Ludmilla Lambright, et al., v. National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
All parties sought declaratory judgment as to whether or not driver Michael George Eberly was an omnibus insured under the permissive user provisions of his employer's policy of insurance at the time of the accident in issue. The Chancellor in non-jury trial found that Eberly had only engaged in a "minor deviation" from employer restrictions on his permissive use of the vehicle, and required National Union Fire Insurance Company to protect Eberly as an omnibus insured under the policy. We reverse the action of the trial court. |
Montgomery | Court of Appeals | |
Eddie Pugh v. State of Tennessee
In 2003, a prisoner in the custody of the Tennessee Department of Correction filed a claim in the Tennessee Claims Commission against the State of Tennessee for medical malpractice. In 2001, the prisoner underwent surgery to install a colostomy due to the alleged negligence of the prison medical staff in improperly diagnosing his condition. The Commissioner granted the State’s motion for summary judgment, finding the statute of limitations barred the prisoner’s claim. Since the prisoner was aware that the State’s negligence caused his injury at the time of his surgery, the discovery rule does not toll the running of the applicable statute of limitations. We affirm. |
Court of Appeals | ||
Alica Fay Smiley, et al., v. Robert Steven Smiley, et al.
Husband appeals a trial court judgment awarding permanent alimony to the Wife, asserting in the appeal that the evidence preponderates against the judgment of the trial court. We affirm the action of the trial court. |
Davidson | Court of Appeals | |
Neeraj Chopra v. U.S. Professionals, L.L.C., et al.
Defendants U. S. Professionals, LLC and Satya B. Shaw and Rajashree S. Shaw, individually, appeal the judgment of the trial court awarding Plaintiff Neeraj Chopra compensatory and punitive damages for breach of contract and intentional misrepresentation. We affirm. |
Shelby | Court of Appeals | |
Sweetwater Hospital Association v. Anita Carter Carpenter
Sweetwater Hospital Association ("the Hospital") entered into a contract with its then-employee, Anita Houser Carpenter ("the defendant"), by the terms of which the Hospital agreed to provide tuition assistance to enable the defendant to attend school. The contract further provides that if the defendant works for the Hospital for a period of five years following the completion of her studies, her loan would be forgiven. At the conclusion of a course of studies to become a nurse anesthetist, the defendant sought employment elsewhere because it appeared to her that there were no nurse anesthetist positions available at the Hospital. The Hospital brought this action for breach of contract, seeking repayment for the monies furnished to the defendant under the contract. The defendant responded that the Hospital breached the contract by failing to offer her a position as a nurse anesthetist. Following a bench trial, the trial court entered a judgment for the Hospital. The defendant appeals. We affirm. |
Monroe | Court of Appeals | |
Lillian Clayton Salvatore, Guardian of Lois G. Clayton, et al., v. Frederick Paul Clayton, Jr., Conservator for Lois G. Clayton, et al.
This appeal involves a dispute over the conservatorship of an elderly woman suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease. The woman’s son moved his mother to Tennessee against the wishes of his stepsister who had been appointed guardian in Florida, and filed an action in the Rutherford County Probate Court to be named conservator. The stepdaughter objected to her stepbrother’s petition and demanded an accounting of her stepmother’s property. The probate court dismissed the son’s petition and ordered an accounting. The son asserts on this appeal that the probate court had jurisdiction over his petition. We have determined that the probate court properly dismissed the son’s petition for the appointment of a conservator and properly ordered the son to account for his use of his mother’s assets. |
Rutherford | Court of Appeals | |
Wilma Jean Huggins v. Theron Eugene Huggins
This appeal involves a civil contempt sanction against a former husband for failing to make payments required by the parties' marital dissolution agreement. The former wife filed a petition in the Circuit Court for Williamson County seeking to hold her former husband in either criminal or civil contempt. Following a hearing, the trial court awarded the former wife a $26,378 judgment for the arrearage and a $2,000 judgment for attorney's fees. The trial court also found the former husband to be in civil contempt and ordered him incarcerated for six months or until he made the payments required by the martial dissolution agreement. The former husband appealed. We affirm the portions of the judgment awarding the former wife $28,378; however, we vacate the civil contempt judgment against the former husband because the trial court failed to make an affirmative finding that he was presently able to meet his financial obligations under the marital dissolution agreement. |
Williamson | Court of Appeals | |
Jennifer Friend Carty McKay v. Dewitt Talmadge McKay, III
Appellant appeals from the trial court’s order imposing Tenn. R. Civ. P. 37 sanctions, which includes dismissal with prejudice of Appellant’s post-divorce “Motion for Rehearing of Child Support” and “Petition to Modify Custody and/or Visitation.” Finding no evidence on which to conclude that the trial court abused its discretion in applying these sanctions, we affirm the judgment of the trial court, and remand for determination of damages for the filing of a frivolous appeal. |
Shelby | Court of Appeals | |
Town of Cornersville, Tennessee v. Meleathie Harmon, et al.
