Knoxville attorney James (Jim) Thomas Shea IV died Wednesday (March 30) at the age of 58. Shea, a graduate of Vermont Law School, was licensed in Tennessee in 1983. The family will receive friends from 4-6 p.m. Sunday at Rose Mortuary Mann Heritage Chapel, 6200 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919. Condolences may be posted online. 

Legal Aid of East Tennessee staff attorney Kathryn Ellis was elected co-chair of the Blount County Task Force against Domestic Violence. The volunteer task force is an Action Team of the Blount County Community Health Initiative, focusing on domestic violence prevention and reduction, bullying prevention education in schools, and training for law enforcement.

The Tennessee Supreme Court will hear Kingston attorney Tom McFarland’s appeal of a Roane County Election Commission vote to keep Mike Pemberton on the ballot in the race for 9th Judicial District Circuit Court judge. McFarland was defeated in the August 2014 race. The Knoxville News Sentinel reports the commission vote came after a Roane County resident filed a complaint stating Pemberton did not live in the county at the time of the election, as required. Pemberton claims he moved to Roane County in July 2013. 

WATE reports a judge allowed the University of Tennessee to file additional documents on a motion to dismiss a sweeping federal lawsuit against the school. The university says the plaintiffs have failed to articulate any “official policy” leading to the sexual assault cases. The move is in response to the plaintiffs citing a sexual assault case against the University of Colorado that claims the university had an “official policy” to provide women and alcohol to the high school football recruits. The UT filings also request that the university is not required to answer to “the nearly 100 paragraphs accusing unrelated individuals of crimes and other misconduct over a period of more than twenty years.” UT President Joe DiPietro today defended the safety of the campus during a board meeting, the Knoxville News Sentinel reports. 

In this divorce case, Carl Shane Merkel (Husband) contends that the trial court erred in its division of the marital estate, its award of child support made retroactive to the date that Starla Merkel (Wife) filed her complaint, and its monetary award to Wife?s father, Terry McKeel, who was allowed by agreed order to intervene as an indispensible party. The award to McKeel was based on the trial court?s finding that Husband owed McKeel $15,343.45 for unpaid loans made during the marriage by McKeel to Husband.

This appeal involves the foreclosure sale of improved real property located in Erwin, Tennessee. The plaintiff lender filed a complaint seeking a foreclosure deficiency award in the amount of $53,489.59, plus interest and reasonable attorney?s fees, pursuant to the promissory note. The defendant debtor asserted as an affirmative defense that the lender had purchased the property during a foreclosure sale for a sum materially less than the fair market value.

This is a termination of parental rights case, focusing on the four minor children—Joseph F., Johnathon S., Sarah S., and Larry S. (“the Children”)—of the respondent mother, Elizabeth F. (“Mother”). In January 2011, Mother voluntarily placed all four Children in the custody of Ernest S., the biological father of the younger three children. Ernest S. passed away on June 27, 2011, while Mother was living in Oregon. Upon motion of Ernest S.?s minister and family friend, Betty Shirley, the Grainger County Juvenile Court granted temporary custody of the Children to Ms. Shirley on June 28, 2011.

This is the third appeal involving liability on personal guaranties securing the debt of a transportation company. On remand after our second opinion, the trial court found that the transportation company and the lender, through the actions of its president, entered into a conspiracy to violate the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) and violated the duty of good faith and fair dealing, thereby relieving the guarantors of their liability under the continuing guaranties.

In this post-divorce appeal, Father asserts the trial court erred in failing to find a material change of circumstance had occurred such that he should be designated the child?s primary residential parent. Father also asserts the trial court erred in awarding Mother her attorney?s fees. We affirm the trial court in all respects.

The dispositive issue in this wrongful death action is whether the pro se complaint filed by the decedent?s surviving spouse tolled the statute of limitations. The defendants, a hospital and a physician, filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing that the complaint was a nullity because the surviving spouse was asserting claims in a representative capacity and the complaint was not signed by a licensed attorney. It is undisputed that the decedent was survived by three heirs, the surviving spouse and two children of the decedent.