It has never been about fairness or even what is legal in TN courts. I was at a court hearing in TN with a friend who was there as a witness in a civil suit. Most of the cases I saw were tenant - landlord disputes with a lot of defendants not showing up. For each one of these the judge had the bailiff call twice and render a default judgment in the plaintiffs favor. No problem on the surface, show up to defend yourself or face a default judgement.

Then a case came up where the defendant stepped up but the plaintiff wasn’t there. The judge had the bailiff call at least five time, check the hallway and told the defendant to wait in the court room and see if the plaintiff showed up while the judge called other cases.