The Town of Cornersville filed suit against a local business seeking injunctive relief to require compliance with its zoning ordinance. During the pendency of the matter, the trial court found the local business in contempt on three separate occasions for failure to comply with orders of the court requiring compliance with the ordinance. At a hearing on the merits, the trial court found that since the property at issue was within the town limits, it was subject to the zoning ordinance. Furthermore, the court found the business in contempt for failure to comply with its prior orders and thus subject to a fine of fifty dollars ($50.00) per day. The business appeals insisting that part of the subject property is not within the town's zoning jurisdiction, that the trial court exceeded its statutory contempt authority, and that the town is estopped from raising any complaint regarding zoning noncompliance. We agree with the trial court and affirm its judgment. |
Marshall | Court of Appeals | |
Lesley LaPointe Walker v. Kenneth Wayne Walker
This appeal involves a former husband's efforts to avoid paying spousal support. Less than one year after the parties' divorce, the husband filed a petition in the Circuit Court for Davidson County seeking to reduce his spousal support obligation because his income had decreased. He also unilaterally stopped paying spousal support. Following a bench trial, the trial court denied the former husband's petition to modify his support payments based on its conclusion that he was wilfully underemployed. The trial court also found the former husband to be in criminal contempt for wilfully failing to make five spousal support payments. The husband appeals. We affirm the trial court's conclusion that the former husband is wilfully underemployed and two of the five counts of criminal contempt. |
Davidson | Court of Appeals | |
In Re: A.T.S.
Paternal grandparents, the legal guardians of their granddaughter, filed a petition to terminate the mother’s parental rights and to adopt their granddaughter. The child’s father joined in the petition. The trial court found that the mother had abandoned the child by her willful failure to provide financial support; however, the trial court denied the grandparents’ petition based on its finding that termination of the mother’s parental rights was not in the best interest of the child. Grandparents appealed. We affirm. |
Dickson | Court of Appeals | |
In Re: A.T.S. - Concurring
Adhering to my longstanding view that a clear and convincing evidence standard is totally incompatible with a preponderance of the evidence standard both at the trial level and on appeal, I disagree with a portion of majority opinion dealing with such issue. |
Dickson | Court of Appeals | |
State of Tennessee Department of Children's Services v. F.S.B.
The trial court terminated the parental rights of F.S.B. ("Father") with respect to his two minor children, K.L.B. (DOB: September 19, 1997) and S.L.B. (DOB: July 21, 1999). Father appeals, arguing, inter alia, that the evidence preponderates against the trial court's finding, stated to be by clear and convincing evidence, that grounds for termination exist. We affirm. |
Sullivan | Court of Appeals | |
Michael C. Mallen v. American International Group Inc., et al.
We granted the Tenn. R. App. P. 9 application of the AIG defendants to review their claim that an order of the trial court entered December 31, 2003, nunc pro tunc December 22, 2003, pertaining to pre-trial discovery is "overly broad, unduly burdensome, and extraordinarily costly both in terms of human effort and financial expense, and that disclosure of the documents ordered by the trial court would violate the [federal] Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act." We have determined that the AIG defendants' application was improvidently granted. Accordingly, this appeal is dismissed. This case is remanded to the trial court for further proceedings as outlined in this opinion. |
Hamilton | Court of Appeals | |
Joseph Stone v. Tennessee Department of Corrections, et al.
The petition sought judicial review by way of certiorari to review the Warden's action in terminating his wife's visitation for inappropriate behavior. We affirm the dismissal of the petition on grounds of subject matter jurisdiction and failure to state a claim. |
Hickman | Court of Appeals | |
Susan Daugherty v. Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole
The appellant principally alleges that she had a plea agreement with the State that if she pleaded guilty to the charge of vehicular assault, the punishment for which would run consecutively to prior sentences, she would be paroled after serving thirty percent of her sentence, and that the State, in effect, reneged on the agreement. She presented no evidence other than her own assertions of the plea, and her petition was denied. |
Davidson | Court of Appeals | |
Lisa Wyatt Rowan v. Michael Howard Rowan
In this appeal, Appellant Michael Rowan challenges the trial court's grant of a post-divorce contempt petition. Appellee Lisa Rowan challenges the trial court's denial of her attorney's fees in connection with the petition, and seeks frivolous appeal damages in this court. We hold that the language of the parties' marital dissolution agreement is plain and unambiguous, affirm the trial court's grant of the wife's petition, reverse the trial court's refusal to award attorney's fees, and hold the appeal frivolous. |
Davidson | Court of Appeals | |
Kenneth E. Braswell v. Lowe's Home Centers, Inc.
