The employee reported suffering several injuries, including to his head and neck, while working for the employer as a package handler. His claim was accepted as compensable and medical benefits were provided. After the authorized physicians treated and released the employee, he suffered one or more strokes, which he attributed to the work accident. After the trial court entered an order denying the employee’s claim for temporary disability and medical benefits, which we affirmed, the employer filed a motion for summary judgment, asserting that the employee had come forward with no expert medical opinion causally relating his strokes and associated medical conditions to the work accident. The trial court then granted the motion for summary judgment and dismissed the petition for benefits related to the employee’s strokes while leaving open his entitlement to future medical benefits related to the work accident. The employee has appealed. Having carefully reviewed the record, we affirm the trial court’s decision and certify the order granting summary judgment as final.

Week of February 5, 2024 - February 9, 2024

Knoxville lawyer Gaither Wilson Horde Jr. died Friday at 97. Horde grew up in Nashville and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, participating in landings at Saipan and Iwo Jima. Following military service, he attended Peabody College and Vanderbilt Law School, receiving his law degree in 1951. Horde began practicing law in Knoxville with Stone, Bozeman, & Horde before serving as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee. He later served as general counsel for Union Carbide Nuclear Division and Lockheed Martin Energy Systems for 33 years. He returned to private practice, joining the law firm of Kramer Rayson, where he retired at the age of 90. From 2011 to 2015, he served on the TBA's House of Delegates. The family will gather at Edgewood Cemetery for a private graveside service on Feb 16. Memorial contributions may be made to the Salvation Army of Knoxville, P.O. Box 669, Knoxville, TN 37901-0669.

Attorney volunteers are needed for an Essential Documents for Essential Workers clinic at Belmont University’s Ministry Center on Feb. 24 from noon to 3:30 p.m. CST. At the clinic, attorney and law student volunteers will draft simple wills and powers of attorney for low income clients. Forms will be provided and no prior estate planning experience needed. To sign up to volunteer and for more information, please contact Ginny Blake at Ginny.Blake@belmont.edu.

A federal judge preliminarily has approved more than $104 million in settlements between major U.S. universities and a proposed class of students, who accused the schools of favoring wealthy applicants for admission, reports Reuters. U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly in Chicago said the students’ previously disclosed agreements with Brown, Columbia, Yale and other schools were reasonable and could move forward. The students’ case is continuing against 10 other schools. The lawsuit, brought in 2022, seeks billions of dollars in damages on behalf of a proposed class of hundreds of thousands of current and former students who accuse the schools of unlawfully considering applicants' financial backgrounds in admission decisions.

A sheriff in Washington County intends to use the department's share of settlement funds from recent opioid lawsuits to address recidivism through social services, the Johnson City Press reports. Sheriff Keith Sexton told the county’s Health, Education and Welfare Committee earlier this month his department intends to provide treatment to inmates dealing with mental health and substance abuse problems following incarceration. “The jails have become the dumping ground for those who are mentally ill, and I would say 90% of the people are addicted to something over in the Detention Center,” Sexton said. “People would come to the jail, and that’s the only time you’re going to see that person when they’re clean and sober.” Tennessee has set up an opioid abatement council to decide how to best spend dollars received from lawsuits related to the opioid crisis. Washington County is set to receive $530,000 in the first round of payments. Shelby County topped the list and is set to receive about $3.6 million in funding.

Kevin G. Ritz, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, recently issued a video message in honor of Black History Month saying this “is a time to reflect on the people who have taken a stand for civil rights in our nation." One of those people, he continues, is “Ida B. Wells … the daughter of formerly enslaved parents, [who] became a leader for racial justice and gender equality here in Memphis. Her contributions help to shape the work my team and I do every day. Please join me in celebrating Black History Month and the countless achievements of Black Americans.”

A webinar regarding the ABA Criminal Justice Section’s Plea Bargain Task Force 2023 is now available on the TBA CLE website. The session features Belmont University College of Law professor Lucian Dervan, co-chair of the task force, along with a panel of current and former state and federal prosecutors and defense attorneys discussing its report and related concerns. Panelists provide insight into the task force’s conclusions about how plea bargaining should operate to uphold every defendant’s fundamental constitutional right to trial. View the webinar here.

TBA's Legislative Updates podcast is back with a new episode. TBA lobbyist Berkley Schwarz and Adams and Reese attorney and TBA lobbyist Ashley Harbin discuss Gov. Bill Lee's State of the State address; HB2710/SB2254, the TBA Conservatorship bill; HB2645, the adoption birth certificate bill; and HB2644, TBA's adoption clean-up bill. Legislative Updates airs each week on the TBA’s Facebook page. It is also released as a podcast on the same day and can be found on the TBA’s website or wherever you listen to podcasts.

The Tennessee House of Representatives last week passed a bill that requires the “safety of the community” be a magistrate’s first consideration in determining whether a defendant is released on bail. According to the Daily Memphian, the bill, HB1642/SB2562, sponsored by House Majority Leader William Lamberth, R-Portland, and Sen. Brent Taylor, R-Memphis, is one of several related to bail under consideration in the General Assembly this session. Present law requires a magistrate to consider several factors in determining bail in order to ensure the defendant’s appearance in court. Those factors include the amount of time they’ve lived in the community, their employment status and financial condition, the severity of the alleged offense and the probability of conviction. “All the other factors will still be considered by the judge or the magistrate, but it makes public safety the first factor,” Lamberth said Thursday. The bill passed by a vote of 80-13, with three abstaining. “The safety of the community is already the priority of the criminal justice system,” said Rep. John Ray Clemmons, D-Nashville. State Rep. Justin J. Pearson, D-Memphis, said that “instead of attacking bail, we need to address the root causes of the problems, such as poverty, the lack of opportunity, gun violence."