APPELLATE COURT OPINIONS

In this action for malicious prosecution, the Trial Judge granted the defendant summary judgment, and plaintiffs have appealed.

In this action the plaintiff sought extraordinary relief to prevent defendant from nterfering with plaintiff's use of a roadway, and for damages for past interference.

The sole issue in this appeal is whether the trial court abused its discretion in denying the motion filed by Appellant, Eastera Bell Porter, individually and as surviving spouse and next friend of Jasper D. Porter, deceased, under Rule 60 T.R.C.P., to set aside the summary judgments entered in favor of the appellees, Jesse McGee, M.D. and Methodist Hospitals of Memphis (Methodist). After review of the record, we find an absence of abuse by the trial court in this regard and affirm. We set forth our reasons below.

The appellant has filed a Petition to Rehear which we have considered and decline to grant. It is, therefore, ordered that the Petition to Rehear is overruled at the cost of the appellant.

The Metropolitan Nashville Board of Education and the teachers union are attempting to use this case as a vehicle to resolve whether Tenn. Code Ann. § 7-7- 105 (Supp. 1996) permits the board to use administrative law judges in Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-5-512 (1996) hearings concerning the termination of tenured teachers. The court has decided to address this issue on its merits even though the teacher involved in this case is non-tenured and is not entitled to a hearing before the board. I cannot agree that we should decide this question at this time. It would be more appropriate to delay addressing the issue until we are presented with a concrete case or controversy. The doctrine of justiciability prompts the courts to stay their hand in cases that do not involve a genuine and existing controversy requiring the present adjudication of present rights. State ex rel. Lewis v. State, 208 Tenn. 534, 537, 347 S.W.2d 47, 48 (1961); Dockery v. Dockery, 559 S.W.2d 952, 954 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1977). In accordance with the doctrine, our courts routinely decline to render advisory opinions, Super Flea Market of Chattanooga v. Olsen, 677 S.W.2d 449, 451 (Tenn. 1984); Parks v. Alexander, 608 S.W.2d 881, 892 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1980), or to decide abstract legal questions. State ex rel. Lewis v. State, 208 Tenn. at 538, 347 S.W.2d at 48-49.

This is an appeal by defendant/appellant, Nancy W. Adams (“Wife”), from a judgment of the chancery court granting Wife and plaintiff/appellee, David L. Adams (“Husband”), a divorce. Wife claims that the trial court erred in calculating the amount of child support and the amount of rehabilitative alimony and attorney's fees awarded to Wife.

The trial court granted the parties a divorce, and ordered the husband to pay the wife alimony in futuro. The parties were also granted joint custody of the teenage children, with the husband to have primary physical custody. On appeal, the husband challenges the nature and amount of the alimony award, and the trial court’s failure to order the wife to pay child support. We remand this case to enable the trialcourt to make the findings of fact in regard to child support that are required by Tenn. Code Ann. § 36-5-101(e)(1). In all other respects we affirm the trial court.

The medical malpractice and outrageous conduct claims involved in this appeal stem from the hospitalization of an elderly patient for total hip replacement surgery. The patient,1 her two sisters, and her caretaker sued the hospital and its nursing staff in the Circuit Court for Davidson County alleging that their lack of appropriate care caused the patient to enter a vegetative state and caused severe emotional stress to the patient’s sisters and caretaker. The trial court granted the hospital’s motion for summary judgment. We affirm the trial court.