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Register online now for 125th Annual TBA Convention
Join your colleagues from the Tennessee legal community at the state's largest and longest-running gathering - the annual Tennessee Bar Association convention. This year's event will be in Memphis, June 14-17 at the Peabody Hotel. The event will again be held in conjunction with gatherings of the Tennessee Judicial Conference, the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association and the Tennessee Lawyers' Association for Women. Register or find out more now.
http://www.tba.org/convention2006/index.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 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
02 - TN Worker's Comp Appeals
00 - TN Supreme Court - Rules
02 - TN Court of Appeals
01 - 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,
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
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BOBBY R. BRUNER v. ODOM CONSTRUCTION SYSTEMS, INC.
Court: TWCA
Attorneys:
J. Eric Harrison, Morristown, Tennessee, for Appellant, Odom Construction Systems, Inc.
John T. Johnson, Jr. and Laura Bradley Myers, of Knoxville, Tennessee, for Appellee, Bobby R.
Bruner.
Judge: ROGER E. THAYER
This workers’ compensation appeal has been referred to the Special Workers’ Compensation
Appeals Panel of the Tennessee Supreme Court in accordance with Tennessee Code Annotated
section 50-6-225(e)(3) for hearing and reporting to the supreme court of findings of fact and
conclusions of law. The trial court awarded Plaintiff 100 percent permanent disability. On appeal,
Defendant argues (1) the trial court was in error in finding Plaintiff’s headaches and depression were
caused by the accident and, (2) the evidence does not support a finding of total permanent disability.
The judgment is affirmed.
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TSC_WCP/2006/brunerb042706.pdf
ROBERT R. OATES, SR. v. PINKERTON GOVERNMENT SERVICES, INC.
Court: TWCA
Attorneys:
F. R. Evans, Chattanooga, Tennessee, for Appellant, Pinkerton Government Services, Inc.
George Lane Foster, Chattanooga, Tennessee, for Appellee, Robert R. Oakes, Sr.
Judge: ROGER E. THAYER
This workers’ compensation appeal has been referred to the Special Workers’ Compensation
Appeals Panel of the Tennessee Supreme Court in accordance with Tennessee Code Annotated
section 50-6-225(e)(3) for hearing and reporting to the supreme court of findings of fact and
conclusions of law. The trial court awarded Plaintiff 100 percent permanent disability. Defendant
contends that Plaintiff’s pre-existing cancer and not a work-related event was the cause of his
disability. Plaintiff argues the trial court was in error in failing to provide that all medical expenses
be paid directly to the Plaintiff. Judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TSC_WCP/2006/oatesr042706.pdf
INGRID MARIA ROGERS v. ROBERT DONALD ROGERS
Court: TCA
Attorneys:
Darrell L. Scarlett, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, for the appellant, Robert Donald Rogers.
Darryl M. South, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, for the appellee, Ingrid Maria Rogers.
Judge: WILLIAM B. CAIN
Robert Donald Rogers (Dr. Rogers) appeals from the order declaring him divorced from Ingrid
Maria Rogers (Ms. Rogers), and awarding to Ms. Rogers custody of the minor children designating
her primary residential custodian pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated section 36-6-404. We
affirm.
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCA/2006/rogersi042706.pdf
WENDY WHITMAN ROSE v. WILLIAM SEHON ROSE, JR.
Court: TCA
Attorneys:
David C. Lee, Knoxville, Tennessee, for the Appellant Wendy Whitman Rose.
L. Caesar Stair, III, Knoxville, Tennessee, for the Appellee William Sehon Rose, Jr.
Judge: D. MICHAEL SWINEY
Wendy Whitman Rose (Mother) and William Sehon Rose, Jr. (Father) were divorced in
February of 2004. The parties entered into a marital dissolution agreement dividing the parties’
marital and separate property and establishing joint custody of the parties’ two children with
equal co-parenting time. The terms of the marital dissolution agreement were incorporated into
the final judgment of divorce. The Trial Court later found Mother in civil contempt for willfully
failing to return property to Father as required by the final judgment. The Trial Court
incarcerated Mother for the civil contempt, although she quickly was released and thereafter
purged herself of the contempt. Mother also was required to pay attorney fees incurred by Father
in pursuing the contempt proceedings, and to reimburse Father for property that was lost or
damaged while wrongfully in Mother’s possession. Mother appeals. We affirm the Trial Court’s
various findings pertaining to the civil contempt proceedings, but dismiss all other issues for lack
of a final judgment as required by Tenn. R. App. P. 3(a).
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCA/2006/rosew042706.pdf
STATE OF TENNESSEE v. JOANNE GELENE IRWIN
Corrected Case
Court: TCCA
Attorneys:
Michael T. Cabage, Knoxville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Joanne Gelene Irwin.