This appeal involves a customer who tripped over a floor mat while waiting in a cashier's line at a home improvement store. The customer filed suit against the store in the Circuit Court for Davidson County, and a jury returned a verdict for the store after determining that the customer was sixty-five percent at fault for his injuries. The customer asserts on this appeal that the evidence does not support the jury's verdict. We affirm the judgment. |
Davidson | Court of Appeals | |
Mary Warren Kesser v. Peter Hale Kesser
Following their divorce in 1995, Wife filed a petition for contempt against Husband in 1997, alleging Husband failed to comply with certain provisions of the parties’ marital dissolution agreement. Husband filed an answer and submitted his counter-petition for modification of his child support obligation based on changed circumstances. Wife, in turn, filed a motion asking the court to determine Husband’s child support obligation following his receipt of a large severance payment from his previous employer. After holding a hearing on the parties’ respective petitions, the trial court entered one order addressing the visitation of the parties’ minor daughter and another order addressing the financial issues. In the order addressing the financial issues, the trial court increased Husband’s base child support obligation, ordered Husband to pay additional child support in various amounts pursuant to the marital dissolution agreement, ordered Husband to pay additional amounts from improperly withheld taxes on the exercise of certain stock appreciation rights, and ordered Husband to pay Wife’s attorney’s fees. For the reasons set forth herein, we affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand to the trial court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. |
Shelby | Court of Appeals | |
Michelle Stalls v. Dorothy J. Pounders, et al.
This case arises out of an action filed by the former client of an attorney, seeking damages pursuant to the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act and theories of breach of contract, fraudulent |
Shelby | Court of Appeals | |
Judy Kesterson v. Bruce Varner
Bruce Varner seeks review of the trial court's dismissal of his Petition to Modify Custody. The trial court dismissed the petition at the close of the petitioner's proof, holding that petitioner had failed to carry his burden of proof that a change of custody was in the best interest of the child. The trial court assessed attorney's fees and costs to the petitioner. We affirm the decision of the trial court. |
Williamson | Court of Appeals | |
In Re K.A.S.
This Tenn. R. App. P. 9 interlocutory appeal concerns a father's efforts to set aside a default judgment granting custody of his daughter to the child's maternal grandparents. The grandparents asserted in their petition for custody that the father's whereabouts were unknown and they therefore served their petition on the father by publication in a Lebanon, Tennessee newspaper. Two and one-half years later, the father filed a motion to set aside the custody order asserting that service by publication was insufficient because the grandparents knew or should have known he was residing in Greensboro, North Carolina at the time they filed their petition for custody. We have determined that the default judgment is void for lack of personal jurisdiction and we thus reverse the trial court's order denying the father's motion to set aside. |
Wilson | Court of Appeals | |
Stevie Caldwell v. Bridgett Collette Caldwell
This appeal involves a lawsuit brought by a prison inmate against his former wife for defamation and failure to properly care for their child including the failure to facilitate visitation. The trial court dismissed the complaint after determining that the inmate's slander claim was barred by the statute of limitations and that the remainder of the complaint failed to state a claim for which relief could be granted. We affirm the judgment. |
White | Court of Appeals | |
State of Tennessee, ex rel. Moore & Associates, Inc., v. Lon F. West
This case involves judicial review of a zoning administrator's refusal to issue a certificate of compliance with all zoning laws to a newly-constructed hotel. We reverse the trial court's denial of the local government's motion to dismiss because such review is appropriate under the common law writ of certiorari, not a direct action for declaratory judgment, and the hotel owners failed to meet the exhaustion requirements prerequisite to certiorari review.
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Davidson | Court of Appeals | |
In the Matter of: E.H. State of Tennessee, Department of Children's Services v. Kenneth Harazak
This involves the termination of parental rights. The child at issue was taken into protective custody after police raided the parents’ home and found an active methamphetamine lab. Drug charges were filed against the child’s mother and father. The father was on parole from a prior murder conviction in Illinois, and his drug-related activities were a violation of his parole. As a result, the father was returned to Illinois to serve further time in prison on the prior murder conviction. The mother’s parental rights were terminated by default judgment. The father’s parental rights were terminated based on having the child in the home with a meth lab, and the father’s resulting incarceration in Illinois. The father appealed, arguing that the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services did not make reasonable efforts to reunite him with his child. We affirm, finding that under the circumstances of this case, the Department of Children’s Services was not required to make reasonable efforts to reunite the father with the child. |
Henry | Court of Appeals |
