Opinions

Ila Stephens Bertram v. Charles R. Gernt, Estate of Bruno Gernt, Inc. Champion International Corporation, Hood Coal Company, et. al .
01A01-9609-CH-00435
Authoring Judge: Judge Ben H. Cantrell
Trial Court Judge: Chancellor Billy Joe White

The plaintiff filed suit to establish present title to land in Fentress County that had previously belonged to her family. The Chancery Court dismissed her suit on the ground that she lost whatever interest she had in the land through foreclosure. After examining the record and the briefs of the parties, we find that the trial court did not err in dismissing the suit, and we affirm.

Randall Myers v. Hurst Construction Company, Inc.
01A01-9609-CV-00397

Trial Court Judge: Don R. Ash

The Trial Court and this Court have granted permission to the Hurst Construction Co., Inc., to appeal from an interlocutory order of the Trial Court overruling the motion of Hurst Construction Co., Inc., for summary judgment on grounds of the statute of limitations.

Anthony Lee Eden, v. CherylAnn Eden
01A01-9609-CV-00427
Authoring Judge: Judge Samuel L. Lewis
Trial Court Judge: Judge Muriel Robinson

The Court, with the concurrence of all judges participating in the case, may affirm, reverse or modify the actions of the trial court by memorandum opinion when a formal opinion would have no precedential value. When a case is decided by memorandum opinion, it shall be designated "MEMORANDUM OPINION," shall not be published, and shall not be cited or relied on for any reason in a subsequent unrelated case.
 

Cynthia J. Bowers Logue v. Leaf, Inc. and Aetna Life and Casualty Insurance Company Brown, Jr.
02S01-9603-CH-00030
Authoring Judge: F. Lloyd Tatum, Special Judge
Trial Court Judge: Hon. George H.
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 of findings of fact and conclusions of law.

Gwendolyn Chesney v. Knoxville Glove Co. and Cigna Insurance Co.,
03S01-9602-CV-00014
Authoring Judge: Joe C. Loser, Jr., Special Judge
Trial Court Judge: Hon. Wheeler Rosenbalm,
This workers' compensation appeal has been referred to the Special Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel of the Supreme Court in accordance with Tenn. Code Ann. section 5-6-225(e)(3) for hearing and reporting of findings of fact and conclusions of law. In this appeal, the employee contends the evidence preponderates against the trial court's award of permanent partial disability benefits based on twenty-five percent to the body as a whole and in favor of a higher award. As discussed below, the panel has concluded the award should be modified to provide for benefits based on fifty percent to the body as a whole. The employee or claimant, Chesney, is fifty-six years old and has a tenth grade education, with no skills. After working for Knoxville Glove Company for nearly twenty-seven years sewing, piecing, patching and hemming gloves, she developed disabling pain in her neck and right arm. She was referred to an orthopedist, Dr. Burns, who diagnosed cervical strain and radiculopathy caused or aggravated by work and superimposed on pre-existing cervical disc disease. He also ordered nerve testing which revealed right carpal tunnel syndrome. Carpal tunnel surgery was performed but failed to relieve her symptoms. Disc surgery was performed on her neck. The doctor assigned a permanent impairment rating of ten percent to the whole body from the cervical injury and an additional ten percent to the upper extremity from the carpal tunnel syndrome. The claimant is permanently restricted from any work requiring repetitive use of the hands and arms or heavy lifting. A vocational expert estimated her vocational disability at eighty to ninety percent. 2

Wilbur E. Cagle v. Mike Underwood Builders Inc. and Mike Underwood
03S01-9605-CV-00057
Authoring Judge: Joe C. Loser, Jr., Special Judge
Trial Court Judge: Hon. Dale Workman,
This workers' compensation appeal has been referred to the Special Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel of the Supreme Court in accordance with Tenn. Code Ann. section 5-6-225(e)(3) for hearing and reporting of findings of fact and conclusions of law. In this appeal, the employer, Underwood, contends the evidence preponderates against the trial court's findings that (1) the employee's injury was one arising out of and in the course of employment, (2) the employer had actual notice of the injury, and (3) the employee retains a forty percent permanent partial disability to the right leg from a torn meniscus. The panel has concluded the judgment should be affirmed. The employee or claimant, Cagle, is forty-eight years old and has a ninth grade education. He has worked primarily in construction and as a machine operator in a factory. His duties with Underwood include performing repairs on new houses during the first year after they are sold, but not home maintenance. His normal working hours are from 8:3 a.m. until 4:3 p.m., but he often works later. He is paid a salary rather than wages. On September 29, 1993, Underwood left the work site at 4: p.m., instructing the claimant to "lock up" when he left. The claimant went to one of the houses to check mortar joints and, as he was about to leave, Suzanne Chandler, who had purchased one of the employer's houses in April of the same year, asked to borrow some WD-4. Although it was after normal hours, the claimant offered to spray Ms. Chandler's squeaky door. While doing so, Cagle slipped and fell, injuring his knee. He had to call his wife to come and drive him home. Two months earlier, the claimant had slipped and slightly injured his knee while performing a repair at the Chandler home, but the injury was so slight that he did not lose time or require medical attention. He did not report that occurrence. The record is clear that the employer had actual knowledge of the accident which is the basis of this workers' compensation claim. The treating physician, an orthopedic surgeon, diagnosed a complex bucket handle tear of the lateral meniscus and probable exacerbation of pre-existing arthritic disease, caused by the occurrence of September 29th. 2

