01A01-9510-CH-00439

APPEAL FROM THE CHANCERY COURT FOR DAVIDSON COUNTY AT NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

THE HONORABLE ROBERT S. BRANDT, CHANCELLOR

For the Plaintiff/Appellee: James V. Doramus Gregory Mitchell Doramus & Trauger Nashville, Tennessee

For the Defendant/Appellant: Maclin P. Davis, Jr. H. Buckley Cole Jonathan Cole Baker Donelson Bearman & Caldwell Nashville, Tennessee

AFFIRMED AND REMANDED

WILLIAM C. KOCH, JR., JUDGE

OPINION
This appeal involves a dispute between two former friends and business associates over a sizeable personal debt. After one of the friends failed to repay a $1,700,000 loan, the friend who had loaned the money filed suit in the Chancery Court for Davidson County seeking to recover the loan and interest. The borrower asserted that the lender had delayed too long in filing suit and counterclaimed for allegedly unpaid compensation and retirement benefits. A jury awarded the lender $5,667,122.84 on the debt, and the trial court, with the parties' consent, awarded the lender an additional $400,000 for his legal expenses. On this appeal, the borrower raises numerous issues relating to the denial of his motions for directed verdict, the adequacy of the jury instructions, the instructions limiting the use of the evidence of the lender's prior criminal conviction, and the excessiveness of the verdict. We have determined that the judgment should be affirmed.

I.

Frederic B. Ingram and William F. Earthman became acquaintances in the early 1960's. Mr. Ingram was the scion of a prominent, wealthy Nashville family. Mr. Earthman was the young, fast-rising president of Nashville's Commerce Union Bank,1 one of a group of banks extending credit to the Ingram Corporation. Mr. Earthman had been the bank officer assigned to the Ingram Corporation accounts for several years and had developed a cordial business relationship with Mr. Ingram's father. The business dealings between the two men ripened into a close personal relationship between the two men and their families.

In 1970 Mr. Earthman was elected chief operating officer of Tennessee Valley Bancorp, the holding company that owned Commerce Union Bank. He retained his position as president of Commerce Union Bank. Despite the outward appearance of financial success and security, Mr. Earthman's personal finances were burdened by large medical expenses associated with a chronic mental illness of one of his children. Mr. Earthman was struggling to keep up with these expenses, and in September 1972,

Commerce Union Bank was later acquired by Sovran Bank. Sovran Bank, in turn, was acquired by NationsBank. For the sake of consistency, we will refer to the bank as "Commerce Union Bank" because the ownership of the bank plays no direct role in the resolution of the issues involved in this appeal.

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he turned to Mr. Ingram for help. Mr. Ingram agreed to loan Mr. Earthman $600,000 for six months, and Mr. Earthman executed a note made payable to Mr. Ingram bearing an interest rate of 5

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Tennessee Law