COURT OF APPEALS OPINIONS

Lineberry vs. Locke
M1999-02169-COA-R3-CV
Authoring Judge: Judge Ben H. Cantrell
Trial Court Judge: Jim T. Hamilton
A citizen whose private photographs and video tapes were seized in the execution of a search warrant sued the sheriff and a deputy for invasion of privacy and outrageous conduct. The trial judge directed a verdict for the defendants at the close of the plaintiff's proof. Because we agree that the plaintiff did not prove either cause of action, we affirm.

Freethy vs. Maconi
M2000-00107-COA-R9-CV
Authoring Judge: Judge Houston M. Goddard
Trial Court Judge: L. Raymond Grimes
This Rule 9 interlocutory appeal consists of the singular issue of whether Steven Maconi has sufficient minimum contacts with the state of Tennessee for it to exercise personal jurisdiction over him, thus requiring him to defend a paternity action brought in Tennessee. The Trial Court held that Mr. Maconi had sufficient minimum contacts with the state of Tennessee, and thus, it could exercise personal jurisdiction over him. We reverse the finding of the Trial Court and hold that Mr. Maconi does not have sufficient minimum contacts with the state of Tennessee for it to exercise personal jurisdiction over him.

Taylor vs. Campbell
M2000-00217-COA-R3-CV
Authoring Judge: Judge Charles D. Susano, Jr.
Trial Court Judge: Irvin H. Kilcrease, Jr.
Daniel B. Taylor filed a petition for declaratory judgment against the Commissioner and several other employees of the Tennessee Department of Correction, alleging that he is entitled to various sentence reduction credits and that his sentence is void and illegal. The trial court dismissed Taylor's petition. We vacate the judgment of the trial court and remand for further proceedings.

Howell vs. Howell
M1999-00753-COA-R3-CV
Authoring Judge: Judge Charles D. Susano, Jr.
Trial Court Judge: John A. Turnbull
In this post-divorce case, Talisa Gayle Kelly, formerly Howell, ("Wife") filed a petition seeking to increase child support and to enforce other provisions of the judgment of divorce. The trial court ordered Gary Morris Howell ("Husband") to pay Wife the balance due her for her interest in the former marital residence. It further found Husband in contempt for failing to maintain a life insurance policy for the benefit of the parties' minor child and ordered him to pay Wife an amount approximating what he would have paid in insurance premiums had he maintained the policy as required by the divorce judgment. Wife was also awarded half of her attorney's fees. We reverse the trial court's award of the unpaid premiums; in all other respects, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.

TN Farmers vs. Roger Hostetler, et al
W1999-00368-COA-R3-CV
Authoring Judge: Presiding Judge Alan E. Highers
Trial Court Judge: Joseph H. Walker, III
This appeal arises from a declaratory judgment action filed in the Lauderdale County Circuit Court by Tennessee Farmers Mutual Insurance Company. The complaint sought a declaration that Tennessee Farmers was not obligated to defend or indemnify its insureds against a wrongful death lawsuit filed by James Drake, executor of the estate of Mattie Lee Drake. After both sides filed motions for summary judgment, the trial court ruled that coverage did not exist under the Personal Liability Insurance Policy and entered summary judgment in favor of Tennessee Farmers Mutual Insurance Company.

Glenda Tate vs. Baptist Memorial
W1999-00553-COA-R3-CV
Authoring Judge: Judge W. Frank Crawford
Trial Court Judge: Kay S. Robilio
Hospital employee was accused of negotiating payroll checks of other employees and was discharged. Employee filed defamation suit, and trial court granted summary judgment because the pleadings and affidavits established that there was no publication of the alleged defamatory words since all communication thereof was to hospital employees.

Glenda Tate vs. Baptist Memorial
W1999-00553-COA-R3-CV
Authoring Judge: Judge W. Frank Crawford
Trial Court Judge: Kay S. Robilio
Hospital employee was accused of negotiating payroll checks of other employees and was discharged. Employee filed defamation suit, and trial court granted summary judgment because the pleadings and affidavits established that there was no publication of the alleged defamatory words since all communication thereof was to hospital employees.

Mona Koja vs. Abed Koja
W1999-00993-COA-R3-CV
Authoring Judge: Judge W. Frank Crawford
Trial Court Judge: Karen R. Williams
Wife was granted a divorce and received a division of marital property and alimony in futuro. The trial court denied Wife attorney fees and expenses. Wife has appeal. The trial court's order denying an award of attorney fees and expenses is reversed. The case is remanded for entry of an order awarding one-half of the attorney fees and expenses.

