Lawsuits by a car accident victim and a man whose hearing loss allegedly went undiagnosed by doctors for nearly a decade are among three cases Monroe County students will hear Feb. 23 as part of an educational program initiated by the Eastern Section of the Tennessee Court of Appeals.
Judge Sharon G. Lee, will preside over the three-judge panel, which also includes Court of Appeals Judges Charles D. Susano Jr. and D. Michael Swiney. The 250 students and their teachers from Sequoyah High School, Tellico Plains High School and Sweetwater High School will hear oral arguments beginning at 10 a.m. at Sequoyah High School in Madisonville.
“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,” Lee 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, local lawyers will go to the schools the morning of oral argument to brief the students about the appellate process and the cases the Court will be hearing. The lawyers will also be at Sequoyah High School following oral argument to talk to students and answer questions. When the cases are decided by the court, in three to six weeks, copies of the written opinions will be furnished to the students, and law clerks who work for the appellate judges will visit the high schools to answer questions and explain the court’s decisions.
Issues in the cases include a claim by a women seeking to recover uninsured motorist benefits from her insurance company, which refuses to pay because she has already received a worker’s compensation award for her injuries; a claim that a medical center failed to diagnose a man’s hearing loss for nearly a decade; and a dispute over the division of property in a divorce case.
In addition to attending the court session, students and teachers will join the court, local judges, legislators, and attorneys for lunch.