State vs. John Farner E1999-00491-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Presiding Judge Joseph M. Tipton
Trial Court Judge: R. Jerry Beck
Sullivan
Court of Criminal Appeals
Raymond Hicks v. Wilbert Vault Company. W1999-00182-WC-R3-CV
Authoring Judge: F. Lloyd Tatum, Senior Judge
Trial Court Judge: Joe C. Morris, Chancellor
This is an appeal by the employer, Wilbert Vault Company, from a judgment awarding worker's compensation benefits to the employee, Raymond Hicks, based upon a finding that the employee sustained 40 percent permanent partial disability to the body as a whole. On this appeal, the defendant/employer presents issues alleging that the trial court erred in finding that the plaintiff/employee sustained any permanent disability as a result of the work-related injury and that the award of 40 percent permanent partial disability to the body as whole was excessive and not supported by a preponderance of the evidence. Upon our de novo review, we find that the award should be based upon permanent partial disability of 30 percent to the body and modify the judgment accordingly.
Madison
Workers Compensation Panel
Jones vs. H.G. Hill Realty Co. M1999-00633-COA-R3-CV
Authoring Judge: Judge William B. Cain
Trial Court Judge: Russell Heldman
Williamson
Court of Appeals
Whiteaker vs. City of Cookeville M1999-00732-COA-R3-CV
Authoring Judge: Judge Ben H. Cantrell
Trial Court Judge: John A. Turnbull
Putnam
Court of Appeals
Newton, et al vs. Ceasar, et al M2000-01117-COA-R10-CV
Authoring Judge: Judge Ben H. Cantrell
Trial Court Judge: Jim T. Hamilton
Lawrence
Court of Appeals
Terry Howard vs. Jack Morgan, et al M2000-00548-COA-R3-CV
Authoring Judge: Presiding Judge Patricia J. Cottrell
Trial Court Judge: Jeffrey S. Bivins
In this case, a prisoner appeals from dismissal of his lawsuit on the basis that the allegation of poverty in his affidavit of indigency was false. Because the record includes a certified copy of the prisoner's trust account statement showing a balance from $1,100 to over $1,200, we affirm.
Hickman
Court of Appeals
William Garrett v. Board of Paroles M2000-00219-COA-R3-CV
Authoring Judge: Judge William C. Koch, Jr.
Trial Court Judge: Ellen Hobbs Lyle
This appeal involves a dispute between a prisoner and the Tennessee Board of Paroles regarding the Board's decision to schedule his next consideration for parole in September 2003. Believing that his current sentence will expire in May 2002, the prisoner filed a petition for common-law writ of certiorari in the Chancery Court for Davidson County asserting that the Board had acted illegally by deferring its next consideration of his parole until after the expiration of his sentence. He also asserted that the Board had misunderstood the evidence presented at his 1998 parole hearing and that the Board improperly denied him parole because of the seriousness of his offense. After the trial court dismissed his petition, Mr. Garrett appealed to this court. We have determined that the prisoner sued the wrong party with regard to the sentence expiration date claim and that his remaining claims do not entitle him to the relief available in a certiorari proceeding. Accordingly, we affirm the trial court's dismissal of the prisoner's petition.
James Arthur Smith v. Sentry Insurance Company W1999-02148-WC-R3-CV
Authoring Judge: William Michael Maloan, Special Judge
Trial Court Judge: Dewey C. Whitenton, Chancellor
This workers' compensation appeal has been referred to the Special Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel of the Supreme Court in accordance with Tennessee Code Annotated _5-6-225(e)(3) for hearing and reporting to the Supreme Court of findings of fact and conclusions of law. The defendant,Sentry Insurance Company (Sentry), insurer for the employer, Kolpack (Kolpack), appeals the judgment of the McNairy Chancery Court awarding the plaintiff, James Arthur Smith (Smith), forty percent (4%) permanent partial disabilityto the right arm and twenty percent (2%) permanent partial disability to the left arm. For the reasons stated in this opinion, we affirm the judgment of the trial court as modified to a single award of thirty percent (3%) permanent partial disability to both arms. Tenn. Code Ann. _ 5-6-225(e) (1999) Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Chancery Court Affirmed as Modified MALOAN, SP. J., in which HOLDER, J., and WEATHERFORD, SR. J., joined. David J. Deming, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Sentry Insurance Company. Lloyd R. Tatum, Henderson, Tennessee, for the appellee, James Arthur Smith. MEMORANDUM OPINION At the time of this trial, Smith was sixty (6) years old. He left school after the fifth (5th) grade to work on the family farm, but he can read and write. Before he retired in January 1997, he worked for Kolpack foreleven (11) years. Smith built refrigerator motors; welded refrigerator bases; and assembled refrigerator bases with an air-driven screwdriver or "airdriver." Smith would hold the airdriver in his right hand and put pressure on it with his left hand. In August or September 1996, Smith began to have problems with the screws twisting off causing his right arm to strike the base of the refrigerator. On one occasion in October 1996, he hit his right arm so hard he thought it was broken. Smith began to have pain, numbness, and loss of grip strength in his right hand. After the October 1996 injury, Smith was pulled off the assembly job in which he used the airdriver. He was then assigned a job where he pulled tape off metal parts with his left hand because he was unable to use his right hand. After a few days, he could not do this job due to numbness, pain, night cramps, and loss of grip strength in his left hand. Smith was transferred to an inspection job and then to a painting job which he did with his left hand. He was only able to work twenty (2) hours a week until he retired