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Bredesen to to seek $41 million for UM Law School
Gov. Phil Bredesen today was to ask state legislators for $41 million to move the University of Memphis Law School to its new home at the Customs House and Post Office in downtown Memphis. The funding is part of the overall state budget for FY 2006-07, which Bredesen will present to the General Assembly next week.
Read the Commercial Appeal story
http://commercialappeal.com/mca/local_news/article/0,1426,MCA_437_4428307,00.html
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TODAY'S OPINIONS
Click on the category of your choice to view summaries of today’s opinions from that court, or other body. A link at the end of each case summary will let you download the full opinion in PDF format. To search all opinions in the TBALink database, go to our OpinionSearch page. If you have forgotten your password or need to obtain a password, you can look it up on TBALink at http://www.tba.org/getpassword.mgi.
00 - TN Supreme Court
00 - TN Worker's Comp Appeals
00 - TN Supreme Court - Rules
04 - TN Court of Appeals
00 - TN Court of Criminal Appeals
01 - 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,
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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
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LESLIE RANDOLPH (WALKER) BROWN v. RALPH TRUMAN BROWN, JR.
Court: TCA
Attorneys:
Christine Mahn Sell and B. Elizabeth Dickson, Chattanooga, Tennessee, for appellant.
Michael R. Campbell and Kathryn M. Russell, Chattanooga, Tennessee, for appellee.
Judge: FRANKS
The wife sued for back child support on the basis that the parties’ Marital Dissolution Agreement
provided for a percentage of the husband’s income which had not been paid. The Trial Court
refused to award back support. On appeal, we affirm the Judgment of the Trial Court.
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCA/2006/brownl013106.pdf
THOMAS DAVID CALDWELL v. DAVINA KAY DUKE CALDWELL
Court: TCA
Attorneys:
Barrett T. Painter, Cleveland, Tennessee, for the appellant, Thomas David Caldwell.
Ashley L. Ownby, Cleveland, Tennessee, for the appellee, Davina Kay Duke Caldwell.
Judge: SUSANO
Thomas David Caldwell (“Father”) filed a complaint for divorce from his wife of ten years,
Davina Kay Duke Caldwell (“Mother”). The trial court, inter alia, awarded the parties a divorce,
named Mother primary residential parent of the parties’ minor child, and divided the parties’
marital property. Father appeals both the custody determination and the division of marital
property. We affirm.
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCA/2006/caldwellt013106.pdf
KATHRYN HEADRICK v. BRADLEY COUNTY MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, ET AL.
Court: TCA
Attorneys:
Shelley I. Stiles, Brentwood, Tennessee, and Robert J. Shockey, Nashville, Tennessee, for the
appellant, Kathryn Headrick.
Arthur P. Brock and Timothy J. Millirons, Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the appellee, Daniel
Johnson, M.D., individually and d/b/a Southeast Tennessee Orthopaedics.
Judge: LEE
In this appeal, the issue presented is whether a party has standing to pursue a personal injury
claim in state court that accrued after the filing of the party’s bankruptcy petition and before the
closing of the bankruptcy case. Ms. Headrick filed a Chapter 13 bankruptcy petition. While the
bankruptcy case was pending, Ms. Headrick was involved in a single car accident and was
treated for her injuries by Dr. Daniel Johnson at Bradley County Memorial Hospital.
Subsequently, she converted her Chapter 13 bankruptcy case to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case.
While the Chapter 7 case was still pending, she discovered that she suffered a hip fracture in the
car accident which she alleges that Dr. Johnson and the Hospital failed to timely diagnose and
treat. Thereafter, Ms. Headrick received a discharge in bankruptcy and the bankruptcy case was
closed. Ms. Headrick then filed a medical negligence case against Dr. Johnson and Bradley
Memorial Hospital. The Defendants filed a motion for summary judgment asserting that Ms.
Headrick did not have standing to bring the case. The trial court agreed and dismissed the case.
After review of the record and applicable authorities, we hold that Ms. Headrick’s post-
bankruptcy cause of action is not part of the bankruptcy estate and therefore, as a matter of law
Ms. Headrick did have standing to bring the lawsuit. The trial court’s decision is reversed.
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCA/2006/headrickk013106.pdf
PAMELA C. LICHTENWALTER v. CHRIS EDWARD LICHTENWALTER
Court: TCA
Attorneys:
Dan R. Alexander, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Pamela C. Lichtenwalter.
Norman E. Solomon, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellee, Chris Edward Lichtenwalter.
Judge: KOCH
This appeal illustrates the problems that befall divorcing parents when they agree, without court
approval, to a child support arrangement that is inconsistent with the Child Support Guidelines. Five
years after the parents’ divorce, the mother filed a petition in the Circuit Court for Davidson County
seeking to increase the father’s child support obligation. The trial court approved a formula devised
by the parties that did not comply with the Child Support Guidelines. The parties later ignored that
formula and followed another ad hoc arrangement for approximately ten years. Eventually, the
mother filed a petition in the trial court seeking to hold the father in contempt for failing to pay child
support and to collect the arrearage. The trial court turned the matter over to a substitute judge who
determined that the father was not in contempt because both parties had followed their formula to
the best of their abilities even though it was ambiguous. The trial court also set the father’s support
for the remaining minor child and directed the father to pay $2,375 in additional support for that
child. The mother appealed. We have determined that the father owes $64,529 in back child support
and that the parties’ three children are entitled to this arrearage. Therefore, we vacate the portion
of the judgment regarding back child support and remand the case for the entry of an appropriate
payment plan.
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCA/2006/lichtenwalterp013106.pdf
Constitutionality of Amendment 93 to SB 7001
TN Attorney General Opinions
Date: 2006-01-31
Opinion Number: 06-021
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/AG/2006/ag_06-21.pdf
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| TODAY'S NEWS |
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Legal News
Legislative News
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| Legal News |
| U.S. Senate confirms Alito to Supreme Court |
| Samuel Anthony Alito Jr. became the nation's 110th Supreme Court justice today. The Senate voted 58-42 to confirm Alito as the replacement for retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. All but one Republican voted for his confirmation, while all but four Democrats voted against Alito. Alito was sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts and will join the other justices for President Bush's state of the union address tonight. |
Read AP coverage of the vote
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| Retiring justices will leave impact |
| The announced retirements of Justices Anderson and Birch will have a significant effect on the five-member state Supreme Court, the Knoxville News Sentinel editorializes in today’s paper. |
Read the full opinion piece
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| Role of court clerks in the legal system |
| In a continuing series on elected officials in Bradley County, the Cleveland Daily Banner profiles the qualifications, selection process and job responsibilities of court clerks. |
Link to the full story
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| Legislative News |
| Senate passes ethics reform bill |
| The state Senate passed SB 7001, the “Comprehensive Governmental Ethics Reform Act of 2006” early this afternoon. The House is expected to pass its version of an ethics bill tonight setting the stage for a conference committee to work out differences between the two bills. |
Read more in the Tennessean
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| Watch House debate |
| Watch live debate of House consideration of the ethics bill. |
Visit the legislature's website then click on "House" and "video streaming"
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| Track legislation of interest to Tennessee attorneys |
| The TBA Action List tracks bills in the General Assembly that the TBA has a direct interest in. This means it has either initiated the legislation, taken a position on the bill or has a policy on the issue. The TBA Watch List is a broader list of bills of interest to the Tennessee legal community. |
TBA Bill Tracking Service
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