Jeffrey Harris vs. Percy Pitzer
W2000-00187-COA-R3-CV
Authoring Judge: Presiding Judge Alan E. Highers
Trial Court Judge: Jon Kerry Blackwood
This case involves the incarceration of the Appellant in the state of Tennessee pursuant to a contract between the Wisconsin Department of Corrections and Corrections Corporation of America. The Appellant filed a Petition for Habeas Corpus Relief in the Circuit Court of Hardeman County. The trial court entered an order granting the Appellee's Motion to Dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. The Appellant appeals from the dismissal of his Petition filed in the Circuit Court of Hardeman County. For the reasons stated herein, we affirm the trial court's decision.

Tuttle vs. Tuttle
M1999-01578-COA-R3-CV
Authoring Judge: Judge W. Frank Crawford
Trial Court Judge: L. Craig Johnson
In a previous appeal, this divorce case was remanded to the trial court for a determination of whether the parties had any marital property and, if so, for the trial court to make an equitable division thereof. From the trial court's final decree in compliance with the order of remand, defendant appeals.

In re: Adoption of a male child, Derrick Douglas Duncan
M1999-01713-COA-R3-CV
Authoring Judge: Judge W. Frank Crawford
Trial Court Judge: C. K. Smith
This appeal involves a petition by prospective adoptive parents for termination of parental rights, temporary guardianship, and for adoption of the minor child of the defendant father. In a non-jury trial, at the conclusion of petitioner's proof, the trial court found that they had failed to prove by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant father had abandoned the child and dismissed the petition. The prospective adoptive parents have appealed.

Phelps vs. TDOC
M1999-02109-COA-R3-CV
Authoring Judge: Judge William B. Cain
Trial Court Judge: Carol L. Mccoy
Petitioner/Appellant, a state prisoner, filed his petition for common law certiorari asserting that he was being unconstitutionally and illegally incarcerated by the state and had not been given proper credits under various sentence reduction credit statutes and policies. The trial court granted summary judgment and Petitioner appealed. We affirm.

Green vs. Innovative Recovery Services, Inc.
M1999-02227-COA-R3-CV
Authoring Judge: Judge Ben H. Cantrell
Trial Court Judge: Carol L. Mccoy
The attorney for a woman who had been injured in an auto accident claimed that his services entitled him to a portion of the subrogation interest asserted by TennCare against the settlement proceeds. The trial court dismissed his claim. We affirm the trial court.

Witt vs. Witt
M1999-02234-COA-R3-CV
Authoring Judge: Judge Ben H. Cantrell
Trial Court Judge: Muriel Robinson
This is an appeal of the trial court's division of marital property in a divorce proceeding. Finding no error in the trial court's judgment, we affirm.

Blankinship vs. TDOC
M1999-02381-COA-R3-CV
Authoring Judge: Judge Ben H. Cantrell
Trial Court Judge: Ellen Hobbs Lyle
A prisoner filed a petition to compel the Department of Correction to establish a mandatory parole date for his benefit. The trial court dismissed the petition for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. We affirm the trial court.

Rodgers vs. TDOC
M1999-02585-COA-R3-CV
Authoring Judge: Presiding Judge Herschel P. Franks
Trial Court Judge: Carol L. Mccoy
In this Declaratory Judgment plaintiff sought statutory credits on his prison sentences. The Trial court granted the State summary judgment. On appeal, we affirm.

Abbott vs. Gateway
M1999-00653-COA-R3-CV
Authoring Judge: Judge William B. Cain
Trial Court Judge: Carol L. Soloman
The General Sessions Court of Davidson County awarded a judgment against the defendant below, Nationwide Insurance Company, in a case involving a car accident. Nationwide filed an appeal to the Davidson County Circuit court but failed to secure a trial date within 45 days as required by Davidson County Local Rule of Practice 20(b) (1999). The circuit court dismissed the case due to Nationwide's failure, and Nationwide filed a Tennessee Rule of Civil Procedure 60.02 motion to set aside the circuit court dismissal due to its attorney's excusable neglect. When the circuit court denied Rule 60.02 relief Nationwide appealed to this court. On appeal, we reverse the decision of the circuit court finding that it should have granted Nationwide's request for Rule 60.02 relief and set aside the dismissal of Nationwide's circuit court appeal.

Clark vs. Crow
M1999-00916-COA-R9-CV
Authoring Judge: Judge William B. Cain
Trial Court Judge: Marietta M. Shipley
We grant this interlocutory appeal to consider a question of first impression regarding whether there is a right to jury trial prior to the issuance of an order of protection pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated section 36-3-605, (hereinafter "order of protection"). Specifically, we are asked to determine whether a party against whom an order of protection is sought is entitled to a jury trial as a matter of right before this order is issued. After reviewing Tennessee's constitutional and statutory guarantees to a jury trial, we have determined that there is no right to a jury trial prior to the issuance of an order of protection. The circuit court's decision is affirmed and remanded for further proceedings.

