Two new online courses focus on legal malpractice issues Learn about current developments in the area of legal malpractice and common (but often avoidable) mistakes lawyers make in a new online video course from TennBarU. A second new courses focuses on emerging issues in legal malpractice. http://www.legalspan.com/tnbar/category.asp?CategoryID=20040406763120121059&UGUID=&CatalogID=    TODAY'S OPINIONS: Monday, December 19, 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. 00 - TN Supreme Court 00 - TN Worker's Comp Appeals 00 - TN Supreme Court - Rules 01 - TN Court of Appeals 08 - TN Court of Criminal Appeals 02 - 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 NORMA E. SHEARON v. JACK E. SEAMAN Court: TCA Attorneys: Larry L. Roberts, Nashville, Tennessee, and Catherine Hughes, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Norma E. Shearon. Fred C. Statum, III, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellee, Jack E. Seaman. Judge: KIRBY This is a legal malpractice action. The client filed this lawsuit against her former attorney, asserting legal malpractice for his failure to re-file a lawsuit under the Tennessee Workers’ Compensation Act within one year after he took a voluntary non-suit of the lawsuit. The trial court granted the former attorney’s motion for summary judgment, finding the client's evidence in the underlying workers’ compensation action insufficient to establish the damages element of the legal malpractice action. We affirm. http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCA/2005/shearon_121905.pdf TIMOTHY HARRIS v. STATE OF TENNESSEE Court: TCCA Attorneys: Dewun R. Settle, Memphis, Tennessee (at trial); and Timothy D. Harris, Tiptonville, Tennessee (on appeal), pro se. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General & Reporter; Renee W. Turner, Assistant Attorney General; and Steve Crossnoe, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: WADE The petitioner, Timothy Harris, appeals the denial of his petition for post-conviction relief. The single issue presented for review is whether the petitioner received the effective assistance of counsel at trial. The judgment is affirmed. http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2005/harrist_121905.pdf STATE OF TENNESSEE v. JORDAN HILL Court: TCCA Attorneys: Garland Ergüden, Memphis, Tennessee, for the Appellant, Jordan Hill. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Renee W. Turner, Assistant Attorney General; William L. Gibbons, District Attorney General; Greg Gilbert, Assistant District Attorney General, for the Appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: WEDEMEYER The Defendant, Jordan Hill, was convicted of attempted aggravated robbery and of being a felon in the possession of a handgun. On appeal, he contends that the evidence is insufficient to sustain these convictions. Finding no reversible error, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2005/hillw_121905.pdf SHAUN HOOVER v. STATE OF TENNESSEE Court: TCCA Attorneys: Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Seth P. Kestner, Assistant Attorney General; Elizabeth T. Rice, District Attorney General; Janet Shipman, Assistant District Attorney General, for the Appellant, State of Tennessee. Gary F. Antrician, Somerville, Tennessee, for the Appellee, Shaun Hoover. Judge: WEDEMEYER The State appeals the habeas corpus court’s grant of a petition for habeas corpus relief filed by the Petitioner, Saun Hoover. The Petitioner alleged in his petition that his sentence was illegal because he was sentenced as a Range I offender but ordered to serve his sentence at one hundred percent. The habeas corpus court agreed and granted the petition. On appeal, the State contends that the habeas corpus court erred because the Petitioner knowingly and voluntarily pled guilty and agreed to this hybrid sentence. Finding that there exists reversible error in the judgment of the habeas corpus court, we reverse this case and remand it to the habeas corpus court for proceedings consistent with this opinion. http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2005/hoovers_121905.pdf STATE OF TENNESSEE v. WAYNE MILLER Court: TCCA Attorneys: Paul K. Guibao (on appeal) and Brett Stein (at trial), Memphis, Tennessee, for the Appellant, Wayne Miller. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Benjamin A. Ball, Assistant Attorney General; William L. Gibbons, District Attorney General; Michael McCusker, Assistant District Attorney General, for the Appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: WEDEMEYER The Defendant was convicted of possession of a controlled substance with the intent to sell, possession of a controlled substance with the intent to deliver, and evading arrest while operating a motor vehicle. On appeal the Defendant contends that the evidence is insufficient to sustain his convictions. Finding that there exists no reversible error, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2005/millerw_121905.pdf STATE OF TENNESSEE v. DARRELL PHILLIPS Court: TCCA Attorneys: Robert Jones, Shelby County Public Defender, and Phyllis Aluko, Assistant Public Defender, for the appellant, Darrell Phillips. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Brian C. Johnson, Assistant Attorney General; William L. Gibbons, District Attorney General; and James Lammey, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: GLENN The defendant, Darrell Phillips, appeals the revocation of his probation, arguing that the court had no authority to revoke his suspended sentences because the State did not seek this action until after the sentences had expired. We disagree and affirm the judgment of the trial court. http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2005/phillipsd_121905.pdf SCOTT BRADLEY PRICE v. STATE OF TENNESSEE Court: TCCA Attorneys: J. Liddell Kirk, Knoxville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Scott Bradley Price. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Blind Akrawi, Assistant Attorney General; Randall E. Nichols, District Attorney General; Kevin Allen, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, the State of Tennessee. Judge: WOODALL Petitioner, Scott Bradley Price, appeals the denial of his petition for post-conviction relief by the Knox County Criminal Court. Petitioner was convicted for rape of a child and sentenced as a Range I offender, to twenty-one years at one hundred percent, to be served in the Tennessee Department of Correction. On direct appeal, Petitioner challenged only the length of his sentence. This Court affirmed that judgment on November 19, 2001. State v. Scott Bradley Price, No. E2000-00441CCA-R3-CD, 2001 WL 1464555 (Tenn. Crim. App. Nov. 19, 2001). Petitioner filed a pro se petition for post-conviction relief. The petition was subsequently amended by appointed counsel. In his appeal, Petitioner argues that he was denied effective assistance of counsel because (1) trial counsel did not investigate Petitioner’s claims that his audio recorded confession was materially altered; (2) trial counsel did not advise Petitioner to testify in order to rebut the State’s evidence; and (3) trial counsel did not use available medical records to challenge the accuser’s testimony at trial. We affirm the judgment of the trial court. http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2005/prices_121905.pdf STATE OF TENNESSEE v. JOHN CALVIN SIPE, JR. Court: TCCA Attorneys: D. Clifton Barnes, Assistant Public Defender, Morristown, Tennessee, for the appellant, John Calvin Sipe, Jr.. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; David E. Coenen, Assistant Attorney General; C. Berkeley Bell, District Attorney General; and Kim Lane, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: SMITH A Hamblen County jury convicted the defendant of theft of property, $500-$1,000, and forgery of assignment of title. On appeal the defendant presents three issues: (1) Whether there was sufficient evidence to support the jury’s verdict; (2) whether the trial court erred in refusing to grant a retrial based upon newly discovered evidence; and (3) whether the trial court imposed an excessive sentence. We have reviewed the record and have found all of the defendant’s issues to be without merit. Therefore, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2005/sipej_121905.pdf STATE OF TENNESSEE v. DARRELL TOOMES Court: TCCA Attorneys: Gary F. Antrican, District Public Defender; and Julie K. Pillow, Assistant Public Defender, for the Appellant, Darrell Toomes. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General & Reporter; Brian C. Johnson, Assistant Attorney General; Elizabeth T. Rice, District Attorney General; and Tracey A. Brewer, Assistant District Attorney General, for the Appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: WITT A Lauderdale County jury convicted the defendant, Darrell Toomes, of aggravated rape and aggravated criminal trespass in connection with the June 23, 2002 home invasion of Mamie Milliman’s residence in Ripley, and the assault of Ms. Milliman. The trial court sentenced the defendant to 11 months and 29 days for aggravated criminal trespass and 23 years as a violent offender for the aggravated rape conviction. On appeal, the defendant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his aggravated rape conviction and claims that his 23-year sentence for that conviction is excessive. We affirm. http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2005/toomes_121905.pdf Jail Fee TN Attorney General Opinions Date: 2005-12-15 Opinion Number: 05-179 http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/AG/2005/op179.pdf Implementation of the Coin-operated Amusement Machine Tax Act, Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 67-4-2201 et seq. TN Attorney General Opinions Date: 2005-12-15 Opinion Number: 05-180 http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/AG/2005/op180.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. 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