Opinion Flash
April 21, 2003
Volume 9 — Number 071
Following this index are summaries of each case, including its name, first paragraph, author's name, and the names of attorneys for the parties of each opinion.
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 |
| 01 |
New Document(s) or Proposed Rule(s) from the Tennessee Supreme Court |
| 03 |
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 |
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Howard H. Vogel
Knoxville, Tennessee
Editor-in-Chief, TBALink
PATSY A. HOLCOMB v. MEMORIAL HEALTHCARE SYSTEMS, INC.
Court:TSC - Workers Comp Panel
Attorneys:
James T. Williams and Lynda Motes Hill, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, for
Appellant, Memorial Healthcare Systems, Inc.
Harry Weill, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, for Appellee, Patsy A Holcomb.
Judge: THAYER
First Paragraph:
This workers' compensation appeal has been referred to the Special
Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel of the Supreme Court in accordance
with 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. The trial
court awarded the employee 60 percent permanent partial disability to
her right leg. The employer contends the award of disability is
excessive. The judgment is affirmed.
http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TSC_WCP/holcombp.wpd
BOBBIE JEAN SATTERFIELD v. LIONS VOLUNTEER BLIND INDUSTRIES
Court:TSC - Workers Comp Panel
Attorneys:
David J. Silvus, of Knoxville, Tennessee, for Appellant, Lions
Volunteer Blind Industries.
Danny M. Hryhorchuk, of Morristown, Tennessee, for Appellee, Bobbie
Jean Satterfield.
Judge: THAYER
First Paragraph:
This workers' compensation appeal has been referred to the Special
Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel of the Supreme Court in accordance
with 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. The trial
court awarded the employee 75 percent disability to each arm. The
employer has appealed insisting the award is excessive. The judgment
is affirmed.
http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TSC_WCP/satterfldb.wpd
SUPREME COURT OF TENNESSEE SUPREME COURT DISCRETIONARY APPEALS
Court:TSC - Rules
NO CERT ORDERS FILED THIS WEEK
http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TSC_Rules/certlist_0421.wpd
VERNESSA EKELEM v. IFEATU "IFY" EKELEM
Court:TCA
Attorneys:
Ifeatu Ekelem, College Grove, Tennessee, Pro Se.
James F. Butler, Jackson, Tennessee, for appellee, Vernessa Ekelem.
Judge: LILLARD
First Paragraph:
This is a divorce case. Both parties are physicians. Both have
children from previous marriages, and they have three children
together. The parties' three children were minors at the time of the
divorce hearing. The father earned substantial income in 1996, which
fell precipitously when he started his own medical practice in 1998.
His medical practice, however, owns luxury vehicles, and the father
owns a large home with significant acreage. The trial court found the
father's earning capacity to be at the level of the mother's income,
set child support based on that earning capacity, and established the
father's parenting time with the parties' children. The father was
ordered to assume the parties' tax debt, and to cease making
derogatory remarks about the mother. On appeal, the father argues
that the trial court erred in setting child support, in setting
parenting time, in assigning the tax liability to him, and in
enjoining him from making derogatory comments about the mother. We
affirm as modified, and remand, awarding the mother attorney's fees
for this appeal.
http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCA/ekelemv.wpd
PATSY ELIZABETH MOSS v. JOHN JAMES McGARVEY
Court:TCA
Attorneys:
Stuart B. Breakstone, Memphis, Tennessee, for the appellant, John
James McGarvey.
Ronald D. Teuch, Johnson City, Tennessee, for the appellee, Patsy
Elizabeth Moss.
Judge: LILLARD
First Paragraph:
This is an action to collect a child support arrearage. The mother
and father of two minor children were divorced in 1973, and custody
was awarded to the mother. In July 1981, the trial court entered a
consent order requiring the father to pay the mother $35 per week in
child support. In May 2000, nineteen years after the consent order
was entered and ten years after the younger child turned eighteen, the
mother filed a petition to collect the child support arrearage from
the father. The father argued, among other things, that the mother's
petition was barred by the doctrine of laches. The trial court
granted the mother's petition and ordered the father to pay the child
support arrearage, plus interest and attorney's fees. The father now
appeals that order. We affirm, based on established caselaw holding
that the doctrine of laches is not available as a defense in an action
to recover child support arrearages.
http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCA/mosspe.wpd
STEPHANIE TATE v. STATE OF TENNESSEE
Court:TCA
Attorneys:
Pamela R. O'Dwyer and Randall D. Larramore, Chattanooga, Tennessee,
and Jeffrey A. Garrety, Jackson, Tennessee, for appellant, Stephanie
Tate.
Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Michael E. Moore,
Solicitor General; and Michael B. Leftwich, Assistant Attorney
General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
Judge: LILLARD
First Paragraph:
This is a Claims Commission case. The claimant's decedent was struck
and killed by a train owned and operated by a railroad company. The
claimant filed suit against the State of Tennessee, asserting
negligent deprivation of a statutory right. The claimant argued that
the Tennessee Claims Commission had jurisdiction under T.C.A. S
9-8-307(a)(1)(N). The State filed a motion to dismiss the claim for
failure to state a cause of action under T.C.A. S 9-8-307. The Claims
Commission found that the complaint presented no proof that the road
on which the accident occurred was a State highway or that the State
maintained or controlled the road or the railroad crossing. The
Claims Commission also found that none of the federal statutes, state
statutes, rules, or regulations cited by the claimant provided for
jurisdiction under T.C.A. S 9-8-307(a)(1)(N). The claimant appeals.
