New TBALink search engine offers more power TBALink is offering a new Google-powered search engine to give you more power in searching our online database of Tennessee court decisions, Attorney General's opinions, Tennessee Bar Journal articles and more. http://www.tba.org/tba_searchlink2.html    TODAY'S OPINIONS: Tuesday, November 29, 2005 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. 01 - TN Supreme Court 01 - TN Worker's Comp Appeals 00 - TN Supreme Court - Rules 05 - TN Court of Appeals 01 - TN Court of Criminal Appeals 00 - TN Attorney General Opinions 00 - Judicial Ethics Opinions 00 - Formal Ethics Opinions - BPR TBA members can get the full-text versions of these opinions three ways detailed below. All methods require a TBA username and password. If you have forgotten your password or need to obtain a password, you can look it up on-line at http://www.tba.org/getpassword.mgi Here's how you can obtain full-text version. We recommend you download the Opinions to your computer and then open them from there. Click the URL at end of each Opinion paragraph below. This should give you the option to download the original document. If not, you may need to right-click on the URL to get the option to save the file to your computer. 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. Howard H. Vogel Knoxville, Tennessee Editor-in-Chief, TBALink ERIC TETER v. REPUBLIC PARKING SYSTEM, INC. Court: TSC Attorneys: John C. Harrison and William H. Horton, Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the appellant, RepublicParking System, Inc. B. Stewart Jenkins, Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the appellee, Eric Teter. Judge: BARKER The dispute in this case arises out of an employment contract which provides severance pay foran employee who is terminated for reasons “other than gross misconduct, fraud, embezzlement, theft or voluntary termination.” The defendant employer ceased providing severance pay to theemployee after the employer discovered that the employee had engaged in gross misconduct while still employed by the company. The employee sued for breach of contract, seeking theseverance pay due under the contract; the employer responded that had it known previously of the gross misconduct, it would have fired the employee, thus absolving it of any duty to provideseverance pay. The trial court granted summary judgment for the employee, after concluding that the employee had been involuntarily terminated, thus triggering the severance pay provision,and that there was no clear and convincing evidence that the employer would have fired the employee had it known of the gross misconduct. The employee was awarded $795,037.35, lessthirty days severance pay already paid, plus prejudgment interest. The Court of Appeals affirmed. We hold that after-acquired evidence of employee misconduct need only be shown bya preponderance of the evidence in order to avoid liability in a breach of contract action, and because there is a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the employee would have beenfired had the employer discovered the gross misconduct, we remand the case for trial. On the remaining issues raised by the employer, we affirm the Court of Appeals: the employee did notvoluntarily resign from his position but was involuntarily terminated; the payment schedule found in the “Employment Protection Plan” regarding severance pay was incorporated into theemployment contract; and the severance pay provisions did not constitute an illegal penalty. http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TSC/2005/tetere112905.pdf W. H. SAYLOR v. LAKEWAY TRUCKING, INC. Court: TWCA Attorneys: Gene Paul Gaby, Greeneville, Tennessee, for the Defendant-Appellant, Lakeway Trucking, Inc. J. Eric Harrison and J. Randall Shelton, Morristown, Tennessee, for the Plaintiff-Appellee, W. H.Saylor. Judge: HOLDER In this workers’ compensation case, the employee sought benefits due to mental injuries thatallegedly arose out of his contact with hazardous material in the course of his employment. We conclude that the record and the applicable law support the trial court’s determination that theemployee’s mental injuries arose out of and in the course of his employment and that the employee is 100% permanently disabled with respect to his mental faculties. Accordingly, weaffirm the judgment of the trial court. http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TSC_WCP/2005/saylorw112905.pdf In re A.J.H. Court: TCA Attorneys: Nick Perenich, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellant, D.H. