APPELLATE COURT OPINIONS

The Petitioner, LaNorris O’Brien Chambers, appeals from the Rutherford County Circuit Court’s denial of his petition for post-conviction relief, wherein he challenged his convictions for two counts of robbery, two counts of fraudulent use of a credit card, and one count of aggravated assault. On appeal, the Petitioner argues trial counsel provided ineffective assistance in failing to challenge Count 5, in failing to request dismissal of Count 2 of the superseding indictment, in failing to explain Rule 404(b) and the effect of his prior convictions, in failing to challenge the sufficiency of the State’s notice of sentence enhancement, and in failing to review all discovery with him. We affirm the judgment of the post-conviction court.

This is an appeal of a Governmental Tort Liability Act case and concerns a judgment received by the plaintiff, who stepped off of a curb in the middle of the block, not at the crosswalk, and was struck by a city-owned vehicle while attempting to cross between two stopped vehicles when the light changed. Having reviewed the record transmitted to us on appeal, we reverse the trial court’s judgment that the city defendant is liable for the negligent hiring and retention of its employee because the record fails to show that evidence was introduced at trial in support of this claim. Moreover, we reverse the trial court’s allocation of fault, concluding that the evidence preponderates in favor of a finding that the plaintiff is at least 50% at fault. Because the plaintiff is accordingly barred from obtaining a recovery, we dismiss the case.

Petitioner, Baldomero Galindo, appeals as of right from the Knox County Criminal Court’s
denial of his petition for post-conviction relief, wherein he challenged his conviction for
first degree murder, for which he received a life sentence. On appeal, Petitioner contends
that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel based upon trial counsel’s failure to
raise a claim of self-defense and his failure to call a witness to testify after learning that the
witness failed a polygraph examination. Following a thorough review, we affirm the
judgment of the post-conviction court.

In this appeal, the petitioner sought judicial review of a decision made by the Department of Labor and Workforce Development denying his application for unemployment compensation benefits. The chancery court reversed the Department’s decision, concluding that it was arbitrary and capricious and an abuse of discretion. The Department appeals. We affirm and remand for further proceedings.

A Knox County jury convicted the Defendant of first degree premeditated murder, felony
murder, especially aggravated robbery, carjacking, unlawful possession of a firearm as a
convicted felon, unlawful possession of a handgun as a convicted felon, and the lesser
included offense of possession of a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony.
The trial court imposed an effective sentence of life plus thirty years. On appeal, the
Defendant asserts that: (1) the trial court erred when it failed to give an accomplice jury
instruction for a witness, Duraejia Clark; (2) the convicting evidence is insufficient because
the State failed to corroborate the accomplice’s testimony; and (3) cumulative error
requires reversal. After review, we affirm the trial court’s judgments.

Appellee Dominion Real Estate, LLC (“Dominion”) filed a malicious prosecution action against the Wise Group, Inc. (the “Wise Group”), the Lux Development Group, LLC (the “Lux Group”) (together with the Wise Group, “Wise and Lux”), and Alan Wise (together with Wise and Lux, “the Wise Defendants” or “Appellants”). The trial court dismissed Dominion’s case, and Dominion appealed. 1 In their brief, the Wise Defendants asked this Court to award frivolous appeal damages. Dominion subsequently moved to dismiss the appeal. Although this Court granted the motion to dismiss, it reserved the issue of frivolous appeal damages, which is the sole issue addressed herein. Because Dominion’s appeal had no reasonable chance of success, it was frivolous, and the Wise Defendants are entitled to damages. Accordingly, we grant the Wise Defendants’ motion and remand the case for calculation of the Wise Defendants’ reasonable attorney’s fees and expenses incurred in defending this appeal and for entry of judgment on same.

A homebuilder sought to modify, correct, or vacate an arbitration award.  It claimed the arbitrator exceeded his powers in failing to award attorney’s fees and penalties under its contract with the homeowner.  The chancery court denied the requested relief and awarded the homeowner attorney’s fees for defending against the homebuilder’s motion.  Discerning no error, we affirm. 

In 1990, a Shelby County jury convicted the Petitioner, Rhynuia L. Barnes, of premeditated first-degree murder, and the trial court sentenced him to an effective sentence of life in prison. The Petitioner unsuccessfully appealed his conviction. He then unsuccessfully filed a petition for post-conviction relief and three petitions for writ of error coram nobis, as well as a motion to exhume his father’s body and for fingerprint analysis. In 2023, the Petitioner filed his second post-conviction fingerprint analysis petition asking: (1) that the TBI enter the latent prints found on the murder weapon into an online fingerprint database; and (2) that the court order testing of his deceased father’s palm prints against the known palm print on the murder weapon. The post-conviction court summarily dismissed the petition, and the Petitioner appeals. After review, we affirm the post-conviction court’s judgment.

