Consumer Advocate Division, v. Tennessee Regulatory Authority; Nashville Gas Company
01A01-9708-BC-00391
Authoring Judge: Judge Ben H. Cantrell

This petition under Rule 12, Tenn. R. App. Proc., to review a rate making order of the Tennessee Regulatory Authority presents a host of procedural and substantive issues. We affirm the agency order.

Charles F. Gaulden, and Wife, Ruth S. Gaulden, v. Robert L. Scruggs, and Wife, Joyce W. Scruggs
01A01-9708-CH-00417
Authoring Judge: Presiding Judge Ben H. Cantrell
Trial Court Judge: Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle

The question in this case is whether a purchaser of mortgaged property, who pays off the mortgage, takes an assignment of the note and deed of trust, and subsequently releases the deed of trust, can then sue the original mortgagee on the note. The Chancery Court of Davidson County dismissed the action. We affirm.

David K. Wachtel, Jr., v. Western Sizzlin Corporation, F/K/A Franchisee Acquisition Cororation, v. David K. Wachtel, Jr. and Restaurant Management Services, Inc.
01A01-9708-CH-00396
Authoring Judge: Judge Ben H. Cantrell
Trial Court Judge: Chancellor Irvin H. Kilcrease, Jr.

This breach of contract case is before us on a Rule 54.02, Tenn. R. Civ. Proc. appeal. The only question for our decision is whether the trial court erred in granting the defendant’s motion for partial summary judgment on the plaintiff’s claim for certain consequential damages arising from the defendant’s breach of contract. We reverse the trial court.

Razorback Marble Mfg. Co., Inc., v. D.D. Roberts Construction Company, Naran P. Patel, Kusum N. Patel, and Heritage Bank
01A01-9709-CH-00512
Authoring Judge: Judge Ben H. Cantrell
Trial Court Judge: Chancellor Alex W. Darnell

In this construction contract dispute, the Chancery Court of Montgomery County granted a judgment plus prejudgment interest to Razorback Marble Manufacturing Company, Inc. On appeal, Roberts Construction Company, Inc. and D. D. Roberts, Individually, raise issues pertaining to the Contractor’s Licensing statutes and the Notice of Non-Payments statute. Razorback insists that it was due a larger judgment and a greater award of prejudgment interest.

W. Hudson Connery, Jr., et al. v. Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corporation, et al., - Concurring
01-A-01-9709-CH-00529
Authoring Judge: Judge Ben H. Cantrell

I concur in Judge Todd’s opinion affirming the grant of summary judgment to the defendants. I write separately simply to emphasize the following points:

First, the bonus plan allowed the plaintiffs to purchase shares of the company at a price below the market price. When the plaintiffs left the company before the shares fully vested, they did not forfeit their investment; they simply lost the difference between what they had invested and the market value of the shares. The difference in the purchase price and the market value is what this controversy is about.

Bennie Day and Karen Day v. City of Decherd, Otis B. Smith, Jr., Mayor, et al. - Concurring
01-A-01-9708-CH-00442
Authoring Judge: Judge Ben H. Cantrell
Trial Court Judge: Judge L. Curtis Smith

Property owners alleged in a petition for common law certiorari that the city of Decherd acted arbitrarily and capriciously in refusing to rezone their property from residential to commercial. The Chancery Court of Franklin County dismissed the petition. We affirm.

In the matter of the estate of Mary Ardelle Gower, Deceased, v. Tyson Robertson, Bessie Lewis, Danny Boggell, Pat Henkel, and Marilyn Whitten
01A01-9710-CH-00605
Authoring Judge: Judge William B. Cain
Trial Court Judge: Chancellor Robert L. Jones

Mary Ardelle Gower died on August 11, 1995 in Wayne County, Tennessee at the age of 73. Her will was offered for probate by William Steven Jones, the executor therein named and the sole beneficiary of the will.

William P. Williams, v. Wanda C. Williams
01A01-9711-CH-00679
Authoring Judge: Judge Ben H. Cantrell
Trial Court Judge: Chancellor C. K. Smith

This is a child support case. The Chancery Court of Wilson County set the mother’s obligation of support at $723.00 per month. The mother appeals and asserts that the evidence preponderates against the trial court’s finding. We affirm the judgment below.