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Elizabeth C. Driver, Assistant Attorney General, for the appellee, the State of Tennessee. Guy McClure, Nashville, Tennessee, guardian ad litem. Judge: CAIN The child who is the subject of this Petition to Terminate Parental Rights, A.J.H., is the latest of five children born to the mother, M.H. A.J.H. is the fourth child of D.H., the father. At the conclusion of an initial investigation by DCS personnel, A.J.H. was removed from the parents’ custody immediately after birth and has remained with his foster parents since that removal. The father appeals the juvenile court’s termination of his parental rights as well as its refusal to consider the paternal grandparents’ petition for custody. We reverse and vacate the order of termination and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCA/2005/ajh112905.pdf LINDA YVONNE BILYEU v. GLENN E. BILYEU Court: TCA Attorneys: John B. Holt, Springfield, Tennessee, for the appellant, Glenn E. Bilyeu. Rosemary E. Phillips, Goodlettsville, Tennessee, for the appellee, Linda Yvonne Bilyeu. Judge: CLEMENT In this divorce action, Husband appeals the Chancery Court’s denial of alimony, denial of Rule 60 post-judgment relief, and the court’s classification of his workers’ compensation benefits as marital property. Finding Husband’s appeal without merit, we affirm the Chancery Court’s decision. http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCA/2005/bilyeul112905.pdf STEVEN A. EDWARDS, ET AL. v. NANCY ALLEN, ET AL. Court: TCA Attorneys: Frank M. Fly, Kerry Knox, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, for the appellants, Steven A. Edwards, Sally Edwards, Fran Lovell, Tonia Nadeau, and Joanne M. Batey. D. Randall Mantooth, Mark W. Honeycutt, II, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellee, Nancy Allen, Rutherford County Executive. John I. Harris, III, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellee, Alan Loveless. G. Sumner R. Bouldin, Jr., Murfreesboro, Tennessee, for the appellees, Tommy G. Jackson and Susanne Jackson. Judge: CAIN Plaintiffs appeal the action of the trial court in granting Defendants’ Tennessee Rule of Civil Procedure 12.02(6) Motions to Dismiss their challenge to a November 9, 1992, amendment to the Rutherford County Zoning Resolution. The trial court determined that the 10-year statute of limitations provided by Tennessee Code Annotated section 28-3-110 barred the action and that the discovery rule did not apply. We hold that on the record before the Court, the November 9, 1992, purported amendment is void ab initio. The judgment of the trial court is reversed, and the cause is remanded for further proceedings. http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCA/2005/edwardss112905.pdf ERIC TODD JACKSON v. KEN GOBLE, ET AL. Court: TCA Attorneys: Eric Todd Jackson, Tiptonville, Tennessee, Pro Se. Darrell G. Townsend, Neil M. McIntire, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellee(s). Judge: CAIN Pro se prisoner Plaintiff filed a claim against circuit court clerk, circuit court judge, district attorney general, assistant public defender, and two attorneys, alleging civil conspiracy and forfeiture. The trial court dismissed the claims sua sponte without a hearing pursuant to Rule 12.02(6) of the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure. Plaintiff appealed and we affirm the decision of the trial court. http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCA/2005/jacksone112905.pdf LAWRENCE COUNTY EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, ET AL. v. THE LAWRENCE COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION, ET AL. Court: TCA Attorneys: Richard L. Colbert, J. Christopher Anderson, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellants, Lawrence County Education Association and Jerry Taylor. Paul B. Plant, J. Christopher Williams, Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, for the appellees, the Lawrence County Board of Education and Larry Morrow, Director of Lawrence County Schools. Judge: COTTRELL Basketball coach and employee association appeal trial court’s refusal to order coach reinstated as a method to enforce arbitration decision under Master Contract between school board and association. We affirm. http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCA/2005/lawrence112905.pdf STATE OF TENNESSEE v. EDGAR GOODWIN Court: TCCA Attorneys: Ardena J. Garth, District Public Defender (at trial), and Donna Robinson Miller, AssistantDistrict Public Defender (on appeal), Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the appellant, Edgar Goodwin. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General & Reporter; Jennifer L. Bledsoe, Assistant AttorneyGeneral; William H. Cox, III, District Attorney General; and Bates Bryan, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: WADE The defendant, Edgar Goodwin, was convicted of domestic aggravated assault and sentenced toeight years to be served on probation. Later, the trial court revoked probation and ordered the defendant to serve his sentence in the Department of Correction. In this appeal, the defendantcontends that the trial court abused it discretion by revoking probation. The judgment of the trial court is affirmed. http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2005/goodwine112905.pdf   PLEASE FORWARD THIS E-MAIL! Feel free to forward this Opinion Flash on to anyone you know of with an e-mail address. 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