HANOVER AMERICAN INSURANCE COMPANY,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
TATTOOED MILLIONAIRE ENTERTAINMENT, LLC, et al.,
Defendants,
JOHN FALLS,
Defendant-Appellant. |
No. 21-5671 |
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee at Memphis.
No. 2:20-cv-02834—Jon Phipps McCalla, District Judge.
Argued: April 28, 2022
Decided and Filed: June 28, 2022
Before: McKEAGUE, GRIFFIN, and READLER, Circuit Judges.
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OPINION
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Following a 2015 burglary and fire at the House of Blues music studio in Memphis,
Tennessee, a jury awarded $2.5 million to defendant John Falls pursuant to his insurance policy
with plaintiff Hanover American Insurance Company. Despite that judgment in Falls’s favor,
the parties continue to fight over whether Falls is entitled to that entire award. Falls filed suit
against defendants Christopher Brown and Tattooed Millionaire Entertainment, LLC (TME) in
Tennessee state court, and Hanover filed an interpleader action against Brown, TME, and Falls
in federal court. Hanover then moved the federal district court to enjoin Falls’s state-court
proceeding. The court granted the injunction, concluding that doing so was “necessary in aid of
its jurisdiction” under the Anti-Injunction Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2283. We disagree and reverse. |