In re: Jason Ryan Stephens, Pamela Renee Stephens, v. James Callaway
01A01-9801-JV-00043
Authoring Judge: Judge William B. Cain
Trial Court Judge: Judge David Loughry

This appeal involves a biological father's obligation to support his thirteen year old son.

Helen S. Rogers v. Thomas E. Watts, Jr., - Concurring
01A01-9603-CV-00120
Authoring Judge: Judge William C. Koch, Jr.
Trial Court Judge: Judge Thomas W. Brothers

This appeal involves another chapter in a lingering, acrimonious dispute between two Nashville lawyers stemming from a failed settlement of a case in federal court. After one of the lawyers abandoned his third-party complaint against the other lawyer for fraudulent misrepresentation, the other lawyer filed a malicious prosecution action in the Circuit Court for Davidson County. When the trial court dismissed the complaint on the ground that it was premature, the prevailing lawyer sought Tenn. R. Civ. P. 11 sanctions against the lawyer whose malicious prosecution claim had been dismissed. The trial court declined to grant sanctions, and the lawyer seeking sanctions has appealed. We have determined that the record supports the trial court’s decision not to award sanctions and, therefore, affirm the trial court’s decision.

Boiler Supply Company, Inc., v. Lunn Real Estate Investments
01A01-9605-CH-00246
Authoring Judge: Judge William C. Koch, Jr.
Trial Court Judge: Chancellor Irvin H. Kilcrease, Jr.

This appeal involves a dispute over the interpretation of a provision allocating the responsibility for paying legal expenses in the event of a default or breach of two leases. The lessee filed suit against the lessor in the Chancery Court for Davidson County seeking a declaration that the leases had expired and requesting its attorney’s fees in accordance with the provisions of the lease agreements. The trial court granted the lessee’s motion for summary judgment and declared that the leases had expired but denied the lessee’s claim for legal expenses. The lessee has appealed. We have determined that the trial court correctly interpreted the lease agreements and, therefore, affirm the summary judgment.

James F. Cook, Jr., D/B/A Cook Properties, v. Consolidated Stores Corp., Belz Investco, L.P., Urco, Inc., Union Realty Co. LTD., and South Plaza Co.
01A01-9605-CH-00245
Authoring Judge: Judge William C. Koch, Jr.
Trial Court Judge: Chancellor Robert S. Brandt

This appeal involves a dispute over a real estate commission on four retail properties in Memphis. After a former client leased these properties, a real estate broker filed suit in the Chancery Court for Davidson County seeking a commission from its former client and the lessors of the four properties. The trial court granted the former client’s motion for summary judgment and, following a bench trial, dismissed the broker’s claims against the four lessors. On this appeal, the broker asserts that the trial court erred by granting his former client’s summary judgment motion and that the evidence preponderates against the trial court’s dismissal of his claims against the four lessors. We have determined that the trial court properly granted the summary judgment motion and that the evidence does not preponderate against the trial court’s judgment in favor of the four lessors.

In the matter of: S.M.L. (DOB 12/26/88), C.B.L. (DOB 4/14/92), D.K.J. (DOB 5/8/93) Children under the age of 18.
07-93-017-CC
Authoring Judge: Presiding Judge Henry F. Todd

C.L.H. has filed a timely Tenn. R. App. P. 39 petition for rehearing and a Tenn. R. App. P. 14 motion to consider post-judgment facts. She asserts that our original opinion filed on June 12, 1998 misapprehends material facts with regard to her more recent self-improvement efforts, and she offers new evidence regarding her educational attainments and the stability of her living environment.

Shelley Sackett v. Hal Roseman
M2002-00587-COA-R9-CV
Authoring Judge: Judge William B. Cain
Trial Court Judge: Muriel Robinson
This interlocutory appeal was brought to determine whether the trial court properly exercised subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to the Uniform Child Custody Joint Enforcement Act (UCCJEA).

Henry Collier vs. Methodist Hosp., et al
02A01-9607-CV-00165
Trial Court Judge: Dick Jerman, Jr.

