October 18, 2000 Volume 6 -- Number 170 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 04 New Opinion(s) from the Tennessee Court of Appeals 01 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 IN THE MATTER OF: C.D.B., S.S.B. & S.E.B., MINOR CHILDREN Court:TCA Attorneys: Gregory D. Smith, for Appellant Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter, Douglas Earl Diamond, Assistant Attorney General, for Appellee Judge: HIGHERS First Paragraph: This case involves the termination of parental rights. Upon a petition filed by the Tennessee Department of Children's Services, the Montgomery County Juvenile Court entered a final decree terminating the Appellant's parental rights. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCA/bagwelldeniserita.wpd TREA D. McBEE, et al. v. HCA HEALTH SERVICES OF TENNESSEE, INC., et al. Court:TCA Attorneys: Karen M. Weimar, J. Todd Faulkner, and Jack A. Butler, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellants, Trea D. McBee and Joe W. McBee. Margaret James Moore, Clarence James Gideon, and Thomas Anderton Wiseman, III, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellees, HCA Health Services of Tennessee, Inc. d/b/a Centennial Medical Center and Columbia Centennial Medical Center d/b/a/ Centennial Medical Center. Judge: KOCH First Paragraph: This appeal involves a hospital patient who was injured in a fall two days following surgery. The patient and her husband filed suit against the hospital in the Circuit Court for Davidson County alleging that her attending nurse had negligently permitted her to ambulate without adequate assistance and support. The hospital filed a motion for summary judgement supported by the attending nurse's affidavit stating that she had complied with the applicable standard of care for the post-operative ambulation of surgical patients. The patient did not submit any countervailing expert affidavits, and the trial court granted the hospital's summary judgment motion. On this appeal, the patient asserts that she should not have been required to file countervailing expert affidavits either because her complaint was based on simple negligence or because the attending nurse's negligence was so plain that no expert testimony was required. We find that the patient's complaint is for medical malpractice and that the attending nurse's conduct is not so plainly negligent that it obviates the necessity of expert proof. Accordingly, we affirm the trial court. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCA/mcbeetd.wpd PHILIP PELTZ v. SARAH V. PELTZ, et al. Court:TCA Attorneys: Alfred H. Knight and A. Russell Willis, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Philip Peltz. Cyrus L. Booker and Charlnette A. Richard, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellees, Todd Hanson and NationsBank of Tennessee. Judge: CANTRELL First Paragraph: The issue on appeal is whether a notary was negligent when she attached her certificate to a forged signature on a deed. The Chancery Court of Williamson County held that she was not. We affirm. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCA/peltzphilip.wpd FRANK AND BETTY WARD v. BOB AND JUDY TURNER Court:TCA Attorneys: Robert Todd Jackson, Gary D. Copas, for the Appellants John B. Nisbet, III, for the Appellees Judge: HIGHERS First Paragraph: This appeal arises out of a custody dispute between maternal and paternal grandparents. The issue of custody arose after the children's parents were killed in an automobile accident. The Overton County Circuit Court reversed the judgment of the juvenile court and awarded custody to the maternal grandparents. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCA/wardfrank.wpd STATE OF TENNESSEE v. WILLIAM T. EMERSON Court:TCCA Attorneys: Richard A. Tate, Blountville, Tennessee, for the appellant, William T. Emerson. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter, Patricia C. Kussman, Assistant Attorney General, and J. Lewis Combs, Assistant Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: OGLE First Paragraph: The appellant, William T. Emerson, was convicted by a jury in the Criminal Court of Sullivan County of one count of reckless driving, a class B misdemeanor, one count of evading arrest, a class A misdemeanor, and one count of driving on a revoked license, a class B misdemeanor. The trial court sentenced the appellant to six months incarceration in the Sullivan County jail for reckless driving. The trial court also sentenced the appellant to six months incarceration in the Sullivan County jail for driving on a revoked license. Additionally, the trial court sentenced the appellant to eleven months and twenty-nine days incarceration in the Sullivan County jail for evading arrest. The trial court further ordered the appellant to serve his sentences for reckless driving and driving on a revoked license concurrently, but ordered that the sentence for evading arrest be served consecutively to the other sentences. The appellant raises the following issues for our review: (1) whether the jury verdict was contrary to the law and the evidence; (2) whether the evidence in the record is insufficient as a matter of law to sustain the convictions; (3) whether the evidence in the trial preponderates against the guilt of the appellant and in favor of his innocence; and, (4) whether the trial court erred in sentencing the appellant to consecutive sentences. Upon review of the record and the parties' briefs, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/emersonwm.wpd PLEASE FORWARD THIS E-MAIL! Feel free to forward this Opinion Flash on to anyone you know of with an e-mail address. GET A FULL-TEXT COPY OF AN OPINION! 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