Students from three public and private high schools in Dickson County will hear arguments in two actual Supreme Court cases as participants in a program designed to educate young Tennesseans about the judicial branch of government.
The 223 students and their teachers will attend a special Supreme Court session April 6 at the Dickson County Courthouse Annex in Charlotte in conjunction with the county’s bicentennial celebration. Students will be divided into two groups, with each hearing oral arguments before the Supreme Court in one case. Each group will then meet for question and answer sessions with the attorneys who argued the cases students heard.
“The Dickson County Courthouse, which was constructed in 1831, is the oldest active courthouse in the state of Tennessee,” said Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Thomas Woodall, who is coordinating the SCALES Project. “The Supreme Court sat in Charlotte on a regular basis in the early 1800s, so it is appropriate for the court to return as part of the county’s 200 th birthday celebration.”
Schools participating in SCALES - an acronym for the Supreme Court Advancing Legal Education for Students – are Creek Wood High School, United Christian Academy and Dickson County High School. Teachers whose classes are involved in the project attended a three-hour professional development session where they were given an overview of the cases to be argued at SCALES. They also were provided with notebooks of materials to use in their classrooms, including suggested activities, and SCALES Project handbooks for each student.
"The Tennessee Supreme Court believes that knowledge and understanding of the judicial branch of government are essential to good citizenship,” Chief Justice Frank Drowota said. “The SCALES Project is designed to educate young participants about the system they will inherit. The interaction we have with the students renews our faith that our nation’s future is in good hands.”
Local judges and attorneys also met with participating teachers at the professional development session to schedule classroom visits to review the cases and issues to be considered by the Supreme Court. After justices rule in the cases, copies of the court's opinions will be provided to the classes and posted on the court system website.
"The SCALES Project is important because it creates a partnership between the judiciary, the Bar and schools to promote a better understanding of the judicial branch of government," the chief justice said. "We hope that teachers will use the materials to make judicial education a continuing part of their curriculum."
The two civil cases students will hear in Charlotte are Larry Eugene Benton v. Vanderbilt University and Johnny Phillips v. A&H Construction Co., Inc. The Benton case involves a written contract between Vanderbilt University and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee. The contract contained a provision that Vanderbilt would accept as full payment for specified medical services a percentage of normal charges. The plaintiff in the case, Larry Eugene Benton, was insured by Blue Cross when he was injured in an automobile accident in which the driver of the other vehicle was at fault.
Benton was treated for his injuries at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, which was paid a reduced amount under the Blue Cross contract. The hospital then filed a notice of lien for the difference of $14,800 against any proceeds Benton might recover from the driver responsible for the accident.
Benton, in turn, sued Vanderbilt contending the hospital breached its contract by filing a lien and attempting to collect the portion of its bill not paid by Blue Cross. He filed the suit as a class action, including others insured by Blue Cross and all insurance companies with similar contracts with Vanderbilt.
A trial court denied a motion by Vanderbilt seeking to compel arbitration in the case, finding that Benton was not bound by an arbitration clause in the contract between Vanderbilt and Blue Cross. On appeal, the Court of Appeals reversed the trial court and found that “a third-party beneficiary to a contract who chooses to assert claims under the contract must accept both the benefits and burdens of that contract” and cannot “pick and choose.”
Benton then appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, which granted his application and agreed to decide the case.
The issue in the Phillips case is whether a worker can receive workers compensation when his injury was due to a medically unexplainable loss of consciousness that resulted in an accident. He was seriously injured when he fainted while transporting other workers to job sites and struck a tractor-trailer.
He received seven weeks of total disability benefits, which were then stopped by the company. He sued to obtain additional benefits, including medical expenses, and filed a motion for temporary benefits pending a resolution in his case.
The trial court denied his request for temporary benefits, finding that his injuries did not qualify because the accident resulted from a non-work related loss of consciousness.
When the trial court denied his motion, Phillips filed an appeal to the Supreme Court. In workers compensation cases, appeals may be filed directly to the Supreme Court, bypassing the Court of Appeals.