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| Tuesday, August 16, 2011 |
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Prospects looking up for summer 2012 associates
Law students in the class of 2013 have better second-year summer prospects than their immediate upperclassmen, law firm recruiting partners predict. The optimistic outlook for summer 2012 hiring underscores a trend suggested by results from The American Lawyer's latest
Summer Hiring Survey, which found that the average 2011 summer class size increased 25 percent over 2010 at 100 leading law firms.
Learn the details from The AmLaw Daily
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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 or to obtain a text version of each opinion, 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 the TBA's Membership Central.
00 - TN Supreme Court
00 - TN Worker's Comp Appeals
00 - TN Supreme Court - Rules
02 - TN Court of Appeals
06 - TN Court of Criminal Appeals
00 - TN Attorney General Opinions
00 - Judicial Ethics Opinions
00 - Formal Ethics Opinions - BPR
01 - TN Supreme Court - Disciplinary Orders
You can obtain full-text versions of the opinions two ways. We recommend that you download the Opinions to your computer and then
open them from there. 1) 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. 2) 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.
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MARY ELIZABETH SCHWARTZ BROCK v. JEFFERY BROCK
Court: TCA
Attorneys:
Barrett T. Painter, Cleveland, Tennessee, for the appellant, Jeffery Brock.
D. Mitchell Bryant, Athens, Tennessee, for the appellee, Mary Elizabeth Schwartz Brock.
Judge: MCCLARTY
In this divorce case, the husband appeals the trial court's award of spousal support and attorney's fees to the wife. The husband claims his inability to pay outweighs the wife's need
for spousal support. After reviewing the record, we find the evidence does not preponderate against the trial court's decision to award spousal support and attorney's fees to the wife. Therefore, we affirm.
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCA/2011/brockm_081611.pdf
ANITA J. CASH, CITY OF KNOXVILLE ZONING COORDINATOR, v. ED WHEELER
Court: TCA
Attorneys:
Angela B. Rauber, and Debra C. Poplin, Knoxville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Anita Cash.
Arthur G. Seymour, Jr., and Matthew A. Grossman, Knoxville, Tennessee, for the appellee, Ed Wheeler.
Judge: FRANKS
The City of Knoxville Board of Zoning Appeals granted defendant a variance and the Knoxville City Council then nullified the variance granted by the Board of Zoning Appeals.
Defendant then appealed to the Chancery Court of Knox County contending that the city ordinance which permitted the City Council to review the decisions of the Board of Zoning
Appeals was invalid, and the Chancellor agreed. On appeal, we hold that the ordinance at issue is valid under the State's statutory scheme. We reverse the Chancellor and remand for
further proceedings.
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCA/2011/casha_081611.pdf
STATE OF TENNESSEE v. NAKIA BOHANAN
Court: TCCA
Attorneys:
Tony R. Brayton (on appeal); and Trent Hall (at trial), Assistant Public Defenders, for the appellant, Nakia Bohanan.
Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Sophia S. Lee, Assistant Attorney General; William L. Gibbons, District Attorney General; and Marianne Bell, Assistant
District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
Judge: WITT
A Shelby County Criminal Court jury convicted the defendant, Nakia Bohanan1, of aggravated burglary, see T.C.A. section 39-14-403 (2006), and the trial court sentenced the
defendant to serve 15 years' incarceration as a Range III, persistent offender. On appeal, the defendant contends that the evidence is insufficient to support his conviction and that the trial court erred in its application of an enhancement factor to determine the length of his sentence. Discerning no infirmity in the evidence but that the trial court erred at sentencing, we affirm the defendant's conviction and modify the sentence to 14 years' incarceration.
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2011/bohanann_081611.pdf
LISA MARIE BUTLER v. STATE OF TENNESSEE
Court: TCCA
Attorneys:
William Massey and Joseph A. McClusky, Memphis, Tennessee, for the appellant, Lisa Marie Butler.
Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; David H. Findley, Senior Counsel; Amy P. Weirich, District Attorney General; and Garland Erguden, Assistant District Attorney
General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
Judge: TIPTON
The Petitioner, Lisa Marie Butler, appeals the Shelby County Criminal Court's denial of post-conviction relief from her convictions for first degree felony murder and aggravated
child abuse. On appeal, she contends that trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to exclude irrelevant evidence of the victim's earlier injuries and that appellate counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to argue on appeal that the evidence should have been excluded. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2011/butlerl_081611.pdf
STATE OF TENNESSEE v. MATTHEW GARRETT
Court: TCCA
Attorneys:
Guy R. Dotson, Jr., Murfreesboro, Tennessee for the Defendant-Appellant, Matthew Garrett.
Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Nicholas W. Spangler, Assistant Attorney General; William C. Whitesell, Jr., District Attorney General; and Jude Santana,
Assistant District Attorney General, for the Appellee, State of Tennessee.
Judge: MCMULLEN
The Defendant-Appellant, Matthew Garrett, was indicted by a Rutherford County Grand Jury for aggravated assault. He was subsequently convicted by a jury of the lesser included
offense of reckless aggravated assault, a Class D felony. The Defendant-Appellant was sentenced to three years imprisonment, which was suspended after service of six months. The sole issue presented for our review is whether the evidence was sufficient to support the Defendant-Appellant's conviction. Upon review, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2011/garrettm_081611.pdf
STATE OF TENNESSEE v. DONALD A. JAHR, JR.
Court: TCCA
Attorneys:
Raymond Mack Garner, District Public Defender (at trial), and J. Liddell Kirk, Knoxville, Tennessee (on appeal), for the appellant, Donald A. Jahr, Jr.
Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Leslie E. Price, Assistant Attorney General; Michael L. Flynn, District Attorney General; and Matthew Dunn, Assistant District
Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
Judge: THOMAS
The Defendant, Donald A. Jahr, Jr., appeals as of right from the Blount County Circuit Court's revocation of his probation and order of incarceration. The Defendant contends that the trial court erred by ordering the previously imposed sentence to be served in confinement. Following our review, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2011/jahrd_081611.pdf
STATE OF TENNESSEE v. MAURICE JOHNSON
Court: TCCA
Attorneys:
Steven B. Ward, Madisonville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Maurice Johnson.
Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Lacy Wilber, Assistant Attorney General; R. Steven Bebb, District Attorney General; and Richard Fisher, Assistant District
Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee.
Judge: WELLES
A Bradley County jury convicted the Defendant, Maurice Johnson, of one count of especially aggravated robbery and three counts of first degree murder in the perpetration of an
especially aggravated robbery. He was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for each of the felony murder convictions and to twenty-five years for the especially aggravated robbery conviction. On appeal, the Defendant argues that the evidence was insufficient to sustain his convictions, that the district attorney engaged in repeated instances of misconduct substantially prejudicing the jury against him, and that the lead detective's wrongdoing
warrants a new trial. Following our review, we affirm the Defendant's convictions and sentences for first degree murder during the perpetration of or attempt to perpetrate an
especially aggravated robbery. The Defendant's conviction for especially aggravated robbery is reversed and dismissed.
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2011/johnsonm_081611.pdf
STATE OF TENNESSEE V. MYRON TAYLOR
Court: TCCA
Attorneys:
Robert Wilson Jones, District Public Defender; Dianne Thackery, Assistant Public Defender; and Harry E. Sayle, III, Assistant Public Defender, Memphis, Tennessee for the appellant, Myron Taylor.
Robert E. Cooper, Jr., Attorney General and Reporter; Rachel E. Willis, Assistant Attorney General, William L. Gibbons, District Attorney General; and Scot Bearup, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, the State of Tennessee.
