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Ethics bill may be tossed out
A move is afoot in a legislative conference committee to toss out the entire proposed ethics bill and replace it with a list of about 30 highlights of the original bill.
The proposal in the conference committee, by state Rep. Jason Mumpower, is a "proposal of the House to rewrite the entire bill," Sen. Jim Kyle announced on the floor of the Senate this afternoon.
Follow the breaking news at
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060202/NEWS0201/60202012
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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
03 - TN Court of Appeals
01 - TN Court of Criminal Appeals
01 - TN Attorney General Opinions
00 - Judicial Ethics Opinions
00 - Formal Ethics Opinions - BPR
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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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THE METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT OF NASHVILLE AND DAVIDSON COUNTY v. HUTTON BUCHANAN
Court: TCA
Attorneys:
George A. Dean, Nashville, Tennessee for the Appellant, Hutton Buchanan.
John P. Long, Jr., Margaret M. Holleman, and John L. Kennedy, Nashville, Tennessee for the Appellee, the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County.
Judge: D. MICHAEL SWINEY
Hutton Buchanan (“Defendant”) was served with a civil warrant alleging that he was in violation of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County Code (“Metro Code”) for “utilizing the premises located at 8331 + [8337] McCrory Ln. [(“the Property”)] for the open storage of abandoned, unlicensed and inoperable vehicles, scrap metal, building rubbish, trailers and other scraped materials and debris.” The case was tried without a jury and afterward, the Trial Court entered an Order, inter alia, finding that Defendant is required to comply with Metro Code § 16.24.330(B), ordering Defendant “to remove abandoned unlicensed and inoperable vehicles and un-usable scrap materials” from the Property, and ordering Defendant to enclose the Property. Defendant appeals to this Court. We reverse.
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCA/2006/buchananh020206.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: CHARLES D. 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/caldwellt020206.pdf
CONSUMER ADVOCATE DIVISION OF THE OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL v. TENNESSEE REGULATORY AUTHORITY
Court: TCA
Attorneys:
Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Vance L. Broemel, Assistant Attorney General; Joe Shirley, Assistant Attorney General for Petitioner, Consumer Advocate and Protection Division
J. Richard Collier, General Counsel; Carolyn E. Reed, Counsel; Randal L. Gilliam, Counsel; Monica Smith-Ashford, Counsel of Nashville for Respondent-Appellee, Tennessee Regulatory Authority.
R. Dale Grimes and Kristin J. Hazelwood of Nashville; Guy M. Hicks and Joelle Phillips of Nashville for Respondent-Appellee, BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc.
Judge: W. FRANK CRAWFORD
This is a consolidation of three appeals involving three tariffs filed by BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc. with the Tennessee Regulatory Authority. All three tariffs contained bundled offerings of telecommunications services and non-telecommunications services. The Consumer Advocate Division of the Office of the Attorney General was allowed to intervene in these proceedings in order to address the question of BellSouth’s obligation, under the Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996, to offer for resale the telecommunications services contained in the bundled offerings. The Tennessee Regulatory Authority entered orders allowing the tariffs to go into effect without the telecommunications service portions thereof being offered for resale. The Consumer Advocate appealed and the cases were consolidated for that purpose. In 2005, during the pendency of this appeal, the Tennessee General Assembly enacted T.C.A.§65-37-103 (Supp. 2005). This statute specifically exempts retail offerings of combinations or bundles of products or services from the jurisdiction of the Tennessee Regulatory Authority. In addition, all three of the tariffs at issue in this case expired, by their own terms, during the pendency of this appeal, rendering the appeal moot. Because we do not find that these appeals fall within any of the exceptions to the mootness doctrine, we dismiss the appeal as moot.
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCA/2006/consumerad020206.pdf
STATE OF TENNESSEE v. TIM FLOOD
Court: TCCA
Attorneys:
R. Dwight Foster and Julie Foster, Knoxville, Tennessee (at trial); and Leslie M. Jeffress, Knoxville, Tennessee (on appeal), for the Appellant, Tim Flood.
Paul G. Summers, Attorney General & Reporter; Leslie Price, Assistant Attorney General; Randall E. Nichols, District Attorney General; and Leslie Nassios, Assistant District Attorney General, for the Appellee, State of Tennessee.
Judge: JAMES CURWOOD WITT, JR.
The defendant, Tim Flood, appeals from his Knox County Criminal Court jury convictions of four counts of rape of a child, for which he received an effective sentence of 40 years in the Department of Correction. On appeal, the defendant claims that the convictions are unsupported by the evidence and that the trial court erred in refusing to allow a proposed defense witness to testify. Because the refusal to permit the defendant to call a witness was error, we reverse the convictions and remand the case.
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2006/floodt020206.pdf
Limits on Campaign Expenditures
TN Attorney General Opinions
Date: 2006-02-02
Opinion Number: 06-23
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/AG/2006/ag_06-23.pdf
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| TODAY'S NEWS |
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Legal News
Legislative News
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| Legal News |
| Justices consider inmate rights in landmark case |
| Unreasonable search and seizure is at the heart of a case heard by the Tennessee Supreme Court yesterday. The case challenges the constitutionality of a Tennessee law that allows samples to be drawn from inmates and their DNA profiles stored in a database. |
The Knoxville News-Sentinel has the story.
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| Deadline nears for filing for TBA office |
| The deadline for TBA members seeking a spot on the Board of Governors or other office is Feb. 15. The TBA's Election Handbook has full details of openings and requirements. |
elexhandbook.html
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| County trying to save two victim coordinator slots |
| Montgomery County has two victim witness coordinators for Circuit Court, but their salary is paid for by federal grants, which will soon expire. The county's Legislative Liaison Committee has agreed to assist with the creation of a private act that would allow local courts to levy an additional cost to help pay the salary of local victim witness coordinators. |
Read the story in the Leaf-Chronicle.
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| Napier-Looby banquet Feb. 23 |
| The Napier-Looby Bar Foundation's annual Barristers Banquet and Awards Program will be Feb. 23, at the Millennium Maxwell House Hotel in Nashville. The event is in observance of Black History Month. Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Adolpho A. Birch will give the keynote address. Register before Feb. 13. For information contact William J. Haynes III at phaynes@bonelaw.com |
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| Ogle to run for reelection |
| Circuit Court Judge Rex Henry Ogle has announced his candidacy for re-election in the fourth Judicial District (Cocke, Grainger, Jefferson and Sevier counties). |
Read the story in the Mountain Press.
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| Legislative News |
| 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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