I can search the site, but I am not sure what it is showing me.
How can I tell which files are of interest to me?

Searching our site is quite simple, but the result that is displayed can be confusing and intimidating if you do not understand how the site is organized.
You may not know which court heard a case, nor when the case was posted on the internet, and maybe not even the name of either of the parties involved. Of course, if you did, you could simply go to the correct web page listing the opinions and find it there. However, let's assume that all you know is the case concerned petroleum and pollution, it should not take long to have the search engine to find all the files that contained not only the word "pollution", but also, the word "petroleum". You would type the phrase "pollution AND petroleum" in the query field. In a few short seconds, you will be shown a screen resembling the one below.

Please note that at this point if you click on the filename, you will not be selecting a viewable (Adobe) file; you will only be able to download the word processor form of the file. To access the adobe format read the rest of this information about how to navigate to the listing for the file you are seeking.

Now, how do you interpret the result? The result lists not only the filenames (as shown in the picture) that contain your keywords, but also the directory listing for the file. Take a look at the directory listing below the file name. All opinion files are stored in directories that indicate the court the opinion came from and the year and quarter in which it was posted on the internet. In most cases that date is the same as the year and quarter that the case was filed. It is not the same as the date that the case was heard by the court.

The Supreme Court (tsc) is identified above by the listing: http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/opinions/tsc/. . .;
the Court of Appeals (tca), by the listing: http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/opinions/tca/ . . .;
and the Court of Criminal Appeals (tcca), by the listing: http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/opinions/tcca/ . . .

In this case, the file (hallaj.opn) is found in the group of opinions from the Court of Appeals (tca) and was posted on the internet in the 1st quarter of 1996, as indicated by the entry: /tca/961 (961= '96-1st quarter). The next file was posted in the Court of Appeals in the 3rd quarter of 1996, as indicated by the entry: /tca/963 (963= '96-3rd quarter). The 2nd quarter of 2001 would appear as 012, while the 2nd quarter fo 2000 would be 002.

Now if you know the approximate date that the case was filed, you could download the word processor file simply by clicking on the file name (or directory listing) on this page. If you are not sure, you could navigate to the corresponding opinion listing (choosing the correct court, year and quarter) and choose to view the file, in order to determine if it is of any further interest to you.

In the case of the first file you would go to the page that lists the Court of Appeals opinions posted in the first quarter of 1996, find the file listing Hall as a party and then click on View as shown below.

There maybe more than one Hall file listed, so look at the entire file name: hallaj.opn. Most opinion files will be named after the last name of one of the parties, and either the first initial, or part of the first name. Notice that the file for A.J. Hall vs. Federated Mutual Insurance is called: hallaj.opn

Information on downloading and viewing files may be found here