Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Nashville; Kevin Shepherd, Maryville attorney; Judge Keith Siskin, circuit court, 16th
Judicial District (Cannon and Rutherford counties); Greg Smith, Stites & Harbison
PLLC, Nashville; and Judge Thomas Wright, circuit court, 3rd Judicial District (Greene,
Hamblen, Hancock, and Hawkins counties)
in real estate transactions; ethical considerations in real estate law; and real estate case
law/legislative update.
DECEMBER FACULTY: William (Will) Bell, Jr., Rainey, Kizer, Reviere & Bell
PLC, Jackson; Rebecca Blair, The Blair Law Firm, Brentwood; David Callahan,
Goodman Callahan & Blackstone, PLLC, Nashville; Harlan Dodson, Dodson, Parker,
Behm & Capparella P.C., Nashville; Donald J. Farinato, Hodges, Doughty & Carson,
PLLC, Knoxville; Glen Kyle, Monica Franklin & Associates, LLC, Knoxville; Ralph
Levy, Jr., Dickinson Wright PLLC, Nashville; Carla Lovell, Sherrard Roe Voight &
Harbison, PLC, Nashville; Hunter R. Mobley, Howard Mobley Hayes & Gontarek,
PLLC, Nashville; Jeff Mobley, Howard Mobley Hayes & Gontarek, PLLC, Nashville;
Julie Travis Moss, The Blair Law Firm, Brentwood; Michelle Poss, Sobel, Poss &
Moore, Nashville; Timothy L. Takacs, CELA, Elder Law Practice of Timothy L.
Takacs, Hendersonville; and M. Matthew Thornton, Bourland, Heflin, Alvarez, Minor
& Matthews, PLC, Memphis.
HIGHLIGHTS: Use of various trusts as estate planning tools; tips for drafting wills
in 2016; trust drafting tips with samples; duties and liabilities of fiduciaries; structuring
marital agreements to deal with estate planning issues; what to look for in reviewing
existing estate plans; business succession planning; qualifying for TennCare;
alternatives to full probate administration; planning for a clients long-term care; tips for
probating a will and administering estates; planning for digital assets; probate litigation
case law and legislative update; ethical issues facing trust and estate planning attorneys;
and ethics in elder care.
HIGHLIGHTS: Youll hear from Chief Judge Ken Switzer and Judge Pam
Johnson, with the Court of Workers Compensation Claims, as well as Judges Tim
Conner and Marshall Davidson of the Workers Compensation Appeals Board; youll
gain insight on causation issues under the new law from a panel of attorneys and
physicians, hear about when it is appropriate to terminate an employee who has filed a
workers comp claim, and receive a comparison of how workers comp injuries are
resolved under the old (pre-July 1, 2014) versus the new (post-July 1, 2014) law;
youll get an update on the latest rulings from the Workers Compensation Appeals
Panels, the Workers Compensation Appeals Board, and the Court of Workers
Compensation Claims; youll hear from Bureau of Workers Compensation
HIGHLIGHTS: Get an overview from Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle about the
practice and procedures in the states new business court; get up to date on the latest
developments in the areas of personal injury, family law, and real estate; get practice
pointers from Hamilton County Circuit Judge Neil Thomas on oral and written skills to
use in filing and presenting various pretrial motions; learn the ins and outs of appellate
practice and procedure and the deferential abuse of discretion standard of review from
Court of Appeals Judge Frank Clement; get tips and strategies on advising your clients
about the time overtime procedure, which is set to take effect on December 1; learn how
to use websites and social media to promote yourself and your law practice; get an
insiders perspective from the Chief Disciplinary Counsel on the Boards recent
developments; gain insight from Court of Appeals Judge Thomas Frierson on accepting,
terminating, or declining representation.
amenability to correction, need for deterrence, and public interests and ends of
justice favored prosecution; district attorney has sole discretion to determine
whether to grant pretrial diversion to one who meets strict statutory
requirements, and reviewing appellate court may only consider evidence
presented to district attorney, may not reweigh facts, and may not substitute its
judgment for that of district attorney; although trial court's review of
prosecutor's denial of diversion was inadequate trial court failed to determine
whether prosecutor had properly considered each of relevant factors Court of
Criminal Appeals erred in conducting its own review by re-examining
evidence from defendant's diversion application and concluding that record
lacked substantial evidence supporting denial of diversion. State v. Hamilton,
8/23/16, Knoxville, Clark, unanimous, 14 pages.
