La Follette Med. Ctr. v. City of La Follette,
No. E2001-02902-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Feb. 4, 2003)

After a city council voted to sell a public community hospital without the consent of the hospital's Board of Trustees, a court ordered that the proceeds be held in constructive trust to build another hospital (or similar purpose) at some future date. The city challenged the trust, and the Court of Appeals of Tennessee held that, as no city funds were used to build the hospital and no funds were received by the hospital that would have otherwise gone to the city (the hospital was built with bonds it repaid itself and a Hill-Burton loan), it would be "unconscionable conduct" for the city to take the funds for general purpose use. The court added that the city could not "reap where it has not sown."