The Petitioner, Kevin Lawrence, appeals the Lake County Circuit Court’s dismissal of his petition for writ of habeas corpus. The Petitioner argues his judgment is void and illegal because his sentence does not reflect any parole eligibility. Based on our review, we affirm the habeas corpus court’s dismissal of the petition.

Because the order from which the appellant has filed an appeal does not constitute a final appealable judgment, this Court lacks jurisdiction to consider this appeal.

Because the order from which the appellant has filed an appeal does not constitute a final appealable judgment, this Court lacks jurisdiction to consider this appeal.

This is a partition in kind action. The three owners of 68 acres entered into a joint stipulation appointing three commissioners to partition the property into three separate parcels. Thereafter, the commissioners filed a written report with a survey that allocated 32.4 acres to the plaintiff Jerry Green, 17.8 acres to the defendant Robert Hale, and 18.1 acres to the defendant Cynthia Panter. After the defendants filed exceptions to the commissioners’ report, the parties agreed to have one of the commissioners testify to state the commissioners’ factual findings and reasoning. Pursuant to the parties’ agreement, Commissioner Bill Haisten testified in open court, explaining, in part, that more acreage was partitioned to the plaintiff because much of the parcel allocated to him is hilly and rocky and another large portion of the plaintiff’s parcel is encumbered by a TVA power line easement. Commissioner Haisten also testified that while the three partitioned parcels are not equal in area, they are equal in fair market value. Based upon these additional facts, the trial court concluded that the partitioning of the property by the commissioners should be confirmed. The defendants appeal, contending, inter alia, that without sufficient proof of either the value of the property partitioned or of the evaluations from which the commissioners derived their partition division, the trial court erred in confirming the commissioners’ report. We affirm.

A sales representative for a product vendor was injured while in a Tractor Supply store performing his job. The sales representative received workers’ compensation benefits from his employer, a hardware product company, and then proceeded with a tort case against Tractor Supply. We agree with the trial court’s conclusion that Tractor Supply was the sales representative’s statutory employer within the meaning of Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6- 113(a) and, therefore, his recovery from his employer was his exclusive remedy. Therefore, we affirm the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Tractor Supply.

A sales representative for a product vendor was injured while in a Tractor Supply store performing his job. The sales representative received workers’ compensation benefits from his employer, a hardware product company, and then proceeded with a tort case against Tractor Supply. We agree with the trial court’s conclusion that Tractor Supply was the sales representative’s statutory employer within the meaning of Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6- 113(a) and, therefore, his recovery from his employer was his exclusive remedy. Therefore, we affirm the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Tractor Supply.

This appeal concerns subject matter jurisdiction. Eric O. Carter (“Petitioner”) filed a petition for writ of mandamus in the Chancery Court for Davidson County (“the Trial Court”) against Howard Gentry (“Gentry”), Davidson County Criminal Court Clerk, 1 and Frank Strada (“Strada”), Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Correction (“TDOC”), asking that the criminal judgment entered against him be expunged because it was not properly endorsed under the applicable rules and statutes. The Trial Court dismissed the petition for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Petitioner appeals, arguing that he only wants a ministerial act performed and is not challenging his sentence. We find that Petitioner is in fact challenging his sentence, and the Trial Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction to hear that challenge. We, therefore, affirm the Trial Court.

The Appellant, Izaiha Gleaves, was convicted of second degree murder, attempted second degree murder, two counts of employment of a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony, aggravated assault, and tampering with evidence. The trial court imposed an effective sentence of forty-nine years’ confinement. On appeal, the Appellant argues: (1) the evidence is insufficient to support his convictions; (2) the trial court erred when it failed to excuse a juror who had a conflict of interest; (3) the trial court erred when it admitted a redacted recording of a witness interview; (4) the trial court’s cumulative errors warrant reversal; and (5) the trial court erred when it imposed an effective sentence of forty-nine years.¹ After review, we affirm the trial court’s judgments.

