Lawsuits by an elderly widow against her grandson and by a man whose horse and mule drawn wagon slipped off a bridge are among four cases Hamblen County students will hear Oct. 14 as part of an educational program initiated by the Eastern Section of the Tennessee Court of Appeals.
Judge Charles Susano will preside over the three-judge panel, which also includes Court of Appeals Judge Michael Swiney and Special Judge William Inman. The 100 students and their teachers from Morristown Hamblen High Schools East and West will hear oral arguments beginning at 9:30 a.m. in the Chancery Courtroom at the Hamblen County Courthouse in Morristown.
“The CASE Project, which is an acronym for Court of Appeals Affecting Student Education, gives young Tennesseans an opportunity to see first-hand how the court system operates at the appellate level,” Swiney said. “It is designed to educate them about the judicial branch of government in a manner that will interest them because it involves actual cases and real life legal issues.”
As part of the CASE Project, law clerks who work for the appellate judges will go to the schools the week before oral argument to brief the students about the appellate process and the cases they will be hearing. When the cases are decided by the court, in four to six weeks, copies of the written opinions will be furnished to the students. Law clerks also will return to the schools to debrief students and answer questions.
Issues in the cases include a claim by an elderly widow that her grandson breached an oral contract to provide her with life-time care in exchange for her property; a claim that the state negligently designed, approved and maintained a defective road resulting in an automobile accident with severe injuries; a dispute over unpaid invoices; and a suit against Carter County claiming a horse and mule drawn wagon slipped off a bridge because the bridge was defective and dangerous.
Besides attending the court session, students and teachers will join the court, local judges and attorneys for lunch hosted by the Hamblen County Bar Association.