in January 1997. Smith testified he did not have any problems with either hand before October 1996. Smith suffers from a pre-existing condition known as peripheral neuropathy, a disease of the peripheral nerves. Beginning in 1991, his feet were cold and numb, and he had problems walking. He smokes cigarettes and drinks six (6) or more beers every day. Smith was treated by Dr. Karl Edward Misulis, a neurologist, who first saw him on November 19, 1996, for back and leg pain. He gave a twenty (2) year history of back and leg pain. An earlier EMG byDr. Jim King disclosed mild carpal tunnel syndrome of the right arm. Dr. Misulis felt Smith had possible spinal stenosis and moderate neuropathy possibly related to his alcohol use. Dr. Misulis explained neuropathy as a degenerative nerve disease with many causes such as diabetes, thyroid problems, vitamin B-12 deficiencies, foliate deficiencies, syphilis, and cancer; but it is "usually not an occupational induced condition." Work activities would increase pain, but would be temporary. When asked if the carpal tunnel syndrome in Smith's right arm was work related, Dr. Misulis replied, "It certainly could be." Dr. Misulis felt the carpal tunnel syndrome was superimposed on the neuropathy which can also cause pain and numbness in his arms. Dr. John Neblett, a neurosurgeon, saw Smith on December 16, 1996, on referral from Dr. Jim King, for right hand pain. Smith gave a history of suffering contusions to the soft tissue of the right hand due to the forceful use of the airdriver. Dr. Neblett felt Smith's right hand problems were not permanent and clinically he did not appear to have carpal tunnel syndrome. He further expressed the opinion that Smith's work had no effect on his peripheral neuropathy. Dr. John Brophy, a neurosurgeon, saw Smith on February 18, 1997, for an evaluation of his peripheral neuropathy. Smith gave a history of right hand pain since October 1996 from using the airdriver and left hand pain since January 1997 from painting. Dr. Brophy's examination was consistent for peripheral neuropathy which, in his opinion, was neither caused by nor advanced by Smith's work. Dr. Robert Barnett, an orthopaedic surgeon, examined Smith for the purpose of an independent medical evaluation on August 11, 1997. Dr. Barnett took a history of pain and weakness in both hands. Dr. Barnett agreed the peripheral neuropathy was not work related, but felt Smith's work at Kolpack aggravated the neuropathy in both arms. Grip strength testing disclosed forty (4) pounds on grip on the left hand and ten (1) pounds on the right hand instead of the expected normal of one hundred (1) pounds from a man Smith's age. Dr. Barnett felt Smith's drinking, smoking, and other health problems could contribute to his neuropathy and assigned a ten percent (1%) permanent impairment to the right arm and a five percent (5%) permanent partial -2-
Smith
Workers Compensation Panel
State vs. Howard Lanier W1999-01146-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge Gary R Wade
Trial Court Judge: J. Steven Stafford
Dyer
Court of Criminal Appeals
State vs. Tony Mabry W1999-01438-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge John Everett Williams
Trial Court Judge: Joseph B. Dailey
Shelby
Court of Criminal Appeals
State vs. John Melson W1999-00523-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge Robert W. Wedemeyer
Trial Court Judge: C. Creed Mcginley
Hardin
Court of Criminal Appeals
State vs. Larry Currie, etc. W1999-01532-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Sr. Judge L. Terry Lafferty
Trial Court Judge: Julian P. Guinn
Henry
Court of Criminal Appeals
State vs. James Echols W1999-02394-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge J. Curwood Witt, Jr.
Trial Court Judge: John Franklin Murchison
Madison
Court of Criminal Appeals
State vs. James Conrad W1999-00650-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge J. Curwood Witt, Jr.
Trial Court Judge: Joseph B. Dailey
State s. Nathaniel Allen E1999-02209-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge Norma McGee Ogle
Trial Court Judge: James Edward Beckner
The appellant, Nathaniel Allen, was convicted by a jury in the Hamblen County Circuit Court of one count of delivery of more than .5 grams of cocaine, a class B felony. The trial court sentenced the appellant to twelve years incarceration in the Tennessee Department of Correction, as a Range I offender, with thirty percent release eligibility and assessed a fine of $ 7,500. The appellant presents the following issues for our review: (1) whether the evidence in this case is sufficient to sustain a verdict of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt; (2) whether the testimony, under oath, of Tonya Acuff was so contradictory as to have been subject to cancellation; (3) whether the court's decision to send items to the jury room in this case was improper to the extent that it included typed transcripts of tapes not offered as evidence; (4) whether it was improper for the court to align one of the tapes introduced into evidence by the State in this case to a particular phrase so that the jury heard that phrase immediately upon turning on the tape recorder; (5) whether sentencing in this case was excessive and whether the court properly applied statutory guidelines in delivering a sentence in this case; (6) whether if, in fact, the trial court had no alternative but to give a twelve-year sentence in this case according to the Tennessee sentencing guidelines, then are those guidelines constitutional both in terms of the United States and Tennessee constitutions. Upon review of the record and the parties' briefs, we affirm the appellant's convictions, but modify his sentence to ten years.
Hamblen
Court of Criminal Appeals
David Bailey vs. State E1999-01320-CCA-R3-PC
Authoring Judge: Judge John Everett Williams
Trial Court Judge: Rex Henry Ogle