02A01-9707-CH-00157
02A01-9707-CH-00157
Trial Court Judge: W. Michael Maloan

Bradson Mercantile vs. Joseph Crabtree
02A01-9710-CV-00272

01C01-9702-CR-
01C01-9702-CR-

Guadalupe Mendez vs. State
01C01-9703-CC-00076
Trial Court Judge: James E. Walton

State vs. Elroy Kahanek
01C01-9707-CC-00298
Trial Court Judge: Donald P. Harris

State vs. Dominic Amari
01C01-9703-CR-00077

State vs. Kestner
03C01-9611-CR-00390

State vs. Tanner
03C01-9703-CR-00101

Doris Barnes v. Cigna Insurance Company
02S01-9710-CV-00087
Authoring Judge: John K. Byers, Senior Judge
Trial Court Judge: Hon. Julian P. Guinn,
This workers' compensation appeal has been referred to the Special Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel of the Supreme Court in accordance with Tenn. Code Ann. _ 5-6-225(e)(3) for hearing and reporting to the Supreme Court of findings of fact and conclusions of law. Review of the findings of fact made by the trial court is de novo upon the record of the trial court, accompanied by a presumption of the correctness of the findings, unless the preponderance of the evidence is otherwise. Tenn. Code Ann. _ 5-6-225(e)(2); Stone v. City of McMinnville, 896 S.W.2d 548, 55 (Tenn. 1995). The application of this standard requires this Court to weigh in more depth the factual findings and conclusions of the trial court in a workers' compensation case. See Corcoran v. Foster Auto GMC, Inc., 746 S.W.2d 452, 456 (Tenn. 1988). The trial court held the plaintiff had sustained a 4 percent permanent partial disability to the right arm1 and a 3 percent permanent partial disability to the left arm as a result of a gradually occurring injury which arose in the course of and in the scope of her employment with Martin Marietta Ordnance Systems, Inc. ("Martin Marietta"). The defendant, Cigna Insurance Company, appeals and raises the following issue about the award to the left arm: "1) Whether the trial court's award of 3% permanent partial disability to the left upper extremity was contrary to the weight of the evidence given the 6.35% anatomical impairment awarded by the evaluating physician and the zero percent (%) anatomical impairment awarded by the treating physician?" We find the award of 3 percent to the plaintiff's left arm was not contrary to the weight of the evidence and affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Dianna Skelton v. Robert Shaw Controls
01S01-9710-CC-00229
Authoring Judge: William H. Inman, Senior Judge
Trial Court Judge: Hon. J. O. Bond,
This workers' compensation appeal has been referred to the Special Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel of the Supreme Court in accordance with Tenn. Code Ann. _ 5-6-225(e)(3) for hearing and reporting to the Supreme Court of findings of fact and conclusions of law. The trial court awarded Dianna Skelton ["employee"] workers' compensation benefits based on one-hundred percent permanent, total disability. Robertshaw Controls Company ["employer"] appeals, challenging the extent of employee's disability, the admissibility of the opinion of a clinical psychologist as to permanency of employee's disability, and the failure of the trial court to apply the multiplier caps set forth in T.C.A. _ 5-6-241(a)(1). For the reasons herein stated, we modify the award to find 6 percent permanent vocational disability and, as modified, affirm the judgment of the trial court. I Mrs. Skelton had been employed as a factory laborer at Robertshaw for six years when, on September 4, 1992, she sustained a work-related injury to her lower back while lifting parts weighing about 3 pounds and placing them in an overhead bin. She timely reported the injury to Robertshaw and saw Dr. Bowden Smith, an approved physician, for treatment. Dr. Smith gave her epidural steroid blocks and heat treatments and took her off work for 2-1/2 weeks, then ordered lighter work in the Transition Room from September 22, 1992 until October 6, 1992, when she was released to return to full work. She continued to experience back pain, complained to Robertshaw, and then saw another approved physician, Dr. Larry Laughlin, who ordered X-rays and prescribed physical therapy. She continued to complain of pain. On November 2, 1992, she saw Dr. Robert Weiss, neurosurgeon, also an approved 2