Paul G. Summers, Attorney General & Reporter; Leslie Price, Assistant Attorney General; and
Ta Kisha M. Fitzgerald, Philip H. Morton, and Mitchell T. Harper, Assistant District Attorneys
General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
Judge: GARY R. WADE
The defendant, Joanne Gelene Irwin, was convicted of two counts of simple assault, Class A
misdemeanors. See Tenn. Code Ann. Section 39-13-101 (1997). After merging the two counts of
simple assault, the trial court imposed a sentence of eleven months and twenty-nine days and
ordered thirty days of confinement. The defendant was fined $1,000. Judicial diversion was
denied. In this appeal of right, the defendant argues that she should have been permitted to
introduce evidence of the juvenile record of the victim for impeachment purposes under Rule
609 of the Tennessee Rules of Evidence; that the trial court submitted erroneous instructions to
the jury; that the trial court imposed an excessive sentence; and that the trial court abused its
discretion by denying judicial diversion. The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2006/irwinj042706.pdf
Robertson County Highway Department Employee Wages
TN Attorney General Opinions
Date: 2006-04-25
Opinion Number: 06-077
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/AG/2006/ag_06-077.pdf
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| TODAY'S NEWS |
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Legal News
BPR Actions
Passages
Legislative News
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| Legal News |
| High court argues execution practices |
| U.S. Supreme Court justices clashed on Wednesday over how states execute killers, with one court member saying current lethal injection drugs would not be used on cats and dogs and a second arguing that executions do not have to be pain-free. The court blocked Florida, at the last minute, from executing Clarence Hill in January, as he lay on a gurney with IV lines in his arms. Read the AP story in the |
Chattanooga Times Free Press.
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| Grand Jury says magistrates may be overstepping bounds |
| Magistrates may be overstepping their bounds in not going forward with many charges brought by police officers, the Hamilton County Regular Grand Jury said in a final report. The panel also again called for a Juvenile Detention Center to be built in Chattanooga. Read more at the |
Chattanoogan.com.
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| High school students to hear Supreme Court cases |
| Students from 18 Hamilton County high schools, along with 15 local home-schooled students, will hear arguments in three state Supreme Court cases May 5 as participants in SCALES, a program that educates young Tennesseans about the judicial branch of government. Read more about it |
here.
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| Girls go to court for 'take our daughters to work' day |
| Today, more than 30 girls from Howard Middle School in Chattanooga were to take a closer look at the legal profession on national Take Our Daughters to Work day. Girls Incorporated of Chattanooga and South East Tennessee Lawyers Association for Women (SETLAW) sponsored the girls, most of whom participate in Girls Inc.'s "Allies in Action" leadership development workshops. Read more in |
The Chattanoogan.com
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| Perl to receive humanitarian award next month |
| Diversity Memphis will honor lawyer Arnold E. Perl at the organization's first-ever Humanitarian Awards dinner May 11. Read more about Perl and the award in the |
Memphis Daily News.
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| Lawyers try to decipher 'Da Vinci' ruling's code |
| LONDON -- The judge who presided at the "Da Vinci Code" copyright infringement trial has put a code of his own into his ruling, and he said Wednesday he would "probably" confirm it to the person who breaks it. Since Judge Peter Smith delivered his ruling April 7, lawyers in London and New York began noticing odd italicization in the 71-page document. "I can't discuss the judgment," Smith said, "but I don't see why a judgment should not be a matter of fun." |
The Commercial Appeal has the AP story.
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| BPR Actions |
| Maryville lawyer censured |
| Charles David Deas, a Maryville attorney, received a public censure from the Board of Professional Responsibility on April 20. Deas engaged in neglect that ultimately lead to the dismissal of his client’s case, which involved a car accident that killed the client's wife and unborn child.
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Read the BPR news release.
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| Memphis lawyer retroactively suspended |
| On April 21, the Tennessee Supreme Court entered an order suspending the law license of James Richard McFall Jr., for five years retroactive to Nov. 21, 2000 -- the date McFall was granted disability inactive status by the Court in a prior order. Since 2000, McFall has demonstrated to the board’s satisfaction that he has complied fully with his contract for peer assistance entered into with the Tennessee Lawyers’ Assistance Program, and that his disability has been removed according to his treating physicians.
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Read more in the BPR release.
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| Passages |
| Charles J. Williams dies |
Nashville lawyer Charles J. Williams of the firm Williams & Associates PC died this morning at the age of 62. Named one of Nashville’s top five personal injury attorneys by the Nashville Post, Williams was a prolific
plaintiff’s lawyer representing cases involving everything from simple fractures to devastating brain damage, spinal cord injuries and death. He was a 1969 graduate of the Vanderbilt University School of Law.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m., April 30, at Tulip Street United Methodist Church in Nashville (522 Russell Street), officiated by Judge Barbara Haynes and Father Joe Sanchez. Visitation will be Saturday, 10 a.m. to noon and 2 - 4 p.m., at the family home, 800 Russell St. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Mid-South Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, 4219 Hillsboro Pike; the Martha O’Bryan Center, 711 South 7th St.; or the Oasis Center Youth and Family Counseling, 1221 16th Ave., South. |
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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 postiion 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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