Barbara Madison, etc. vs Marie Love, et al
E2000-01692-COA-RM-CV
Authoring Judge: Judge Charles D. Susano, Jr.
Trial Court Judge: G. Richard Johnson
Upon remand from the Supreme Court and upon further consideration, we reverse ourselves and conclude that the trial court erred in granting the defendants summary judgment on the plaintiff's claim of negligent failure to render aid to another in peril. Accordingly, we vacate the trial court's judgment and remand for further proceedings.

Hunt vs. Hunt
M1997-00221-COA-R3-CV
Authoring Judge: Judge William C. Koch, Jr.
Trial Court Judge: Thomas E. Gray
This appeal involves the financial aspects of a divorce that ended a seventeen-year marriage. Both parties sought a divorce, and following a bench trial, the Chancery Court for Sumner County granted the wife a divorce based on the husband's inappropriate marital conduct. The trial court awarded the wife most of the marital estate, apart from the parties' pensions. The court also directed the husband to pay most of the marital debt and a portion of the wife's legal expenses. While the trial court did not require the husband to pay long-term alimony, it required him to pay $4,200 in alimony in solido. The wife asserts on this appeal that the trial court should have awarded her a greater portion of the marital estate and permanent spousal support. We have determined that the trial court's distribution of the marital estate is essentially equitable. However, in light of the length of the marriage and the disparity in income, we have determined that, in addition to the alimony in solido, the husband should pay the wife $120 per month beginning after his last alimony in solido payment through January 2007.

Alfred Dowdy v. Willie Joe Alexander,
W1999-00222-COA-R10-CV
Authoring Judge: Judge W. Frank Crawford
Trial Court Judge: Walter L. Evans

Timothy P. Hancock, et al vs. The Chattanooga- Hamilton Cty Hospital Authority , d/b/a T.C. Thompson Children's Hospital, et al
E1999-00169-COA-R9-CV
Authoring Judge: Judge Charles D. Susano, Jr.
Trial Court Judge: Samuel H. Payne
The issues in this medical malpractice case turn on whether the holding of the Supreme Court in the case of Jordan vs. Baptist Three Rivers Hospital, 984 S.W.2d 593 (Tenn. 1999) applies to the facts now before us. Because the cause of action in the instant case accrued prior to the release of the Supreme Court's opinion in Jordan, we conclude that the holding in that case cannot be retrospectively applied to the instant case. Accordingly, we affirm the trial court's judgment dismissing that portion of the amended complaint seeking loss of consortium damages.

Roane County, TN vs. Christmas Lumber Co.
E1999-00370-COA-R9-CV
Authoring Judge: Judge Charles D. Susano, Jr.
Trial Court Judge: Russell E. Simmons, Jr.
This is a condemnation case. The trial court entered an order finding that Roane County ("the County") has the right to condemn the respondents' property for use as an industrial park. We granted the respondents' application for an interlocutory appeal to review the trial court's determination that the County has the right to condemn the subject property. Finding that the County's petition is legally deficient, we vacate the trial court's order and remand for further proceedings.

Saddler vs. Saddler
M1999-01258-COA-R3-CV
Authoring Judge: Judge David R. Farmer
Trial Court Judge: Robert P. Hamilton
This appeal arises from a dispute between Plaintiff Dwight Saddler and Defendants Leonard and Paula Saddler regarding the ownership of a piece of real property in the estate of Edwina Groom Saddler known as the Hancock Farm. The trial court awarded this property to Dwight Saddler, finding that he is the owner of the property as the beneficiary of a resulting trust. Because we agree that Dwight Saddler has proven with the required degree of certainty that the Hancock Farm is the subject of a resulting trust in his favor, we affirm the ruling of the trial court.

Blake Industries, Inc. vs. General Agents Ins. Co. of America
M1999-01891-COA-R3-CV
Authoring Judge: Judge David R. Farmer
Trial Court Judge: Irvin H. Kilcrease, Jr.
In this declaratory judgment action, the appellant has appealed to the Court from the order of dismissal entered in the trial court. Specifically, the trial court found that the insurance contract between the plaintiff/appellant and the defendant/appellee, a commercial insurance company, excluded from coverage liability for damage sustained as a result of the plaintiff/appellant's workmanship. For the reasons stated herein, we affirm the trial court's order.