Moody Realty Company, Inc. v. Ronald L. Huestis, et al.
This is a breach of contract action for the recovery of a real estate brokerage commission. The trial court found that the parties did not enter into a binding buyer’s representation agreement because there was no meeting of the minds. Instead, the court awarded the plaintiff real estate broker damages in quantum meruit. On appeal, we find that the parties mutually assented to the terms of the buyer’s representation agreement and that the broker was entitled to its commission as stated in the contract. We vacate the award of damages in quantum meruit, affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand for entry of judgment in accordance with the contract. |
Weakley | Court of Appeals | |
City of Memphis v. The Civil Service Commission of the City of Memphis, et al.
This administrative appeal arises out of the termination of Officers Mauricio Hearns’s (Officer Hearns), Henry Gray, Jr.’s (Officer Gray), Dorian Branch’s (Officer Branch), and Derick Jones’s (Officer Jones) (collectively “the officers”) employment with the City of Memphis Police Department (the Department) following their purchases of stolen Samsung televisions and digital video disc (DVD) players for their personal use. The Department terminated the officers’ employment after finding a violation of DR-104 Personal Conduct. The Civil Service Commission of the City of Memphis (the Commission) ruled that the termination was unreasonable disciplinary action and reversed the City’s decision. The City appealed to Shelby County Chancery Court, where the chancellor reversed the Commission’s decision, finding it to be arbitrary and capricious. We hold that the Commission’s decision was unsupported by substantial and material evidence and therefore arbitrary. We affirm. |
Shelby | Court of Appeals | |
Patrice Allen, et al. v. Methodist Healthcare Memphis Hospitals, et al.
This is a medical malpractice action in which the jury found in favor of Defendant hospital. Plaintiff |
Shelby | Court of Appeals | |
Frank H. McNiel v. Susan R. Cooper
This appeal involves the authority of the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners to review the medical records of a physician’s patients. After the Board requested access to his patients’ records in accordance with Tenn. Code Ann. § 63-1-117 (2004), the physician filed a declaratory judgment action in the Chancery Court for Davidson County challenging the constitutionality of the statute. The physician asserted that the statutory procedure for gaining access to medical records amounted to an unreasonable search and seizure because it failed to provide him with pre-enforcement judicial review of the reasonableness of the Board’s request. He also claimed that the statute’s notice provisions violated due process. Both the physician and the Board filed motions for summary judgment. The trial court concluded that the physician received adequate notice of the purpose of the request for medical records. It also determined that Tenn. Code Ann. § 63-1-117(a)(3), the portion of the statute authorizing disciplinary sanctions against physicians who willfully fail to produce requested records, was unconstitutional and awarded the physician $20,916 in attorney’s fees. The Board perfected this appeal. We concur with the trial court’s conclusion that the physician received adequate notice of the reasons for the request for medical records. However, we have determined that physicians in Tennessee have no reasonable expectation that they can shield their patients’ records from the Board’s regulatory oversight and that the Board may discipline physicians who willfully refuse to comply with lawful requests for patient records that comply with Tenn. Code Ann. § 63-1-117. |
Davidson | Court of Appeals | |
Ryder Integrated Logistics, Inc. v. Edwin Jason Aldrich, et al.
Trial court dismissed action by worker’s compensation lienholder against employee’s attorney seeking to hold employee’s Tennessee attorney liable for disbursement of proceeds from third party settlement made by another out-of-state attorney. We affirm. |
Montgomery | Court of Appeals | |
Antwan Anglin v. Sgt Leroy Turner, Warden, et al
Prisoner filed Petition for a writ of certiorari. The Trial Court refused to issue the writ. We affirm. |
Morgan | Court of Appeals | |
Intermodal Cartage Co, Inc. v Timothy Cherry, et al.
This case concerns an employment agreement entered into by employees of a company. The employment agreement contained provisions against solicitation and competition. Four employees who signed the agreement later left the company and went to work for one of its main competitors. The company leveled numerous allegations against the four employees and their new employer, including breach of the employment agreement, breach of duty of loyalty, unlawful inducement of breach of contract, and tortious interference with contractual relations and business relations. The trial court granted summary judgments in favor of the four employees and their new employer. The judgment of the trial court is reversed and the case remanded for further proceedings. |
Davidson | Court of Appeals | |
E.J. Bernard, et al. v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County
Two former police officers sought several tangible benefits of retirement guaranteed by Metro ordinances and police department policies. The officers requested such benefits and were denied, the Deputy Chief of Police citing a lack of good standing, as required by the ordinances, as the reason. The officers filed a declaratory judgment action. Metro filed a motion to dismiss asserting that a common law writ of certiorari should have been filed instead. The trial court granted the motion to dismiss. We reverse and remand. |
Davidson | Court of Appeals | |
Robert W. Bible, D/B/A Chalet Village Chalets v. Ted Mullikin, et al.
