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Posted by: Karen Belcher on Sep 11, 2019

MURPHY, Circuit Judge. It has long been said that the doctrine of administrative exhaustion “is as old as federal administrative law.” Raoul Berger, Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies, 48 Yale L.J. 981, 981 (1939). But what is the doctrine’s source? A federal statute? Federal common law? A brooding omnipresence in the bureaucratic sky? This question confronts us in these petitions for review, which assert claims based on Lucia v. SEC, 138 S. Ct. 2044 (2018). There, the Court held that the SEC’s appointment of an administrative law judge violated the Constitution’s Appointments Clause. Id. at 2049. Here, the petitioners argue that Lucia renders unconstitutional the appointments of the administrative law judges who adjudicated their black-lung-benefits disputes. But there is a catch: The petitioners raised this issue for the first time in motions for reconsideration with the Benefits Review Board, the body within the Department of Labor that hears appeals from decisions of administrative law judges. The Board held that their constitutional claims came too late, so the Department of Labor asserts that they forfeited this issue in court by failing to properly exhaust it with the agency. We must consider, among other questions, whether the Black Lung Benefits Act contains a requirement to exhaust issues with the Board and, if so, whether that requirement bars the petitioners’ constitutional claims.

Posted by: Karen Belcher on Sep 11, 2019

Richard Kelly Smith, Petitioner, filed a pro se Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus (“the Petition”), claiming that he is “being illegally restrained of his liberty by an illegal, void, and/or expired criminal conviction/sentence.” The habeas corpus court found that his sentence had not expired and that the Petition “demonstrate[d] no right to relief” and summarily dismissed the Petition. Discerning no error, we affirm the judgment of the habeas corpus court.

Posted by: Karen Belcher on Sep 11, 2019

The Defendant, Manoochehre Lee Dadfar, appeals the Lincoln County Circuit Court’s order revoking his probation for his convictions for initiating the manufacture of methamphetamine and possession with the intent to sell a controlled substance and ordering him to serve the remainder of his effective ten-year sentence in confinement. The Defendant contends that the trial court abused its discretion by revoking his probation. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Posted by: Karen Belcher on Sep 11, 2019

This is a post-divorce case involving a husband’s petition to terminate his alimony obligation. Husband argued that the wife cohabited with a paramour, which, pursuant to the parties’ MDA, terminated his alimony obligation. The trial court, however, found that wife and her paramour did not cohabit with one another and denied husband’s petition. Additionally, the trial court denied wife’s request for attorney’s fees, finding that her increased income, combined with the alimony she was receiving from husband, allowed her to afford to pay her attorney’s fees at trial.

Posted by: Karen Belcher on Sep 11, 2019

This appeal concerns the interpretation of the Drug Dealer Liability Act, Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-38-101, -116 (“DDLA”). A number of Tennessee district attorneys (“the District Attorney Plaintiffs”), as well as two minor children through their guardian ad litem (“Plaintiffs,” all together), sued certain drug manufacturers (“Manufacturer Defendants”) and others in the Circuit Court for Campbell County (“the Trial Court”) alleging the diversion of opioids.1 Manufacturer Defendants filed a motion to dismiss.

Posted by: Karen Belcher on Sep 11, 2019

This is a parentage action in which the putative father challenged the trial court’s jurisdiction under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, Tenn. Code Ann. § 36-6-201, et seq. After the trial court accepted jurisdiction and appointed a special master, the putative father filed a notice of appeal. Because the trial court has not entered a final judgment that resolves all the claims between the parties, we dismiss the appeal.

Posted by: Karen Belcher on Sep 10, 2019

The Appellant, Helena Moore, appeals the trial court’s revocation of her community corrections sentence and order to serve her original two-year sentence in confinement, contending that she should have been returned to community corrections. Upon review, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Posted by: Karen Belcher on Sep 10, 2019

The Appellant, Makoyous Houston, appeals the trial court’s revocation of his probation, contending that the proof adduced at the hearing was insufficient to support the revocation and that the trial court abused its discretion by ordering him to serve his sentence in confinement. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Posted by: Karen Belcher on Sep 10, 2019

In this suit for conversion, a truck owner alleges that his friend converted his truck for the friend’s own use and the friend asserts that the owner gave him the truck as a gift. The trial court found the owner was more credible and concluded the friend was liable for conversion. The court awarded the owner damages, including lost earnings to compensate him for the time he was unable to earn a living by driving his truck. The friend appealed, claiming the court erred by awarding the owner more than the dollar amount set forth in the complaint. We affirm the trial court’s judgment in most respects, but we modify the damages award to conform to the requested amount.


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