Judge: WOODALL
Defendant, Myron Taylor, was charged with rape of a child. Following a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of the lesser included offense of aggravated sexual battery. He was
sentenced to twelve years in the Department of Correction as a violent offender. On appeal, Defendant argues that the trial court erred by allowing the victim's sister to testify about an
incident that she witnessed where Defendant pulled a cover off of the victim while she was sleeping. After a thorough review of the record, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2011/taylorm_081611.pdf
IN RE: STEPHEN BRIAN WHITING, BPR 027943
Court: TSC-Disciplinary_Order
Judge: WADE
Reinstatement
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TSC/2011/whitings_081611.pdf
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| TODAY'S NEWS |
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Legal News
Disciplinary Actions
TBA Member Services
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| Legal News |
| Student's threatening IMs not protected by First Amendment |
| Were Instant Messages between students a joke or a real threat? Protected as free speech or not? A Nevada high school principal treated them as threats but the student who named names and wrote
"I bet I could get 50+ people, and not one bullet would be wasted" said it was just a joke. Now a federal judge has agreed that school
administrators didn't violate the First Amendment when they expelled the student who sent the messages. |
The First Amendment Center explains
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| ABA to NALP: We'll collect our own data, thank you |
| The American Bar Association's recent decision to cut National Association for Law Placement (NALP) out of the employment data collection process is causing a stir,
The National Jurist reports.
Nearly everyone agrees that would-be law students deserve a more detailed and accurate picture of their career prospects and prospective earnings before spending their money to enroll.
There is no consensus, however, on what entity should oversee the collection and analysis of law graduates' jobs data.
The ABA said
that it will start to collect post-graduate employment information directly from law schools rather than through NALP. NALP says the move puts them at a tremendous disadvantage for data collection efforts, and the organization has even hinted it may sue the ABA if it attempts to use NALP's research and survey in developing its own survey. |
Law.com has the backstory
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| Former 'meth cook' is drug court grad, inspiration |
| The man once described as the "best meth cooker in Hixson" not only graduated from Drug Court in Hamilton County but will be named director of the alumni program there.
Ricky Lynn Murr advised those in the audience at graduation not to go back to their old friends, but to make new ones, adding "Thank you, God, and thank you, Drug Court." |
The Chattanoogan has the story
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| Young man gets time with foster mom instead of prison |
| In a move that even the judge said was surprising, Judge Robbie Beal sentenced 19-year-old Marquis Otey to the custody of 71-year-old Frances Patton, as his foster mother. "She knows how to raise kids. If I didn't have trust in her and believe she's a good, positive influence and that she can give Marquis a chance, I wouldn't dare let Marquis go and live with her," Beal said. Patton was his foster mother when he was an infant until he was 13. Instead of five years for aggravated robbery and assault in jail, he'll spend them under Patton's stern eye. |
The Tennessean has the story
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| When is a contract a contract? Court of Appeals defines |
| A dispute between CheckVelocity, a Tennessee-based payment processing company, and New York-based and internationally known Weight Watchers Inc. questions the definition of a contract.
A recent Court of Appeals decision
reversed a summary judgment decision rendered in Davidson County Chancery Court, thereby re-emphasizing the need for local companies to pay more attention to their business agreements, especially fee contracts that contain unclear and ambiguous language. CheckVelocity, represented by Franklin lawyer Nick Shelton, is considering an appeal to the Tennessee Supreme Court. |
NashvillePost.com has more [subscription required]
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| Disciplinary Actions |
| Arkansas lawyer reinstated |
| North Little Rock, Ark., lawyer Stephen Brian Whiting was reinstated to the practice of law on Aug. 15 after complying with requirements for continuing legal education. He was suspended on Sept. 7, 2010, for failing to meet 2009 CLE requirements.
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Download the court order
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| Maryland lawyer reinstated |
| Enoch Perry III of Bowie, Md., was reinstated to the practice of law in Tennessee on Aug. 16 after paying his 2010 Board of Professional Responsibility registration fee and filing his 2010 IOLTA report. No further order of the court was required for his reinstatement. |
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| TBA Member Services |
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Learn more about TBA Insurance Solutions now
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About this publication: Today's News is a compilation of digests of news reports of interest to Tennessee lawyers compiled by TBA staff, links to digested press releases, and occasional stories about the TBA and other activities written by the TBA staff or members. Statements or opinions herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Tennessee Bar Association, its officers, board or staff.
© Copyright 2011 Tennessee Bar Association
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