June 27, 2000 Volume 6 -- Number 100 What follows is the case style or name, first paragraph, author's name, and the names of attorneys for the parties of each opinion released eletronically today to TBALink. This Issue (IN THIS ORDER):   00 New Opinion(s) from the Tennessee Supreme Court 00 New Opinion(s) from the Tennessee Supreme Court Workers' Compensation Panel 00 New Document(s) or Proposed Rule(s) from the Tennessee Supreme Court 09 New Opinion(s) from the Tennessee Court of Appeals 00 New Opinion(s) from the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals 00 New Opinion(s) from the Tennessee Attorney General (PDF format) 00 New Judicial Ethics Opinion(s) 00 New Formal Ethics Opinion(s) from the Board of Professional Responsibility   There are three ways for TBALink members to get the full-text versions of these opinions from the Web: Do a key word search in the Search Link area of TBALink. This option will allow you to view and save a plain-text version of the opinion. Browse the Opinion List area of TBALink. This option will allow you to download the original version of the opinion. Click the URL at end of each Opinion paragraph below. This option will allow you to download the original document. Lucian T. Pera Editor-in-Chief, TBALink KENNETH HERBERT ABERNATHY v. KELLIE MICHELLE ABERNATHY Court:TCA Attorneys: Jon S. Jablonski, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Kenneth Herbert Abernathy. Jessica Dawn Dugger and Gregory S. Gill, Lebanon, Tennessee, for the appellee, Kellie Michelle Abernathy. Judge: FARMER First Paragraph: In this divorce action, Kenneth Herbert Abernathy (Father) appeals the trial court's final judgment awarding Kellie Michelle Abernathy (Mother) custody of the parties' five-year-old son, imposing certain conditions on the Father's visitation with the child, ordering the Father to pay $8819 to the Mother for her portion of the equity in the marital home, and ordering the Father to pay $5064 of the Mother's attorney's fees. We decline to address the Father's issues regarding the conditions placed on his visitation with the child because, at oral argument, the Father's counsel conceded that these issues were resolved by a subsequent order of the trial court removing the visitation conditions. In all other respects, we affirm the trial court's judgment. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCA/abernathyk.wpd JANICE AMARI ANDERTON v. DOMINIC JUDE AMARI Court:TCA Attorneys: Clark Lee Shaw, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Dominic Jude Amari. Floyd Nolton Price, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellee, Janice Amari Anderton. Judge: FARMER First Paragraph: This is a dispute between Plaintiff Janice Amari Anderton and Defendant Dominic Jude Amari regarding the custody of the parties' minor child and the amount of Mr. Amari's child support obligation. The trial court (1) denied Mr. Amari's request to transfer the case to Williamson County, (2) increased the amount of Mr. Amari's monthly child support obligation, (3) denied Mr. Amari's counter-petition for a change of custody, and (4) denied Mrs. Anderton's motion for discretionary costs. For the reasons set forth below, we modify the ruling of the trial court to reflect that Mr. Amari shall reimburse Mrs. Anderton for the entire cost of maintaining health insurance for the parties' minor child. In all other respects, however, we affirm the ruling of the trial court. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCA/andertonja.wpd EQUIFAX CHECK SERVICES, INC. v. RUTH E. JOHNSON, COMMISSIONER OF REVENUE, STATE OF TENNESSEE Court:TCA Attorneys: Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter, and Margaret M. Huff, Assistant Attorney General, for the appellant, Ruth E. Johnson, Commissioner of Revenue, State of Tennessee. Michael D. Sontag, Bryan W. Metcalf, Nashville, Tennessee, and John L. Coalson, Jr., Atlanta, Georgia, for the appellee, Equifax Check Services, Inc. Judge: FARMER First Paragraph: Ruth E. Johnson, Commissioner of Revenue, State of Tennessee, appeals the trial court's final judgment which ruled that electronic check guarantee services provided by Equifax Check Services, Inc., to Tennessee merchants were not taxable as telecommunication services under the Tennessee Retailers' Sales Tax Act. We affirm the trial court's judgment. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCA/Equifax.wpd DONALD ESLICK, et al. v. DONAL CAMPBELL, et al. Court:TCA Attorneys: Donald Eslick and Robert Rappuhn, Nashville, Tennessee, Pro Se. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter, Michael Moore, Solicitor General, and Pamela S. Lorch, Assistant Attorney General, for the appellees, Donal Campbell, et al. Judge: CAIN First Paragraph: This is an appeal of right by two state prisoners from a decree of the Chancery Court of Davidson County dismissing their petition for declaratory judgment concerning the applicability to them of mandatory parole provisions of Tennessee Code Annotated section 40-28-117(b). The trial court dismissed their petitions finding that the mandatory parole provisions of Tennessee Code Annotated section 40-28-117 were impliedly repealed by the 1982 Criminal Sentencing Reform Act. We affirm the trial court on other grounds. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCA/EslickDonald.wpd ALMA D. MURRAY v. MARK K. MURRAY Court:TCA Attorneys: Clark Lee Shaw, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Alma D. Murray P. Edward Schell, Franklin, Tennessee, for the appellee, Mark K. Murray Judge: CANTRELL First Paragraph: Following divorce, the court granted joint custody of the two children of the marriage to both parents, with the mother receiving primary physical custody. After problems arose with the joint custody arrangement, the parents both filed petitions to modify the divorce decree. The trial court responded by dividing custody equally between the parties. We reverse, and grant custody to the father, with reasonable visitation for the mother. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCA/murrayad.wpd OUTDOOR WEST OF TENNESSEE, INC. (LAMAR ADVERTISING OF TRI-CITIES) v. CITY OF JOHNSON CITY Court:TCA Attorneys: Earl P. Booze, James D. Culp and James H. Epps, III, Johnson City, for Appellant, City of Johnson City. Thomas C. Jessee, Johnson City, for Appellee, Outdoor West of Tennessee, Inc. (Lamar Advertising of Tri-Cities). Richard M. Currie, Jr. and Timothy B. McConnell, Kingsport, Amicus Curiae Brief for Scenic Tennessee. Judge: SWINEY First Paragraph: The City of Johnson City appeals the Trial Court's Order requiring the City to issue eleven permits to Outdooor West of Tennessee, Inc. (Lamar Advertising of Tri-Cities), permitting Outdoor West to increase the size and/or double-face eleven billboards, some of which previously had only one face. We affirm the Judgment of the Trial Court. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCA/OutdoorW.wpd STATE OF TENNESSEE v. TERESA PRUITT IN RE: A.J.P. Court:TCA Attorneys: Sheri S. Phillips, Clarksville, for the Appellant, Theresa Pruitt. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General, and Douglas Earl Dimond, Assistant Attorney General, General Civil Division, Nashville, for the Appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: SWINEY First Paragraph: The State of Tennessee, Department of Children's Services, petitioned the Juvenile Court for Montgomery County in the matter of A.J.P., a seven-year-old child, asking the Court to terminate the parental rights of the child's mother, Teresa Kay Pruitt. At trial, the evidence revealed that Mother had been diagnosed as schizophrenic and that she had repeatedly refused to take medication, resulting in long periods of inability to take care of herself or her children. She moved frequently from place to place and sometimes lived on the street. She testified that she had voluntarily terminated her rights to two older children because she had determined it to be in their best interest. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCA/PruittT.wpd MARCIA SUSAN TALLENT v. KENNETH ALLEN CATES Court:TCA Attorneys: Christopher J. Oldham, Knoxville, for Appellant, Marcia Susan Tallent. William A. Mynatt, Jr., Knoxville, for Appellee, Kenneth Allen Cates. Judge: SWINEY First Paragraph: Mother and Father have one child, born June 26, 1978. They never married. Mother filed this URESA Petition to establish paternity and set child support on May 15, 1997, after the child had reached majority. The Juvenile Court ordered Father to pay $35,351 in retroactive child support, to be apportioned between the Mother, the child, and the Tennessee Department of Children's Services. In this appeal, Mother says the award is a downward deviation from the Child Support Guidelines in three respects, and she appeals on that basis, as well as on the Trial Court's method of computation of the amount due and the manner of payment ordered. She also argues that the Trial Court failed to award her post-judgment interest as provided in T.C.A. S 47-14-121. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCA/Tallentma.wpd CATHY LEE BARNES WILLIAMS v. RODNEY LEE WILLIAMS. Court:TCA Attorneys: Mary Anne Kevil, LaGrange, Kentucky, for the appellant, Cathy Lee Barnes Williams. F. Dulin Kelly and Andy L. Allman, Henderson, Tennessee, for the appellee, Rodney Lee Williams. Judge: LILLARD First Paragraph: This is a post-divorce petition for reduction in alimony. The wife's income had increased because she began working full-time instead of part-time, and her expenses decreased because the parties' son graduated from college and the parties' daughter, living with the wife, was close to obtaining her professional license. The husband was unemployed at the time of the hearing. The trial court granted the husband's petition, finding that husband's decrease in income was temporary, but holding that the wife's increase in income, combined with the decrease in her expenses, constituted a substantial and material change in circumstances sufficient to justify a reduction in alimony. We reverse, finding that the changes in the wife's circumstances were foreseeable when the parties entered into the marital dissolution agreement, and therefore do not support the trial court's finding of a substantial and material change in circumstances. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCA/WilliamsCathyL.wpd PLEASE FORWARD THIS E-MAIL! 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