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: Friday, December 02, 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 00 - TN Worker's Comp Appeals 00 - TN Supreme Court - Rules 01 - TN Court of Appeals 06 - 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 TOMMY D. LANIUS v. NASHVILLE ELECTRIC SERVICE Court: TSC Attorneys: C. Dewey Branstetter Jr. and Eugene W. Ward, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Nashville Electric Service. Arthur E. McClellan, Gallatin, Tennessee, for the appellee, Tommy D. Lanius. Judge: BARKER Pursuant to Rule 9 of the Tennessee Rules of Appellate Procedure, we accepted this interlocutory appeal from the Chancery Court of Sumner County in which the defendant, Nashville Electric Service, seeks dismissal or, in the alternative, transfer of this workers' compensation case to Davidson County, its county of residence, on the grounds, inter alia, of sovereign immunity and the common law local venue rule. We hold that the defendant is subject to the venue provisions of the Workers' Compensation Act because it voluntarily entered into the workers' compensation system pursuant to an express grant of authority from the General Assembly, which thus effected a waiver of its sovereign immunity. We further hold that the specific venue provisions of the Workers' Compensation Act control venue and apply to the exclusion of the common law local venue rule. Accordingly, the defendant may be sued in the plaintiff’s county of residence, Sumner County. http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TSC/2005/laniust12205.pdf IN RE ESTATE OF TOY M. BEAN Court: TCA Attorneys: William Carter Conway, Franklin, Tennessee, for the appellant, Robert G. Bean. Virginia Lee Story and Henry Denmark Bell, Franklin, Tennessee, for the appellees, Lola Parks Blanchet, Coy Matthew Bean, Mary Katherine Harper, Beverly Ann Iott, and Roberta Lynn Faulkner. Judge: KOCH This appeal concerns a dispute among six siblings over the validity of their father's will. One month after his father’s death, the youngest child filed a petition in the Chancery Court for Williamson County to probate a will his father had executed in July 1998. The testator's five older children contested this will on the grounds that their father lacked testamentary capacity and that the youngest child had procured the will by undue influence. Following a three day trial, a jury determined that the July 1998 will was invalid. After the trial court denied his post-trial motions, the youngest child appealed, taking issue with several evidentiary rulings, the adequacy of the instructions, and the evidentiary foundation for the verdict. We have determined that the trial court did not commit reversible error during the trial and that the record contains material evidence that the youngest child procured his father's July 1998 will by undue influence. We have also concluded that the trial court erred by requiring the estate to pay the youngest child's attorney’s fees. http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCA/2005/beant12205.pdf STATE OF TENNESSEE v. CLAUDE FRANCIS GARRETT Court: TCCA Attorneys: Dwight E. Scott, Nashville, Tennessee, for the Appellant, Claude Francis Garrett. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General & Reporter; Preston Shipp, Assistant Attorney General; Victor S. Johnson, III, District Attorney General; and Jon Seaborg and Nancy Kim, Assistant District Attorneys General, for the Appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: WITT The defendant, Claude Francis Garrett, appeals his Davidson County Criminal Court jury conviction of first degree felony murder, which resulted in a sentence of life imprisonment. On appeal, he claims that (1) the convicting evidence was insufficient; (2) three prosecution witnesses presented false testimony; (3) the trial court erred in admitting expert testimony; (4) the trial court erroneously instructed the jury on various points of law; (5) the trial court erred in failing to require a witness to answer defense counsel's questions on cross-examination; (6) the trial court erred in denying the defendant's motion for the payment of travel expenses for a non-resident witness; (7) the state withheld exculpatory evidence; and (8) he was denied due process of law. Following our review, we affirm the conviction. http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2005/garrettc12205.pdf JOHN ALLEN HESSMER V. STATE OF TENNESSEE Court: TCCA Attorneys: John Allen Hessmer, Pro Se, Pikeville, Tennessee John Allen Hessmer, Pro Se, Pikeville, Tennessee Paul G. Summers, Attorney General & Reporter; Mark A. Fulks, Assistant Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: SMITH This matter is before the Court upon the State’s motion to affirm the judgment of the trial court by memorandum opinion pursuant to Rule 20 of the Rules of the Court of Criminal Appeals. The petitioner has appealed the trial court’s order summarily dismissing the petition for writ of habeas corpus. Upon a review of the record in this case, we are persuaded that the trial court was correct in summarily dismissing the habeas corpus petition and that this case meets the criteria or affirmance pursuant to Rule 20 of the Rules of the Court of Criminal Appeals. Accordingly, the State’s motion is granted and the judgment of the trial court is affirmed. http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2005/hessmerj12205.pdf DANNY RAY MEEKS v. STATE OF TENNESSEE Court: TCCA Attorneys: Danny Ray Meeks, Appellant, Pro Se. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General & Reporter; and Blind Akrawi and Richard H. Dunavant, Assistant Attorneys General, for the Appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: WITT Aggrieved of the Davidson County Circuit Court’s summary dismissal of his petition for habeas corpus relief, the petitioner, Danny Ray Meeks, appeals. The habeas corpus court dismissed the petition because the petitioner did not make a partial payment of the filing fee as required by Code section 41-21-807. Although we believe that the court acted precipitantly, we affirm the order of dismissal on the basis that the petition fails to establish a claim for habeas corpus relief. http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2005/meeksd12205.pdf STATE OF TENNESSEE v. DAVID M. OLVERA Court: TCCA Attorneys: David G. Hirshberg, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellant, David M. Olvera. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Elizabeth T. Ryan, Assistant Attorney General; Victor S. Johnson, III, District Attorney General; and Bret T. Gunn and Robert E. McGuire, Assistant District Attorneys General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: GLENN The defendant, David M. Olvera, was convicted of first degree felony murder and especially aggravated robbery and sentenced to concurrent terms of life and twenty years, respectively. On appeal, he argues: (1) the evidence is insufficient to sustain his convictions; (2) the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress his statement to police; (3) the trial court erred in allowing an intern from the district attorney general’s office to participate in reading the defendant’s statement to the jury; and (4) the trial court erred in charging the jury on flight. Following our review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2005/olverad12205.pdf TERRY PENNY v. STATE OF TENNESSEE Court: TCCA Attorneys: C. Leland Davis and Bryan H. Hoss, Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the appellant, Terry Penny. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Renee W. Turner, Assistant Attorney General; William H. Cox, III, District Attorney General; and Lila Statom, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: GLENN The petitioner, Terry Penny, appeals the post-conviction court’s denial of his motion for a corrected judgment and his petition for post-conviction relief arguing his 1976 judgment should be corrected pursuant to Tennessee Rule of Criminal Procedure 36 and his post-conviction petition was not time- barred by the statute of limitations. Following our review, we affirm the post-conviction court. http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2005/pennyt12205.pdf DANIEL BENSON TAYLOR v. STATE OF TENNESSEE Court: TCCA Attorneys: Daniel Benson Taylor, Pro Se. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Blind Akrawi, Assistant Attorney General; Ron Davis, District Attorney General; and Michael Markham, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: WELLES The Petitioner, Daniel Benson Taylor, appeals the trial court's denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The State has filed a motion requesting that this Court affirm the trial court’s denial of the petition pursuant to Rule 20, Rules of the Court of Criminal Appeals. The State’s motion is granted. The judgment of the trial court is affirmed. http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2005/taylord12205.pdf   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! See the instructions at the beginning of this edition of Opinion Flash. JOIN THE TENNESSEE BAR ASSOCIATION! 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