Robert W. Bible d/b/a Chalet Village Chalets (“Plaintiff”) sued Ted Mullikin and Ted Mullikin d/b/a Mountain Rentals of Gatlinburg (“Defendant”) alleging, in part, that Defendant was in breach of a contract for the sale by Plaintiff to Defendant of Plaintiff’s chalet rental business. The case was triedwithout a jury, and the Trial Court granted Plaintiff a judgment against Defendant for $21,931.35. Defendant appeals to this Court. We affirm. |
Sevier | Court of Appeals | |
Federated Rural Electric Insurance Exchange, et al. v. William R. Hill, et al.
Employer and its insurer filed suit against employee for fraud in the procurement of workers' compensation benefits. Employee and his wife filed a counter-complaint alleging intentional infliction of emotional distress. retaliatory discharge and loss of consortium. The trial court dismissed the counter-complaint for failure to state a claim. Employee sought to amend the counter-complaint to add procurement of breach of employment contract and a tortious interference claim against the insurer. The trial court also denied these claims. Employee and his wife appeal. We reverse in part, affirm in part, and remand. |
Davidson | Court of Appeals | |
State of Tennessee, Ex Rel., LaJaunta McNeil Dauda v. Corry Jamal Harris
This is a Title IV-D child support case. The Appellant State of Tennessee ex rel. LaJuanta McNeil Dauda was granted an order legitimizing the minor child and setting Appellee/Father’s child support obligation going forward. Appellee/Father filed a petition to set aside paternity, which was denied. Appellee/Father’s child support arrears were determined and, thereafter, the child’s mother sought to have Appellee/Father’s support obligation suspended and any arrears forgiven. The trial court granted the motion and the State appeals. We reverse and remand. |
Shelby | Court of Appeals | |
David Prewitt v. Semmes-Murphey Clinic, P.C., et al.
The plaintiff was rendered a quadriplegic after a car accident, and he received care at The Regional Medical Center at Memphis. The hospital staff included University of Tennessee School of Medicine residents, private physicians who were dual employees of a private corporation and the University of Tennessee as part of its residency training program, and nurses employed by another private corporation. The dual employee physicians treated patients independently in their capacity as employees of the private corporation and supervised resident physicians in their capacity as |
Shelby | Court of Appeals | |
In Re: Estate of Paul Harris Nelson, et al.
This is an action in conversion, fraud, and breach of fiduciary duty instituted by will beneficiaries against the decedent’s sister, who was also the Executrix of his estate. The threshold issue involves subject matter jurisdiction for this appeal. Although a recent amendment to the Tennessee Code would place appellate jurisdiction for this case in the trial court, we hold that a more specific, prior private act conferring appellate jurisdiction on this Court controls. The second, and pivotal, issue in this dispute involves the ownership of four certificates of deposit (CD) that were purchased by Mr. Paul Harris Nelson (Mr. Nelson), the decedent, and that were later claimed and cashed by Ms. Margie Little (Ms. Little), the Defendant/Appellee, just prior to the opening of the estate. The Estate of Mr. Nelson (the Estate) appeals the lower court’s ruling that Ms. Little owned the CDs at the time of Mr. Nelson’s death because the siblings held the CDs jointly with a right of survivorship. Thus, the Estate also appeals the court’s findings of no conversion, fraud, or breach of fiduciary duty by Ms. Little with respect to the CDs. We affirm. |
Madison | Court of Appeals | |
In Re Adoption of Jordan S. Hayes (D.O.B. 01/10/99)
This is an adoption case involving a child support arrearage. By consent of the biological father, the trial court entered an order terminating the father’s parental rights and permitting the husband of the biological mother to adopt the child. The order further stated that the biological father had satisfied all child support obligations. The State intervened in the action and filed a motion to alter or amend the order to include a provision stating that the father still owed child support. At a hearing, the mother stated that she had no desire to collect any child support arrearages from the father. In light of this, the trial court amended its order to reflect that the biological father owed the State a reduced child support arrearage, but owed nothing to the mother. The State now appeals, arguing that the trial court’s order constituted an impermissible retroactive modification of the original child support order. We modify the order, finding that the trial court’s order was, in fact, a retroactive modification of a valid child support order. |
Weakley | Court of Appeals | |
Cedric L. Coppage v. Veronica Y. Green
This is a petition to set aside an order establishing parentage. The child at issue was born in 1990. In 1997, the juvenile court entered an order establishing the petitioner as the child’s father. Eight years later, the petitioner took an independent DNA test which indicated that he was not the child’s biological father. The petitioner then filed a petition to disestablish his parentage of the child, attaching the results of the independent DNA test to his petition. After a hearing, the juvenile court referee recommended court-approved DNA testing to prove or disprove the petitioner’s parentage. This recommendation was confirmed by the juvenile court judge. The respondent mother filed a motion for a rehearing before the juvenile court judge. The motion was granted. After a rehearing, the juvenile court judge dismissed the petitioner’s petition for court-ordered DNA testing to determine parentage. The petitioner now appeals. We reverse, determining that relief should be granted under these circumstances, and remand to the trial court for further proceedings. |
Shelby | Court of Appeals | |
State of Tennessee ex rel., Elizabeth Wray v. Kelly Collins
This appeal involves a series of cases – a paternity action, a dependency and neglect proceeding, and the present case, a petition to establish paternity and set child support. The first paternity suit had been dismissed by the mother after genetic testing had taken place, but before the court entered an order of parentage. During subsequent dependency and neglect proceedings, a grandmother had received temporary custody of the child. Finally, the State of Tennessee filed this case on the grandmother’s behalf to establish paternity and collect child support from the child’s biological father. The father insisted that he had never been properly served in the dependency and neglect proceeding, so the trial court dismissed the State’s petition. For the following reasons, we reverse and remand. |
Gibson | Court of Appeals | |
Linus Thornton v. James A. Massey,
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Hardin | Court of Appeals | |
M. Eileen Lingle v. Fortis Health Insurance Company
The Trial Court granted defendant summary judgment on the ground that the medical bills incurred by plaintiff were excluded from coverage under the health insurance provided by defendant. On appeal, we vacate the summary judgment and remand. |
Hamilton | Court of Appeals | |
Helen L. Bates v. James G. Neeley, Commissioner of The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, et al.