A Hawkins County jury convicted the Defendant, Travis Scott Gilliam, in three cases involving violations of the Sex Offender Registry, community supervision for life, and related offenses. In a fourth case, the Defendant pled guilty to the offense of aggravated assault and agreed to a six-year sentence running consecutively to the other cases. After a hearing, the trial court imposed partially consecutive sentences for a total effective sentence of fourteen years plus eleven months and twenty-nine days. In this appeal, the Defendant argues that the trial court erred in imposing consecutive sentences and that the judgments conflict with the trial court’s oral announcement. Upon our review, we dismiss the appeal in Case No. 22-CR-36 because this sentence was entered pursuant to a valid plea agreement and was the subject of a valid waiver of appeal. Regarding the other cases, we respectfully affirm the trial court’s judgments. We also remand these cases for entry of corrected judgments reflecting the alignment of the sentence as announced at the sentencing hearing.

The trial court granted Appellee’s motion to dismiss on the ground of judicial immunity. Discerning no error, we affirm.

The Petitioner, Avery LaVerne Davenport, appeals from the Cumberland County Criminal
Court’s summary dismissal of his petition for the writ of error coram nobis. The coram
nobis court dismissed the petition as untimely. On appeal, the Petitioner contends that the
court erred in dismissing his petition. We affirm.

This is an interlocutory appeal as of right, pursuant to Tenn. Sup. Ct. R. 10B, filed jointly by David Carroll (“Plaintiff”) and Todd Foster (“Defendant”) (“Petitioners,” collectively), seeking to recuse the trial judge in this case. Having reviewed the petition for recusal appeal filed by Petitioners, and finding no reversible error, we affirm.

Tyrel J. Sidwell, Defendant, was charged in a presentment with nine counts related to the
physical assault of his wife, the victim, Bithiah Lufcy, and his actions after his initial arrest.
The charges included aggravated assault, domestic assault, coercion of a witness, and six
counts of violation of a no contact order. Prior to trial, the coercion of witness charge was
severed and the State dismissed two of the counts of violating a no contact order. A jury
acquitted Defendant of aggravated assault but found Defendant guilty of domestic assault
and four counts of violation of a no contact order. Defendant was ultimately sentenced to
11 months and 29 days on each conviction with the sentences to run consecutively. The
trial court denied probation on the sentences for Counts 2 and 4 and suspended the
remainder of the sentences to probation. Defendant appeals, arguing that the evidence is
insufficient to support the convictions for violation of a no contact order because he was in
custody at the time of his alleged contact with the victim. Defendant also argues that the
trial court erred in denying probation and ordering Defendant to serve consecutive
sentences. Because the evidence was sufficient to support the convictions and the trial
court did not err in denying probation and ordering consecutive sentences, we affirm the
judgments of the trial court.

This is a wrongful death action that was filed pro se by two sons of the decedent, in their capacity as co-administrators of the estate of the decedent, on behalf of the decedent’s six children. The trial court found that the action was filed by persons not authorized to practice law on behalf of the estate and/or others, and therefore, it was void ab initio and a nullity. Accordingly, the trial court dismissed the complaint in its entirety. The two pro se sons appeal. We conclude that the complaint was void to the extent that the pro se sons asserted claims on behalf of other heirs of the decedent, as they were engaged in the unauthorized practice of law. However, the complaint was partially proper to the extent that the two pro se sons were also asserting their own right of action under the wrongful death statute. Consequently, the trial court erred by dismissing the complaint in its entirety. However, on remand, the additional heirs will be given an opportunity to file a motion to intervene. In the event they do not, the trial court is directed to consider Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure 19.01 and 19.02 in order to determine whether the other heirs are indispensable parties and to consider issues related to such a determination. Thus, the decision of the circuit court is affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

In a divorce action, the wife moved for recusal of the trial judge. The motion was denied and the wife appealed pursuant to Tenn. Sup. Ct. R. 10B. Because the wife waited too long to file her motion, we affirm the denial of the motion to recuse.

A Shelby County jury convicted the Defendant, Juanyai Walls, of two counts of first degree
premeditated murder, two counts of felony murder, and two counts of especially aggravated
robbery. The trial court sentenced the Defendant to serve an effective sentence of life plus
fifteen years. On appeal, the Defendant argues that the evidence is legally insufficient to
support his convictions. He also asserts that the trial court erred by (1) allowing the
introduction of written notes from the Defendant to his co-defendants while in custody;
and (2) imposing consecutive sentences. Upon our review, we respectfully affirm the
judgments of the trial court.

The Defendant, Shenessa L. Sokolosky, appeals from the Smith County Criminal Court’s probation revocation of her two consecutive eleven-month, twenty-nine-day sentences for her guilty-pleaded misdemeanor convictions for drug possession and possession of drug paraphernalia. On appeal, the Defendant contends that the trial court abused its discretion by revoking her probation. We dismiss the Defendant’s appeal pursuant to the mootness doctrine.