Roy S. Lawrence, et al. v. HCA Health Services of Tennessee, Inc. d/b/a Summit Medical Center; and Holladay Property Services, Inc.
Plaintiffs, husband and wife, filed this premises liability action for personal injuries sustained by the elderly husband who was injured when automatic doors at the entrance to a medical office building struck him causing him to fall. In the premises liability action that followed, Plaintiffs alleged that the major tenant of the office building and the property management company failed to exercise the required due care in the maintenance, inspection, and repair of the doors and/or to properly warn Plaintiffs of the dangers existing at the office building. The trial court summarily dismissed the claims against both defendants. We have determined the major tenant owed no duty to Plaintiffs and thus was entitled to summary judgment. We have also determined that the property management company did not create the alleged dangerous or defective condition, and it did not have actual or constructive knowledge that a dangerous or defective condition existed. Accordingly, we affirm. |
Davidson | Court of Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Deonta Baskin
The defendant, Deonta Baskin, was convicted by a Shelby County jury of attempted first degree murder, a Class A felony, and aggravated assault, a Class C felony, for shooting a man in the hip following an altercation. The trial court merged the aggravated assault conviction into the attempted murder conviction and sentenced the defendant as a Range I offender to twenty-four years in the Department of Correction. On appeal, the defendant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence in support of his attempted murder conviction, arguing that the State failed to present sufficient proof that the shooting was premeditated. Following our review, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Samuel McAlister
The defendant, Samuel McAlister, pled guilty in case number 05-228 to two counts of sale or delivery of cocaine, Class C felonies, and one count of sale or delivery of more than .5 gram of cocaine, a Class B felony. In case number 05-493, the defendant pled guilty to an additional count of sale or delivery of more than .5 gram of cocaine, one count of possession of drug paraphernalia, a Class A misdemeanor, and one count of possession of a weapon with intent to employ it in an offense, a Class E felony. In exchange for his guilty pleas, the defendant received an effective sentence of eight years to be served under community corrections supervision. The trial court subsequently revoked the community corrections sentences and resentenced the defendant to an effective sentence of twelve years in the custody of the Department of Correction. In this appeal as of right, the defendant contends that the Madison County Circuit Court imposed an excessive sentence. Following our review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. |
Madison | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Billy Anderson v. Westfield Group
This workers’ compensation appeal involves an employer’s liability for medical benefits stemming from injuries that occurred subsequent to an original compensable injury. Following a 2001 work-related injury to his elbow, the employee and his employer settled the employee’s claim for workers’ compensation benefits. The settlement obligated the employer to pay future medical bills resulting from the elbow injury. Shortly after undergoing corrective surgery on the injured elbow in 2004, the employee burned his hand while cooking at home. While recuperating from the burn to his hand, he suffered additional injuries to his hand in a fall near his sister’s home. The employee filed a petition seeking to recover medical expenses for these two injuries to his hand on the basis that the medical expenses associated with these injuries were the direct and natural consequence of the original work-related injury to his elbow. The trial court found that the medical expenses sought by the employee were the result of intervening causes, namely the employee’s own negligence, and denied the petition. The Special Workers’ Compensation Appeals Panel reversed, finding that the subsequent injuries were the direct and natural consequence of the original compensable injury and that there were no intervening causes. Upon review of the record and applicable law, we hold that the injuries to the employee’s hand were due to his own negligence, and therefore, the employer is not required to pay the medical bills associated with those injuries. Accordingly, we reverse the Panel’s decision and affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Anderson | Workers Compensation Panel | |
Rodolfo Castro v. Peace Officer Standards And Training Commission, et al.
The Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission (“POST Commission”) decertified an officer previously given preliminary certification pending a background check based upon a plea of guilty and nolo contendere to felonies that were entered and set aside in California decades ago. In decertifying the officer, the POST Commission relied upon the position that it had no discretion under its own rules, and that decertification was required. The Chancery Court reversed the POST Commission for failing to give full faith and credit to the California judgment. We hold that the POST Commission failed to adopt criteria for exceptions and waivers as required by Tenn. Code Ann. § 38-8-106. For reasons other than those used by the trial court, we affirm the judgment of the trial court, but modify the judgment to vacate the POST Commission’s decision to decertify and remand the matter to the POST Commission to reconsider the officer’s decertification in accordance with statutory directives. |
Davidson | Court of Appeals | |
Smith County Regional Planning Commission v. Hiwassee Village Mobile Home Park, LLC
County regional planning commission brought suit seeking civil penalties and injunctive relief against a mobile home park alleged to be in violation of a private act regulating mobile home parks in the county. The trial court found that the mobile home park was not protected by a grandfather provision and ordered injunctive relief to bring the mobile home park into compliance with the private act. We affirm the result reached by the trial court. |
Smith | Court of Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Torian Dillard
The defendant, Torian Dillard, was convicted of aggravated kidnapping and sentenced to twenty years as a Range II, violent offender. He argues that the trial court erred by allowing the victim to testify with her back to him and by reseating a juror against whom he had exercised a peremptory challenge. He also contends that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction. Following our review, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Tommy Lee Clark
The defendant, Tommy Lee Clark, was convicted of aggravated burglary, a Class C felony; attempted aggravated burglary, a Class D felony; and possession of a deadly weapon other than a firearm with the intent to employ it during the commission of a dangerous offense, a Class E felony. The trial court sentenced him to fifteen years, twelve years, and six years, respectively, and ordered that each sentence run consecutively for an effective sentence of thirty-three years. On appeal, the defendant argues that (1) the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions for aggravated burglary and attempted aggravated burglary because the State presented no proof regarding his intent to commit a theft; (2) the indictment for attempted aggravated burglary was defective because it did not state an essential element of the offense; (3) the trial court erred in holding that a box cutter is a deadly weapon; and (4) the trial court erred in imposing consecutive sentencing. Following our review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court. |
Madison | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Keary Lee Chearis, a/k/a Karry Cheairs and “Rabbit”
The defendant, Keary Lee Chearis, was convicted of five counts of delivery of less than .5 grams of cocaine, a Class C felony, and sentenced as a Range III, persistent offender to twelve years on each count. The trial court imposed partial consecutive sentencing for an effective sentence of twenty-four years. On appeal, the defendant argues that the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions and that the trial court erred in denying his motion to sever the offenses, ruling that the State properly authenticated video recordings offered as evidence, overruling his objection to the prosecutor’s closing argument, enhancing his sentences beyond the statutory minimum, and imposing consecutive sentencing. Following our review, we conclude that it was error to deny the defendant’s motion to sever the offenses, but such error was harmless. We affirm the judgments of the trial court in all other respects. |
Fayette | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Brandon Dailey
The State of Tennessee appeals the sentencing decision of the Maury County Circuit Court. After his probation was revoked, the defendant, Brandon Dailey, entered a plea of guilty to the sale of more than .5 grams of cocaine, a Class B felony. Thereafter, the court sentenced him to ten years imprisonment and ordered that his sentence run concurrently with his prior sentences. On appeal, the state argues that the trial court erred in imposing sentence without considering enhancement and mitigating factors and for failing to state on the record its reasons for the sentence in contravention of procedure established by the Sentencing Reform Act. Upon a full review of the record, arguments of counsel and applicable law, we reverse the judgment of the trial court and remand for a new sentencing hearing consistent with this opinion. |
Maury | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Lela Eva Knight v. Carrier Corporation
This appeal has been referred to the Special Workers’ Compensation Appeals Panel of the Supreme Court in accordance with Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6-225(e)(3) (Supp. 2007) for a hearing and a report of findings of fact and conclusions of law. It involves the attempt of a long-term employee of an air conditioner manufacturer to obtain benefits under the Workers’ Compensation Act for an injury to her foot. She filed a claim seeking workers’ compensation benefits in the Chancery Court for White County. Following a bench trial, the trial court determined that the employee had sustained a compensable injury and that she was entitled to workers’ compensation benefits resulting from a fifty-five percent permanent partial disability to her foot. On this appeal, the employer asserts that the evidence does not support the trial court’s finding that the injury arose out of the course of the employment and that the disability award was excessive. We have determined that the record contains sufficient evidence to support the trial court’s award. |
White | Workers Compensation Panel | |
Kenneth W. Sliger v. Putnam County, Tennessee et al.