A former employee of the Highland Youth Center appeals the denial of her claim for unemployment benefits. The employee was subjected to a severe assault while at work at the youth center. She attempted to return to work after the incident but was unable to remain at work due to the severe psychological trauma associated with the assault at the workplace. She filed a claim for unemployment benefits, which was denied by the Department of Labor, the Appeals Tribunal, and the Board of Review on the ground she did not have “good cause” to terminate her employment. The Chancery Court affirmed the denial of benefits, and this appeal followed. We reverse finding the employee had good cause for terminating her employment at the Highland Youth Center. |
Lewis | Court of Appeals | |
Frank H. McNiel v. Susan R. Cooper
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Davidson | Court of Appeals | |
Ronald Ray Stoner v. Tiffany Denise Stoner Morgan
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Sumner | Court of Appeals | |
City of Memphis v. The Civil Service Commission, et al.
This administrative appeal arises out of the termination of Officer Lenora Armstead’s (Officer Armstead) employment with the Memphis Police Department (the Department). The City took this action as a result of a public altercation between Officer Armstead and another off-duty police |
Shelby | Court of Appeals | |
Martin Moreno v. Jose Servando Ruiz, et al.
A small contractor entered into an oral agreement to install brick facades on new houses in a Mt. Juliet subdivision. He did brickwork on eleven houses pursuant to the agreement, and was paid in cash for the work on an irregular basis. Because he believed the other party to the agreement did not pay him in full, he walked off the job and brought suit for breach of contract. A bench trial in Circuit Court ultimately resulted in a net judgment for the plaintiff in the amount of $397.50. He argued on appeal that the evidence showed that he was entitled to receive over $10,000 on his claim. We affirm the trial court. |
Davidson | Court of Appeals | |
Victoria Hinkle v. The Estate of Jack Lyle Hartman, et al
At the time the deceased and plaintiff divorced, the deceased agreed to maintain the plaintiff as beneficiary of his life insurance policy with his employer. He subsequently left the employer, but returned to the employer and was issued another policy of life insurance on being re-employed, but made his then wife and his two children beneficiaries of that policy. Upon his death, plaintiff sued to enforce the terms of the Marital Dissolution Agreement, but the Trial Court refused and dismissed plaintiff’s action. On appeal, we hold that plaintiff is entitled to benefits under the second policy to the extent of the benefits agreed to under the terms of the first policy. |
Blount | Court of Appeals | |
Frank Shipp v. Ditch Witch Equipment of Tennessee, Inc.
This is a breach of contract case. The defendant equipment company sells and leases underground construction equipment. The plaintiff worked for the defendant company as an outside salesman with a sales territory. The plaintiff salesman operated under a verbal employment agreement and was paid a minimum weekly salary plus commissions. During his employment, the plaintiff actively marketed equipment to a customer in his sales territory, and the customer ultimately signed a lease for several pieces of equipment. Soon after the lease was executed, the plaintiff quit working for the defendant. Subsequently, he sought his commissions due on the lease. The defendant equipment company refused to pay the commissions, claiming that the plaintiff salesman was not due any commissions on the lease because he quit work before the customer made any payments on the lease. The plaintiff filed the instant lawsuit for the commissions. After a bench trial, the trial court held that the plaintiff was entitled to commissions on the lease, but only with respect to one of the pieces of leased equipment. The plaintiff now appeals, arguing that he is entitled to commissions on two other pieces of equipment. We reverse, finding that the evidence preponderates in favor of a finding that the plaintiff was entitled to commissions for all three pieces of equipment. |
Rutherford | Court of Appeals |