Danny E. Wilson v. Calvin Burgess Lumber Company
03S01-9604-CH-00041
Authoring Judge: Joe C. Loser, Jr., Special Judge
Trial Court Judge: Hon. Vernon Neal,
This workers' compensation appeal has been referred to the Special Workers' Compensation Appeals Panel of the Supreme Court in accordance with Tenn. Code Ann. section 5-6-225(e)(3) for hearing and reporting of findings of fact and conclusions of law. In this appeal, the employee, Wilson, contends the evidence preponderates against the trial court's finding that his injury did not arise out of the employment. This panel affirms the trial court. The employee or claimant worked for the employer, Burgess, as a log skidder operator. On May 29, 1994, at approximately 12:3 p.m., the claimant lost consciousness and became incontinent. When he regained consciousness, he told his employer he was ill and needed to go home. In his complaint, he claims his condition was caused by a faulty exhaust system on the skidder he was operating. It is undisputed the exhaust system on the skidder he had been operating was faulty. The defective part has since been replaced. The skidder did not have a closed compartment for the operator. Although a toxicologist diagnosed brain damage caused by carbon monoxide poisoning, tests on the skidder produced carbon monoxide readings below the OSHA limit of no more than fifty parts per million for an eight hour exposure. A sample taken at two feet from the end of the exhaust pipe showed thirty parts per million and one taken sitting in the operator's seat, with a slit in the piece of flexible pipe that had a hole in it, showed two parts per million. Moreover, another medical expert opined those levels were insufficient to cause brain damage to an operator in an open seat. Dr. Myron L. Mills, an occupational medicine specialist, further opined the claimant's injury was the result of a non-work-related seizure. The trial judge dismissed the claim for insufficient proof of causation. Appellate review is de novo upon the record of the trial court, accompanied by a presumption of correctness of the findings of fact, unless the preponderance of the evidence is otherwise. Tenn. Code Ann. section 5-6- 225(e)(2). An accidental injury arises out of one's employment when there is 2

State of Tenness vs. Rick J. Goultrie
03C01-9512-CC-00406
Authoring Judge: Judge Gary R. Wade
Trial Court Judge: Judge Mayo L. Mashburn

After a jury trial, the defendant, Rick Goultrie, was convicted of possession of marijuana and public intoxication. The trial court imposed consecutive sentences of eleven months twenty-nine days for the possession conviction and thirty days for the public intoxication conviction. The defendant was
required to serve seventy-five percent of the sentences in the county jail.

State vs. Quinn Hamilton
M2001-02748-CCA-R3-CD
Authoring Judge: Judge David H. Welles
Trial Court Judge: Cheryl A. Blackburn
A jury convicted the Defendant, Quinn L. Hamilton, of aggravated robbery, a Class B felony, and evading arrest, a Class D felony. The trial court sentenced the Defendant as a Range II multiple offender to consecutive terms of nineteen years and seven years, respectively, for an effective sentence of twenty-six years, to be served in the Department of Correction. In this appeal as of right, the Defendant contends that the trial court erred in declaring the victim witness unavailable and allowing his prior testimony to be admitted at trial as substantive evidence. We affirm the trial court's judgment.

Smith vs. Duncan
01A01-9602-CV-00077

Trial Court Judge: Conrad E. Troutman, Jr.

01C01-9504-CR-
01C01-9504-CR-

Trial Court Judge: L. Terry Lafferty

01C01-9510-CR-00348
01C01-9510-CR-00348

01C01-9508-CC-00274
01C01-9508-CC-00274

Trial Court Judge: Allen W. Wallace

01C01-9511-CR-00391
01C01-9511-CR-00391

01C01-9603-CC-00089
01C01-9603-CC-00089

01C01-9603-CC-00091
01C01-9603-CC-00091

01C01-9604-CR-00148
01C01-9604-CR-00148

State, DHS Assignee of: Stanley vs. Hooper
01A01-9605-CV-00231

Trial Court Judge: Robert E. Burch

The Tennessean vs. Electric Power Bd. of Nashville
01A01-9606-CH-00255

Trial Court Judge: Ellen Hobbs Lyle

Klindt vs. Klindt
01A01-9606-CH-00250

Trial Court Judge: C. K. Smith

Thomas, et. ux. vs. Crockett, et. al.
01A01-9608-CV-00380

Trial Court Judge: Walter C. Kurtz

Thomas, et. ux. vs. Crockett, et. al.
01A01-9608-CV-00380

Trial Court Judge: Walter C. Kurtz

J. Harold Shankle Co. vs. Bedford Co. Bd.
01A01-9609-CH-00387

Trial Court Judge: Lee Russell

Davis vs. Rose
01A01-9610-CH-00494

Trial Court Judge: Jim T. Hamilton

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