This appeal has been referred to the Special Workers’ Compensation Appeals Panel of the Supreme Court in accordance with Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6-225(e)(3) (Supp. 2007) for a hearing and a report of findings of fact and conclusions of law. It involves an employee who returned to work after sustaining a compensable injury but who was unable to continue working after his injury worsened. He filed a petition in accordance with Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6-241(a)(2) (2005) in the Chancery Court for Putnam County seeking reconsideration of his permanent disability. Following a bench trial, the trial court made an award based on a seventy-five percent permanent partial disability to the body as a whole, subject to a credit for the amount of the earlier settlement. The employer asserts on this appeal that the trial court erred by exceeding the cap of six times the impairment in the absence of expert proof regarding whether the employee has reasonably transferable job skills. Because we have determined that Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6-242 (2005) requires expert proof on this issue, we vacate the judgment and remand the case for further proceedings. |
Putnam | Workers Compensation Panel | |
Clarence Wheeler v. Hennessy Industries
This appeal has been referred to the Special Workers’ Compensation Appeals Panel of the Supreme Court in accordance with Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6-225(e)(3) (Supp. 2007) for a hearing and a report of findings of fact and conclusions of law. It involves an employee with a pre-existing medical condition who sustained a work-related injury. The employer terminated the employee after he failed to report for work or call in after he had been released to return to work without conditions. Following a bench trial, the Circuit Court for Davidson County found that the employee had sustained a work-related injury that had aggravated a pre-existing condition. The trial court also determined that the employee had not made a meaningful return to work and, therefore, that the cap on benefits in Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6-241(a)(1) (2005) did not apply. The trial court also determined that the employee was one hundred percent permanently partially disabled. The employer has appealed. While we affirm the trial court’s finding that the employee sustained a compensable injury, we vacate the finding that the employee had not had a meaningful return to work and that the employee was one hundred percent permanently partially disabled. Accordingly, we remand the case to the trial court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. |
Davidson | Workers Compensation Panel | |
Mark Willett v. United Parcel Service
This appeal has been referred to the Special Workers’ Compensation Appeals Panel of the Supreme Court in accordance with Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6-225(e)(3) (Supp. 2007) for a hearing and a report of findings of fact and conclusions of law. It involves a delivery driver who asserts that he sustained two work-related back injuries in 1999. Following surgery in 2002, the delivery driver’s surgeon assigned him a twenty-eight percent impairment and opined that the 1999 injuries had exacerbated a pre-existing back condition. The delivery driver later filed a complaint seeking benefits under the Workers’ Compensation Law in the Circuit Court for Davidson County. Following a bench trial, the trial court awarded the delivery driver sixty percent permanent partial disability and temporary total disability from March 2000 to September 2004. The trial court also directed the delivery driver’s employer to pay some of his medical expenses. On this appeal, the employer asserts that the trial court erred (1) by admitting the second deposition of the delivery driver’s surgeon, (2) by finding that the delivery driver had sustained a permanent impairment as a result of his work-related injuries, (3) by awarding the delivery driver temporary total disability benefits, and (4) by requiring it to pay a part of the delivery driver’s medical expenses. For his part, the delivery driver asserts that the trial court erred by failing to award him some of his claimed medical expenses and for declining to impose a bad faith penalty against the employer. We have determined that the award of temporary total disability benefits should be reduced and that the medical expenses awarded by the trial court should be paid directly to the providers rather than in a lump sum to the delivery driver. Therefore, we affirm the judgment as modified by this opinion. |
Davidson | Workers Compensation Panel | |
State of Tennessee v. Glen Andrew Adams
The Defendant, Glen Andrew Adams, was charged with Class C felony manufacture of marijuana. The Defendant applied for pretrial diversion, and the district attorney general denied his request. The trial court reversed, concluding that the district attorney abused his discretion and ordering that the Defendant be placed on pretrial diversion. The State appeals. Following our review of the record, the judgment of the Cocke County Circuit Court ordering the district attorney general to grant the Defendant diversion is reversed. This case is remanded to the trial court for further proceedings. |
Cocke | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Linda Kay Edwards v. Ronald Dell Edwards
After sixteen years of marriage, Linda Kay Edwards (“Wife”) sued Ronald Dell Edwards (“Husband”) for divorce. After the trial, the Trial Court entered an order, inter alia, granting the parties a divorce, distributing the marital property, and ordering Husband to pay Wife transitional alimony in the amount of $2,600 per month for twelve months. Wife appeals raising issues regarding the distribution of marital property and alimony. We modify the Trial Court’s Final Decree to order that Husband is to pay Wife alimony in futuro in the amount of $1,000 per month after the transitional alimony ends, and we affirm as modified. |
Cumberland | Court of Appeals | |
Raymond Belcher v. Stephen Dotson, Warden
The petitioner, Raymond Belcher, appeals the Hardeman County Circuit Court’s summary dismissal of his petition for writ of habeas corpus. The State has filed a motion requesting that this court affirm the lower court’s denial of relief pursuant to Rule 20 of the Rules of the Court of Criminal Appeals. Because the petitioner has failed to establish that his conviction is void or his sentence illegal, we conclude that the State’s motion is well-taken. Accordingly, we affirm the lower court’s summary dismissal of the petition. |
