January 24, 2001 Volume 7 -- Number 015 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 02 New Opinion(s) from the Tennessee Supreme Court Workers' Compensation Panel 00 New Document(s) or Proposed Rule(s) from the Tennessee Supreme Court 05 New Opinion(s) from the Tennessee Court of Appeals 05 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 BILLY RAY HOLLEY v. BOBBY HOLLEY, et al. Court:TSC - Workers Comp Panel Attorneys: Ralph T. Gibson, Memphis, Tennessee, for the appellants, Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church and Liberty Mutual Insurance Company. Jack V. Delany, Memphis, Tennessee, for the appellee, Billy Ray Holley. Judge: DORAN First Paragraph: This workers' compensation appeal has been referred to the Special Workers' Compensation Panel of the Supreme Court in accordance with Tennessee Code Annotated S 50-6-225(e)(1999) for a hearing and reporting to the Supreme Court of findings of fact and conclusions of law. The issue presented for review is whether or not Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church was the plaintiff's statutory employer as defined by Tennessee Code Annotated S 50-6-113. We reverse the judgment of the circuit court and dismiss the cause as to Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TSC_WCP/holleybr.wpd STANLEY R. WILBANKS v. CORRECTIONS CORPORATION OF AMERICA Court:TSC - Workers Comp Panel Attorneys: Tom Anderson, Jackson, Tennessee, for the appellant, Corrections Corporation of America. Edward L. Martindale, Jackson, Tennessee, for the appellee, Stanley R. Wilbanks. Judge: DORAN First Paragraph: This workers' compensation appeal was referred to the Special Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel of the Supreme Court pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann. S 50-6-225(e)(3) for hearing and reporting to the Supreme Court of findings of fact and conclusions of law. Review of the findings of fact made by the trial court is de novo upon the record of the trial court, accompanied by the presumption of correctness, unless the preponderance of the evidence is otherwise. Tenn. Code Ann. S 50-6- 225(e)(2). The appellant presents the following issues for review: (1) Did the trial court err in ruling that the plaintiff gave proper notice of the alleged back injury?; (2) Did the trial court err in ruling that Dr. Frazier related causation of the back injury to the accident which occurred on July 24, 1998?; and (3) Did the trial court err in relying on the testimony of Dr. Joseph C. Boals, III, as competent expert testimony? The judgment of the trial court is affirmed. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TSC_WCP/wilbankssr.wpd MARY BROWNING v. HAROLD D. VANDERGRIFF, JR. , D/B/A SUNRISE MARKET AND DELI Court:TCA Attorneys: Byron D. Bryant, Knoxville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Harold D. Vandergriff, Jr. d/b/a Sunrise Market and Deli. James A.H. Bell, Knoxville, Tennessee, for the appellee, Mary Browning. Judge: GODDARD First Paragraph: In this appeal from the Circuit Court of Knox County the Defendant/Appellant, Harold D. Vandergriff, Jr., appeals the Circuit Court's judgment entered pursuant to a jury verdict allowing damages to Plaintiff/Appellee, Mary Browning, for negligent infliction of emotional distress. We reverse the judgment of the Circuit Court, dismiss the complaint and remand for collection of costs below. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCA/browningmary.wpd DARRELL L. EDWARDS, et al. v. SELETA KAYE CAMPBELL, et al. Court:TCA Attorneys: Jesse O. Farr, Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the Appellants, Darrell L. Edwards and Arlene Edwards. Donald W. Strickland, Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the Appellees, Seleta Kaye Campbell and Fisher Campbell. Judge: SWINEY First Paragraph: The Trial Court granted Defendants summary judgment based on the expiration of the statutes of limitation because of Plaintiffs' failure to comply with Tenn. R. Civ. P. 3 and 4.04. Plaintiffs sued Defendants for personal injuries and property damage allegedly resulting from a 1989 motor vehicle accident. Plaintiffs first filed suit in 1990. They voluntarily dismissed that suit in 1996 and re-filed within one year. Plaintiffs obtained issuance of the first set of summons in the second suit in March 1997, and attempted service of process by mail. A third person, but neither defendant, signed the return mail receipts. Defendants raised the defense of insufficiency of service of process in their answer and moved for a stay of the proceedings which was granted. The Trial Court conditioned the removal of the stay upon Plaintiffs' payment of costs associated with their first lawsuit. Two years later, Plaintiffs paid the costs, and the Trial Court lifted the stay. Thereafter, Plaintiffs obtained issuance of new process. It is undisputed that Defendants were served in October 1999. Defendants filed a Motion for Summary Judgment arguing that the statutes of limitation had expired because Plaintiffs failed to serve Defendants in March 1997, and did not obtain issuance of new process from the Trial Court clerk until more than two and a half years later. Plaintiffs did not respond to Defendants' motion which the Trial Court granted. Plaintiffs appeal. We affirm. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCA/edwardsdl.wpd EXXON CORPORATION v. METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT OF NASHVILLE AND DAVIDSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE, et al. WITH DISSENTING OPINION Court:TCA Attorneys: Scott K. Haynes, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Exxon Corporation. Karl F. Dean, Shayna Abrams, and David Diaz-Barriga, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellee, The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee and The Metropolitan Beer Permit Board of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee. Judge: FARMER First Paragraph: Company acquired a business that had a previous permit to sell beer at the site. Company then removed the existing structure and built a new building. It applied for a beer permit which was denied by Beer Board on the grounds that the new structure did not satisfy current distance requirements in regards to its distance from a playground. Company appealed to the trial court citing grandfather provisions in the Tennessee Code. Trial court affirmed the denial stating that the term "location" in the Code referred to the actual building and not the property on which it rested. We reverse. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCA/exxoncorp_opn.wpd DISSENTING OPINION http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCA/exxoncorp_dis.wpd E. L. REID v. W. G. LUTCHE Court:TCA Attorneys: Eldred L. Reid, Nashville, Tennessee, Pro Se. John R. Miles, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellee, W.G. Lutche. Judge: KOCH First Paragraph: This appeal involves a prisoner's challenges to the Department of Correction's inmate grievance procedures and to an unfavorable disciplinary decision. After the Department denied his requests for a declaratory order, the prisoner filed suit in the Chancery Court for Davidson County seeking declaratory relief and judicial review of the disciplinary proceeding. The trial court dismissed the prisoner's suit because it failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. We affirm. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCA/reidel.wpd MAHAMAD ZAHREDDINE, et al. v. LAN HEE CHOI Court:TCA Attorneys: Samuel F. Anderson, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Lan Hee Choi. Virginia Lee Story, Franklin, Tennessee, for the appellees, Mahamad Zahreddine, Lenah Zahreddine, and Maggie Zahreddine. Judge: KOCH First Paragraph: This appeal involves the timeliness of a personal injury complaint. Two days before the expiration of the statute of limitations, the plaintiffs' lawyer placed an envelope containing a complaint and summons in a commercial delivery service's drop-off receptacle in Williamson County. Even though the envelope bore the courthouse address of the Clerk of the Circuit Court for Davidson County, the commercial delivery service delivered the envelope to a central governmental mail room on the day the statute of limitations expired. However, the central mail room did not physically deliver the envelope to the trial court clerk's office until three days later. The defendant later filed a motion for summary judgment in the Circuit Court for Davidson County, asserting that the complaint was time-barred. The trial court denied the motion but granted the defendant permission to pursue an interlocutory appeal. We have determined that the defendant is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law because the plaintiffs' complaint was not timely filed with the trial court clerk as required by Tenn. R. Civ. P. 3. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCA/zahreddinem.wpd KEITH J. ALLEN v. STATE OF TENNESSEE Court:TCCA Attorneys: Mark A. Mesler, Memphis, Tennessee, for the appellant, Keith J. Allen. Michael E. Moore, Solicitor General; Patricia C. Kussmann, Assistant Attorney General; William L. Gibbons, District Attorney General; and Rosemary S. Andrews, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: WELLES First Paragraph: The Defendant was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. He filed for post-conviction relief on the grounds of ineffective assistance of counsel. After a hearing, the trial court denied relief. In this appeal as of right, the Defendant contends that the trial court erred. We affirm the judgment of the trial court. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/allenkj.wpd MICHAEL E. CHRISTIAN v. STATE OF TENNESSEE Court:TCCA Attorneys: Douglas A. Trant, Knoxville, Tennessee, attorney for appellant, Michael E. Christian. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Patricia C. Kussmann, Assistant Attorney General; and H. Greeley Welles, Jr., District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: TIPTON First Paragraph: The petitioner, Michael E. Christian, appeals the trial court's denial of his petition for post- conviction relief. He contends that he did not voluntarily enter his guilty pleas because he was experiencing panic attacks and confusion, which was a side effect of his medication, at the time he entered the pleas. He also claims that he received the ineffective assistance of counsel because his attorneys did not investigate the effects of his medication on his competency and scared him into pleading guilty. We affirm the trial court's denial of the petition. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/christianme.wpd STATE OF TENNESSEE v. WALTER JACKSON Court:TCCA Attorneys: Mark E. Stephens, District Public Defender, Paula R. Voss (on appeal) and Marie Steinbrenner (at trial), Assistant Public Defenders, Knoxville, Tennessee, for the Appellant, Walter Jackson. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter, Michael Moore, Solicitor General, R. Stephen Jobe, Assistant Attorney General, Randall E. Nichols, District Attorney General, and Leon Franks, Assistant District Attorney General, for the Appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: HAYES First Paragraph: Walter Jackson appeals the judgment of the Knox County Criminal Court revoking his placement in the community corrections program and reinstating his original eight-year Department of Correction sentence. Prior to his revocation, Jackson was serving an eight-year community corrections sentence resulting from his 1991 guilty pleas to two counts of sale of cocaine. Jackson challenges the revocation of his community corrections sentence and the redesignation of his confinement with the Department of Correction. Finding that the trial court did not abuse its discretion, we affirm. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/jacksonwalter.wpd QUENTIN LEWIS v. STATE OF TENNESSEE Court:TCCA Attorneys: Juni S. Ganguli (on appeal) and James H. Taylor, III (at hearing), Memphis, Tennessee, for the appellant, Quentin Lewis. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Kim R. Helper, Assistant Attorney General; William L. Gibbons, District Attorney General; and Camille McMullen, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: RILEY First Paragraph: This is an appeal from the denial of post-conviction relief. Appellant pled guilty to especially aggravated kidnapping and criminal attempt to commit first degree murder. Pursuant to a negotiated plea agreement, he received concurrent twenty-eight-year sentences to be served concurrently with his federal sentence, but consecutively to a thirty-year state sentence for aggravated robbery. Thereafter, appellant filed a petition for post-conviction relief alleging his trial counsel failed to provide effective representation and that, but for counsel's errors, he would not have pled guilty. The post-conviction court denied relief. We conclude trial counsel provided effective representation, and the appellant's plea was voluntarily and knowingly entered. Thus, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/lewisq.wpd STATE OF TENNESSEE v. JUDY MARTIN Court:TCCA Attorneys: Terry J. Leonard, Camden, Tennessee, for the appellant, Judy Martin. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Kim R. Helper, Assistant Attorney General; Robert Radford, District Attorney General; and Eleanor Cahill, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: WELLES First Paragraph: The Defendant was convicted by a jury of introducing drugs into a penal institution. She was sentenced to three years incarceration, suspended after ninety days. In this appeal as of right, the Defendant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence and her term of confinement. We affirm the judgment of the trial court. http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/martinj.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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