James Kevin Pardue, Defendant, was charged via presentment with one count of theft of property valued at $10,000 or more but less than $60,000, and one count of home improvement fraud. After a bench trial, Defendant was found guilty of the lesser included offense of misdemeanor theft in count 1 and home improvement fraud in count 2. Defendant was sentenced to an effective sentence of six years on probation and ordered to pay $50,000 in restitution at the rate of $600 per month as a condition of his probation. Defendant appealed, arguing that the evidence was insufficient to sustain the conviction for home improvement fraud. Defendant does not challenge his conviction for misdemeanor theft. After a review of the record and the parties’ arguments, we agree with Defendant that the evidence is insufficient to support the conviction for home improvement fraud. As a result, Defendant’s conviction for home improvement fraud is reversed and the matter is remanded to the trial court for any further proceedings which may be necessary.

If launching a new firm or “hanging out a shingle” is in your future, the TBA's Law Firm in a Box has resources to help. The materials in “Opening a Firm” section will start you down the right path and make sure vital considerations aren’t overlooked. Content includes checklists and comparison charts for a range of office technology, as well as white papers and best practices to guide this stage of your career. Check out those and other resources here.

This is a dependency and neglect case involving one minor child. Father/Appellant appeals the trial court’s finding that the child was dependent and neglected and the victim of severe child abuse. Discerning no error, we affirm.

The trial court terminated the parental rights of Mother and Father based on the finding of multiple grounds and that termination was in the children’s best interests. The trial court’s finding of a failure to manifest an ability and willingness to assume custody of the children is vacated for lack of sufficient findings of fact. We affirm the remainder of the trial court’s order, including both the finding of four grounds of termination against each parent and the finding that termination is in the children’s best interests.

A federal judge has ruled that a class action lawsuit against Johnson City and its police force can move forward, Tennessee Lookout reports. The suit alleges police took bribes and looked the other way while a serial rapist assaulted scores of women and at least two children. The ruling from U.S. District Judge Travis McDonough opens the door to not only the initial 10 Jane Doe plaintiffs, but potentially hundreds of Johnson City victims who were sexually assaulted over a more than five-year period — from Jan. 1, 2018, to April 25, 2023 — regardless of the perpetrator or whether assaults were reported.

The employee reported injuries to his right arm and shoulder, right leg, back, and hip after falling from a ladder at work. The claim was accepted as compensable, and the parties entered into a settlement agreement based on a compromised medical impairment rating. After the initial compensation period ended, the employee filed a petition for increased benefits because he was no longer working for the employer. Following a compensation hearing, the trial court denied the employee’s claim for increased benefits. The court concluded, in part, that the employee’s subsequent work as an independent contractor at a purported hourly rate higher than his pre-injury rate disqualified him from seeking increased benefits. The trial court further determined that the employee’s termination based on his decision not to receive a mandated COVID-19 vaccine constituted willful misconduct that would disqualify him from receiving increased benefits. The employee has appealed. Upon careful consideration of the record and arguments of counsel, we affirm the trial court’s order and certify it as final.

After almost two decades of working with the Tennessee Bar Association, initially as a contractor and currently as an employee, Technical Systems Administrator Dave Bevis is retiring from the organization. "I have enjoyed working at TBA and wish the organization, and especially the staff, much success going forward," he said. Bevis plans to stay busy building furniture and other items (and keeping all his fingers) as well as working on some technology projects centered around accessibility for people with disabilities. Executive Director Sheree Wright said of his departure, “We are grateful to Dave for all he has done for the TBA, from developing the online CLE system to his patient way of solving our IT problems. We wish him well in this next chapter!” Applications are now being accepted for the position of technical systems administrator. Visit www.tba.org/careers to view the job description and apply.

The Tennessee Court of Appeals has set aside a lower court’s decision that would have kept records related to a Shelby County child’s death from being released to the public, reports the Tennessee Lookout. The Department of Children’s Services (DCS) denied Memphis reporter Stacy Jacobson with WREG-TV access to complete case files as she sought to report on what the agency did or not do to protect a 14-year-old boy before he died from starvation in 2020. The public records lawsuit returns to Davidson County Chancery Court.

State Rep. Robert Stevens, R-Smyrna, has requested a campaign finance audit and investigation into Murfreesboro Mayor Shane McFarland and Smyrna Mayor Mary Esther Reed. According to the Daily News Journal, Stevens wrote the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance a Jan. 25 letter pertaining to a $7,500 donation from McFarland on Nov. 23, 2022, to Tennesseans For Greater Accountability, a political action committee (PAC). The PAC then "on the exact same day" donated $7,500 to the campaign account of Reed. The Registry is scheduled to review the audit request on March 26.