We affirm.
http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCA/tates.wpd
STATE OF TENNESSEE v. SANDRA LYNN BAUMGARTNER
Court:TCCA
Attorneys:
Seymour S. Rosenberg, Memphis, Tennessee, for the appellant, Sandra
Lynn Baumgartner.
Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; J. Ross Dyer,
Assistant Attorney General; William L. Gibbons, District Attorney
General; James A. Wax, Jr., Assistant District Attorney General, for
the appellee, State of Tennessee.
Judge: TIPTON
First Paragraph:
The defendant, Sandra Lynn Baumgartner, appeals the mandatory
outpatient treatment (MOT) plan imposed by the Shelby County Criminal
Court following her acquittal of first degree murder due to her
insanity at the time of the crime. She contends that the trial court
erroneously required mandatory outpatient treatment because the
evidence does not show that her mental condition is likely to
deteriorate rapidly, making it substantially likely that she would
cause serious harm. She also argues that the MOT plan imposed by the
trial court is contrary to the medical proof, punitive, oppressive,
and impossible to perform. We conclude that the evidence
preponderates against the MOT plan's requirements that the defendant
live in a supervised residential facility and have someone supervise
the administration of her medicine. We affirm the MOT plan as
modified to exclude these requirements and remand the case for the
trial court to reinstate the original condition that the defendant
reside with her parents in their home.
http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/baumg.wpd
STATE OF TENNESSEE v. ABEBREELLIS ZANDUS BOND
Court:TCCA
Attorneys:
Marcus M. Reaves, Denmark, Tennessee, for the appellant, Abebreellis
Zandus Bond.
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, Abebreellis Zandus Bond, was convicted by a jury of two
sales of cocaine. The trial court subsequently sentenced the
Defendant to a nine-year term and an eighteen-year term for these
convictions, to be served concurrently in the Department of
Correction. The trial court also imposed the two $100,000 fines
assessed by the jury. The Defendant now appeals as of right,
challenging the sufficiency of the evidence; the admission of certain
testimony; the trial court's failure to issue a missing witness
instruction; the chain of custody; and the sentences and fines. We
modify the Defendant's fines to $25,000 each. In all other respects,
we affirm the trial court's judgments.
http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/bondaz1.wpd
RODNEY DIMITRI CAPLES v. STATE OF TENNESSEE
Court:TCCA
ORDER
http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/caplesrd_ord.wpd
ROBERT E. PUGH v. STATE OF TENNESSEE
Court:TCCA
Attorneys:
Brett B. Stein, Memphis, Tennessee, for the appellant, Robert Pugh.
Paul G. Summers, Attorney General & Reporter; Kim R. Helper, Assistant
Attorney General; William L. Gibbons, District Attorney General; and
Dan Woody, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee,
State of Tennessee.
Judge: SMITH
First Paragraph:
A Shelby County grand jury indicted the petitioner on multiple
offenses. At the conclusion of a trial on the indictment first
prosecuted, a jury convicted the petitioner of aggravated robbery. See
State v. Robert E. Pugh, No. W1999-01260-CCA-R3-CD, 2000 WL 298697, at
*1 (Tenn. Crim. App. at Jackson, Mar. 17, 2000). For this offense he
received a twelve-year sentence as a standard offender. Id. He
subsequently pled guilty to ten additional charges. The trial court
then sentenced him as a multiple offender for nine of these counts and
as a violent offender for one count. His agreed upon sentences for
these offenses in combination with the aforementioned twelve-year
sentence resulted in an effective twenty-six-year sentence for all
eleven convictions. However, the petitioner later filed a pro se
post-conviction petition attacking his pleas by alleging that his
counsel at that time provided him ineffective assistance. The trial
court appointed counsel, who filed an amended petition also alleging
ineffective assistance at trial. Following a hearing, the trial court
found none of the petitioner's allegations meritorious and denied him
relief. Through this appeal the petitioner continues to assert that
he received ineffective assistance of counsel regarding his guilty
pleas and the trial at issue. However, after reviewing the record
provided and appropriate authorities, we affirm the trial court's
denial of the post-conviction relief.
http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/pughro.wpd
STATE OF TENNESSEE v. ROBERT J. WILLIAMS
Court:TCCA
Attorneys:
Benjamin S. Dempsey, Huntingdon, Tennessee, for the appellant, Robert
J. Williams.
Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Braden H. Boucek,
Assistant Attorney General; G. Robert Radford, District Attorney
General; and Steven L. Garrett, Assistant District Attorney General,
for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
Judge: TIPTON
First Paragraph:
The defendant, Robert J. Williams, pled guilty in the Henry County
Circuit Court to one count of selling one-half gram or more of
cocaine, a Class B felony, and two counts of selling less than one-
half gram of cocaine, a Class C felony. As a Range I, standard
offender, he received one eight-year sentence and two three-year
sentences to be served concurrently as one year in confinement and the
remainder in a community corrections program. The defendant appeals,
claiming that his sentences are excessive. We affirm the defendant's
sentences, but we remand the case for entry of corrected judgments.
http://www.tba.org/tba_files/TCCA/willisro.wpd
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