What Has Danny Tate Really Won?

The mood was completely different from last December, when an attorney for the Nashville composer, songwriter, former pop-rocker and recovering crack addict had pleaded for him to be restored control of his life. But the strange assortment of spectators wasn't the only thing that had changed. Over the months since, the case had become a cause célébre detailed in a Scene cover story ("Court-Ordered Hell," Jan. 21, 2010). Now there was a TV camera, its lens and the eyes of its viewing audience trained on Judge Kennedy. There was even an observing member of the disciplinary counsel for the Tennessee Court of the Judiciary, who requested anonymity and would not speak on the record.

Tate himself, with nine months of hard-won sobriety under his belt, sat composedly in a smart dark-gray suit, his face clean-shaven, his hair neatly parted. After nearly two and a half hours of testimony — and two and a half years of incredibly expensive legal warfare — Judge Kennedy spoke.

"He's the captain of his ship," the judge said, as the room held its breath. "He's the master of his own destiny. The conservatorship served its purpose, and no longer serves a purpose."

Danny told the Scene once that he would only be set loose from the conservatorship after his assets were drained. Intentionally or not, it turned out to be technically almost true.

The absence of process served to Danny at the outset was troubling. So was the ease with which he was made a ward — a state in which a man legally becomes a cipher, a nonentity with no say over his assets. Legal scholars have long warned of the hazards of such deprivation.

So if the ward believes this is wrong, does he fight it (as is his right) with everything he has — which will only double the rate at which he loses his assets?

There is one group, however, that emerges from this story as a clearcut winner: the attorneys. Paul Housch, David's attorney for the conservatorship, has billed roughly $100,000 since October 2007. Danny's attorney, Michael Hoskins, has also run up an expensive tab since he was hired in the fall of 2008 — nearly as much as Housch. At the moment, to pay them, Danny faces the prospect of selling his already flood-gutted Bellevue home.

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Danny Tate's Conservatorship Comes to an Eruptive End in a Nashville Courtroom — But What Has He Really Won?