Hardeman | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Mitchell Delashmitt
In this interlocutory appeal pursuant to Rule 9 of the Tennessee Rules of Appellate Procedure, the State challenges the trial court’s suppression of the defendant’s June 23, 2003 statement to police. Because we agree that the defendant’s Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendment rights, as well as certain statutory rights, were violated in the procuring of the statement, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
McMinn | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Devonna Taylor v. Brandicus McKinnie
This appeal involves modification of a parent’s status as primary residential parent. The mother and the father never married, and the mother was the children’s primary residential parent. The father filed a petition to modify, requesting to be named the primary residential parent. As a material change in circumstances, he alleged that the children had been living primarily with him for the past several months. After a hearing, the juvenile court established the father as the primary residential parent, gave the mother alternate parenting time, and set child support payments for the mother. The mother appeals, arguing that she never received proper notice of the father’s petition to modify, that there had been no material change in circumstances, and that the evidence did not support a finding that designating the father as the primary residential parent was in the children’s best interest. We affirm, finding that the mother waived her challenge to the sufficiency of service of process, and that the evidence supports the designation of the father as the primary residential parent. |
Gibson | Court of Appeals | |
State of Tennessee v. Benjamin A. McAlister
The Defendant, Benjamin A. McAlister, pled guilty in the Madison County Circuit Court to simple possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia subject to reservation of a certified question on appeal. The Defendant then applied for and was granted judicial diversion under Tennessee Code Annotated section 40-35-313. On appeal, the Defendant presents the following certified question for our review: whether he voluntarily consented to the search of his residence. As provided by our diversion statute, no judgment of conviction was entered and, as such, we conclude that the Defendant has no appeal as of right. Because this Court lacks jurisdiction to review the appeal, the appeal is dismissed. |
Madison | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Jeanette Tacker v. Michael Davidson
This appeal concerns a contempt proceeding arising from the alleged failure of the appellant to pay child support and other expenses as required by a prior court order. Neither the appellant nor counsel for the appellant appeared at the hearing below held on the issue of his contempt. The trial court found the appellant to be in contempt for nonpayment of his court-ordered obligations; the appellant was also taxed with attorney’s fees for the appellee. Because the trial court failed to find that the appellant possessed the present ability to pay and also failed to find that he was in willful noncompliance with the court’s prior order, we reverse that part of the decision below finding the appellant to be in contempt as well as awarding attorney’s fees, and we remand for further proceedings. We leave undisturbed the trial court’s finding that the appellant was in arrears on his obligations to the appellee. |
Shelby | Court of Appeals | |
Robert T. Hogan v. Illinois Central Railroad Company
Plaintiff failed to comply with the trial court’s discovery order to produce two witnesses for deposition within forty-five days, and Defendant moved to dismiss under Tennessee Rule of Civil Procedure 37.02. Plaintiff appeals, asserting the trial court abused its discretion where there was no evidence of willful or dilatory conduct by Plaintiff. We vacate and remand. |
Shelby | Court of Appeals | |
George A. Johnson v. State of Tennessee
Petitioner, George A. Johnson, was convicted by a Sevier County Jury of rape and statutory rape. As a result, he received an effective sentence of twenty years. Petitioner appealed his convictions and sentence to this Court. See State v. George A. Johnson, No. E2003-02881-CCA-R3-CD, 2005 WL 225025, at *1 (Tenn. Crim. App., at Knoxville, Jan. 31, 2005), perm. app. denied (Tenn. May 2, 2005). Petitioner subsequently sought post-conviction review on the basis of ineffective assistance of counsel. The post-conviction court denied the petition, determining that Petitioner failed to carry the burden required for post-conviction relief. We agree and, therefore, affirm the denial of the post-conviction petition. |
Sevier | Court of Criminal Appeals | |
Joel Davis Moultrie v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company et al.
This workers’ compensation appeal has been referred to the Special Workers’ Compensation Appeals Panel of the Supreme Court in accordance with Tennessee Code Annotated section 50-6-225(e)(3) (Supp. 2007) for a hearing and a report of findings of fact and conclusions of law. After working an evening shift at his job, the employee awoke the next morning with severe back pain. He sought medical treatment through his family physician who referred him to a neurosurgeon. Within a few days, he had surgery to repair bone spurring and degenerative changes in his cervical spine. After the surgery, he informed his supervisor that he believed his job caused his condition. He made a workers’ compensation claim, which his employer denied. The trial court found that his injury was work-related and awarded 50% permanent partial disability to the body as a whole. The employer has appealed, contending that the claim is barred by failure to comply with the notice requirement of the workers’ compensation law, and that the employee did not sustain his burden of proof concerning causation. We affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Obion | Workers Compensation Panel | |
State of Tennessee v. Gerald Sanford
The defendant, Gerald Sanford, appeals his Shelby County Criminal Court conviction on one count of first degree murder. In this appeal, he contends that there was insufficient evidence to convict him of the crime. We affirm the judgment of the trial court. |
Shelby | Court of Criminal Appeals |