http://www.tncourts.gov/sites/default/files/hamiltong.opn_.pdf
COURT OF APPEALS
TORTS: In healthcare liability action arising from care received by plaintiff
following ATV accident defendant doctor initially determined that plaintiff
did not need to be hospitalized but later CT-scan revealed humerus fracture
with ancillary ulnar nerve injuries trial court properly granted defendants
summary judgment; given that only evidence in record shows that plaintiffs
abrasion was superficial, and given testimony of plaintiffs expert that if, in
fact, this wou[n]d was not full-thickness skin injury; then, in my opinion,
what [defendant] did in the emergency room on September 7th was
appropriate, this proof, by plaintiffs own expert, effectively negates
essential element of plaintiffs case, i.e., that defendant deviated from
applicable standard of care; testimony of plaintiffs expert for example,
expert answered True, when asked if he could not say to reasonable degree
of medical certainty whether any different treatment on defendants part
would have changed the outcome for plaintiff fails to provide reasonable
basis for conclusion that it is more likely than not that defendants conduct
was cause in fact of plaintiffs injuries. Duncan v. Ledford, 8/24/16,
Jackson, Armstrong, 14 pages.
http://www.tncourts.gov/sites/default/files/duncanopn.pdf
PROPERTY: When bank sued appellant (Best) with regard to alleged debt
owed on account titled in name of MILDRED E. BEST POA, trial court
properly ruled that Account was joint account with right of survivorship
when appellant, who argued Account was power of attorney account, did not
sign signature card with designation POA, Best signed signature card
solely in her own name, record is devoid of any evidence that Best ever
executed power of attorney naming appellant as her attorney-in-fact, and
banks Rules and Regulations clearly and unambiguously provide that
appellant was not permitted to change the account ownership to anything
other than a joint tenants with right of survivorship, without the Banks
approval and that bank will treat all Joint Accounts, unless otherwise
indicated on the Banks records, as joint tenants with right of survivorship
for all purposes; fact that Account title was written as Mildred E. Best
POA, does not show that bank had approved change in account ownership
or that the bank was designating Account as anything other than joint
account with right of survivorship; when signature card and banks Rules
and Regulations provide that attorney fees may be awarded in amount up to
25 percent, or an amount as permitted by law, of the amount owed to
[bank], clause or an amount as permitted by law is not intended to allow
for award of attorney fees in excess of contractually allowed amount of up
to 25 percent of the amount owed to [bank], rather clause is intended to
CIVIL PROCEDURE: Trial judge did not err in denying motion for
recusal in case in which plaintiffs asserted numerous causes of action to
recover for injuries allegedly sustained by individual while she was resident
of Allenbrooke Nursing and Rehabilitation Center; defendants contend that
trial court has made numerous comments that indicate that the trial court
has preconceived perceptions regarding Defendants based on litigation
completely unrelated to this case and has prejudged the issue of personal
jurisdiction over them, but trial courts comments do not invoke
requirements of Rule 2.11(A) of Code of Judicial Conduct that judge recuse
himself or herself in any proceeding in which the judges impartiality might
reasonably be questioned, while, in course of hearings, judge at time made
comments, sometimes in jest, nothing in comments indicate that judge had
prejudged any issue or was biased against any defendant or toward plaintiffs,
or that comments were anything other than banter that is typically engaged
in when motions of this type are heard. Hatfield v. Allenbrooke Nursing &
Rehabilitation Center LLC, 8/25/16, Jackson, Dinkins, 6 pages.
http://www.tncourts.gov/sites/default/files/hatfieldcopn.pdf
shortly after victim knocked on witnesss door and told him that she had
been raped were admissible at trial under excited utterance exception to
hearsay rule. State v. Ibrahim, 8/22/16, Nashville, Thomas, 20 pages.
http://www.tncourts.gov/sites/default/files/ibrahimmervanopn.pdf
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