Danny Tate Still Trapped By Conservatorship

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

More than five years after finally winning release from a hotly contested conservatorship, singer songwriter Danny Tate has once again gone into bankruptcy in attempt to regain access to  royalties he hasn't seen for years.
Tate sought bankruptcy protection in federal court in Kentucky in the Fall after a Nashville judge summarily rejected his attempt to recoup at least a portion of royalties ranging from an estimated $12,000 to $20,000 a year.
The royalties have been going to Nashville attorney Michael Hoskins who represented Tate in his efforts to escape a conservatorship first imposed by a Davidson Probate judge in 2007.
Hoskins already has gained title to Tate's Belle Meade home, which was sold off at auction.
In a recent filing in Davidson Circuit Court, Tate's attorneys argued that the attachments placed on Tate's assets and income were driving him into homelessness.
Noting that the garnishment was imposed on Feb. 12, 2013, Tate's lawyers said 100 per cent of his royalties from BMI music have been taken away, leaving him " little or nothing to for his personal family or household needs."
 They asked that the garnishment be reduced to $500 a month.
Hoskins billed Tate $164,087.92 plus 10 per cent interest for his services starting on July 27, 2009.
 Tate's new lawyers, Mark B. Reagan and Stephen Young, had charged that the amount being taken from Tate exceeded legal limits and that his contract with Hoskins was invalid because the songwriter lacked the legal authority to sign a contract while under a conservatorship.
They charged $26,323.44 had been withheld from Tate in excess of the legal limits.
Hoskins, acting as his own attorney, argued that the legal limits referred to by Tate's attorneys applied to wages, not royalties. He also contended that Tate had "acquiesced" to the prior garnishments and lost the right to contest them.
In a decision issued following an Aug. 28 hearing Circuit Judge Joseph P. Binkley Jr. ruled in Hoskins favor, concluding that BMI was not Tate's employer and that he had indeed acquiesced to the ongoing garnishment and "is barred from challenging all prior disbursements."
He wrote that Tate had 20 days after the attachment was issued in March of 2013 to challenge the action.
"The doctrine of acqiescence is applicable in this case," Binkley wrote, adding that "BMI is not his employer."
In a subsequent letter to the court, BMI attorney Richard A. Garza wrote," Please be advised that BMI intends to place a withhold against the debtor's accounts and await further instruction from the bankruptcy trustee."
Without his knowledge Tate was placed in the 2007 conservatorship by his brother. Subsequently he was ordered to pay not only his own legal bills but also his brother's.
Tate was one of several witnesses to testify at  2012 public hearings held by the Tennessee Bar Association on problems with the state's conservatorship process. The hearings led to a series of amendments to the law the next year.
Tate, who turned 60 in November, has had his songs covered by Lynryd Skynyrd, Ricky Springfield, The Oakridge Boys and Tim McGraw.
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