This appeal is from a Final Default Judgment entered against the Defendant, Northridge Package Store, LLC (“Northridge”). In the order granting judgment against Northridge, the trial court also accepted the voluntary dismissal without prejudice of all claims filed by the Plaintiff, Timothy W. Hudson (“Hudson”), against the Defendant, Delilah M. Grunloh (“Grunloh”). Because only Grunloh has appealed from the judgment and the judgment is not adverse to her, we grant Hudson’s motion to dismiss this case for lack of jurisdiction.

Defendant, Tony Demarcus Williams, was indicted by the Knox County Grand Jury for possession of more than .5 grams of cocaine within a school zone with the intent to sell and possession of more than .5 grams of cocaine within a school zone with intent to deliver. A petit jury convicted Defendant as charged, and the trial court merged the two convictions. The trial court sentenced Defendant to 15 years in confinement.

A Sullivan County Criminal Court Jury convicted the appellant, Travis Wilson, of driving under the influence (DUI), second offense; unlawful carrying or possession of a weapon; possession of drug paraphernalia; and possession of a handgun while under the influence. After a sentencing hearing, the trial court sentenced the appellant to eleven months and twenty-nine days for each conviction, with release eligibility after service of seventy-five percent of the sentences. The trial court ordered that the appellant serve the DUI sentence in confinement and the remaining sentences on probation.

Father in this juvenile court custody dispute has filed a Tenn. Sup. Ct. R. 10B petition for recusal appeal seeking an interlocutory appeal as of right from the trial court’s denial of his motion for recusal. Having reviewed the petition for recusal appeal de novo as required by Rule 10B, §2.06, we summarily affirm the trial court’s denial of the motion for recusal.

In the new August issue of the Tennessee Bar Journal, TBA President Jonathan Steen stresses the importance of civics education for kids, and Chattanooga lawyer Russell Fowler takes a detailed look at the Tennesseans who have served on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Next Wednesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit will take up the largest number of marriage equality cases to be heard in a single day, including a case from Tennessee. The Tennessee case, Tanco Vs. Haslam, seeks to recognize the same-sex marriages of three couples. This will be the fourth argument to be heard by a federal circuit court since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) last summer, the Memphis Flyer reports.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said in an interview with The Associated Press yesterday that the Supreme Court won't duck the issue of same-sex marriage the next time a case comes to the court. She said she expects a case to be heard and decided by June 2016, and possibly a year earlier. Ginsburg also predicted that the justices would not delay ruling as they did on interracial marriage bans, which were not formally struck down until 1967. WRCB has the story.

Editorials from both the Chattanooga Times and the Free Press are urging voters to retain Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice Gary Wade and Justices Cornelia Clark and Sharon Lee in the Aug. 7 election. A Free Press editorial opinion calls Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey’s campaign to oust the three incumbent justices “almost entirely politically driven.” The Times editorial opinion says that Ramsey is driven only by his desire to have a Republican Supreme Court and a Republican Attorney General. “But that's not how courts work,” the newspaper says. “The judicial system is the portion of our government that is designed to be the balance to partisan politics.”

Knox County prosecutor Leland Price faces Scott Green, an attorney and former prosecutor in the Aug. 7 election for the Knox County Criminal Court Judge Division III seat being vacated by the retiring Mary Beth Liebowitz. WATE sat down with the two candidates to find out what qualities each candidate would bring to the bench, how they hope the changes in the criminal clerk’s office will impact the courtroom and what quality they believe is most important in being a judge.