New Developments in Workers' Comp Law Discover all of the recent developments in workers' compensation law in Tennessee — both in the courts and in the legislature — in a new course developed by Virginia Mayo, editor of Tennessee Attorneys Memo and Tennessee Workers' Comp Reporter. http://www.tnbaru.com/coursecatalog.php    TODAY'S OPINIONS: Thursday, November 17, 2005 Following this index are summaries of each case, including its name, first paragraph, author's name, and the names of attorneys for the parties of each opinion. 00 - TN Supreme Court 00 - TN Worker's Comp Appeals 00 - TN Supreme Court - Rules 05 - TN Court of Appeals 01 - TN Court of Criminal Appeals 00 - TN Attorney General Opinions 00 - Judicial Ethics Opinions 00 - Formal Ethics Opinions - BPR TBA members can get the full-text versions of these opinions three ways detailed below. All methods require a TBA username and password. If you have forgotten your password or need to obtain a password, you can look it up on-line at http://www.tba.org/getpassword.mgi Here's how you can obtain full-text version. We recommend you download the Opinions to your computer and then open them from there. Click the URL at end of each Opinion paragraph below. This should give you the option to download the original document. If not, you may need to right-click on the URL to get the option to save the file to your computer. Do a key word search in the Search Link area of TBALink. This option will allow you to view and save a plain-text version of the opinion. Browse the Opinion List area of TBALink. This option will allow you to download the original version of the opinion. Howard H. Vogel Knoxville, Tennessee Editor-in-Chief, TBALink AMERICAN GENERAL EQUITY SERVICES CORP., ET AL. v. JOHNNY WILLIAM SCHABLIK, ET AL. Court: TCA Attorneys: John N. Bolus, T. Louis Coppedge, and Kip A. Nesmith, Birmingham, Alabama, and Anna M. Grizzle, Nashville, Tennessee, for the Appellant American General Equity Services Corporation. Keith C. Dennen, Sharon O. Jacobs, and Anne C. Martin, Nashville, Tennessee, for the Appellees Johnny William Schablik and Marian Bloodworth Schablik. Judge: SWINEY Johnny William Schablik and Marian Bloodworth Schablik (“Plaintiffs”) sued American General Equity Services Corporation (“American General”) and John Colvin (“Colvin”) claiming Colvin made material misrepresentations regarding how Plaintiffs’ assets would be invested and that these misrepresentations resulted in Plaintiffs losing their entire savings of $115,638.25. Relying on documents containing an arbitration clause and signed by Plaintiffs, American General filed a motion to stay the proceedings and compel arbitration. The Trial Court denied the motion, but granted American General’s request for a Tenn. R. App. 9 interlocutory appeal. We then granted American General’s request for a Rule 9 interlocutory appeal. The primary issue is whether the Trial Court correctly determined that Plaintiffs could not be compelled to arbitrate their state law claims because they arose in a securities context. We reverse the judgment of the Trial Court. http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCA/2005/americang111705.pdf MAURICE HUGHLEY v. STATE OF TENNESSEE Court: TCA Attorneys: Maurice Hughley, Lexington, Kentucky, Pro Se. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; Aurthur Crownover, II, Sr. Counsel, Civil Rights and Claims Division, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: CAIN Plaintiff appeals the dismissal by the trial court of his action under the Uniform Administrative Procedure Act challenging the calculation of his prison sentence. Holding that his petition to review in the Chancery Court of Davidson County was untimely under Tennessee Code Annotated section 4-5-322(b)(1), the trial court dismissed the action. We affirm the trial court. http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCA/2005/hughleym111705.pdf IN RE SHON AUSTIN MARR WITH CONCURRING OPINION Court: TCA Attorneys: Judy A. Oxford, Franklin, Tennessee, for the appellant, Justin Marr. Donna L. Green, Brentwood, Tennessee, for the appellees, Stuart Howlett and Christy Howlett. Robert H. Plummer, Jr., Franklin, Tennessee, Guardian ad Litem for Shon Austin Marr. Judge: KOCH This appeal involves the second petition to terminate the parental rights of a biological father who is serving a sixteen-year prison sentence for a particularly violent robbery. When the child’s mother first petitioned to terminate the father’s parental rights, the Tennessee Supreme Court held that she lacked standing to file a termination petition. Osborn v. Marr, 127 S.W.3d 737, 738 (Tenn. 2004). Thereafter, the mother and her husband filed a second petition in the Williamson County Juvenile Court seeking to terminate the father’s parental rights. The juvenile court terminated the father’s parental rights following a bench trial. On this appeal, the father asserts that the ground for termination relied upon by the trial court does not apply to him and that the evidence does not support the termination of his parental rights. We have determined that the father waived his challenge to the applicability of the termination ground and that the record contains clear and convincing evidence supporting the juvenile court’s decision to terminate the father’s parental rights. http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCA/2005/marrs111705.pdf CONCURRING OPINION http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCA/2005/marrs_con111705.pdf IN RE ADOPTION OF WILLIAM DREW MUIR WITH CONCURRING OPINION Court: TCA Attorneys: Lisa Z. Bowman, Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the appellants, Derrick Eugene Whited and April Muir Whited. Marshall A. Raines, Jr., Jasper, Tennessee, for the appellee, Donald Ray Dalton. Judge: KOCH This is the second appeal arising out of a proceeding to terminate a biological father’s rights to his now seven-year-old son. In 2000, the mother and her husband filed a petition in the Circuit Court for Marion County seeking to terminate the biological father’s parental rights and to approve the husband’s adoption of the child. They pursued the petition even after they were divorced, but in December 2002, the trial court denied the petition after concluding that they had failed to present clear and convincing evidence that the biological father had abandoned the child. This court vacated this order because the trial court had failed to make the statutorily required findings of fact. In re Adoption of Muir, No. M2002-02963-COA-R3-CV, 2003 WL 22794524 (Tenn. Ct. App. Nov. 25, 2003) (No Tenn. R. App. P. 11 application filed). Following the remand, the trial court entered new orders again denying the petition on the ground that the mother and her former husband had failed to establish by clear and convincing evidence that the biological father had abandoned the child. The mother and her former husband have appealed. We affirm the trial court. http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCA/2005/muirw111705.pdf CONCURRING OPINION http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCA/2005/muirw_con111705.pdf STACE LEE THOMPSON v. THE CITY OF LAVERGNE Court: TCA Attorneys: Keith F. Blue and Molly R. Cripps, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Stace Lee Thompson. Roger S. Waldron and Terry A. Fann, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, for the appellee, The City of Lavergne. Judge: HARRIS This appeal involves an action brought by Lieutenant Stace Thompson of the City of LaVergne Police Department under the Tennessee Human Rights Act. Lt. Thompson alleged he was demoted as a result of investigating the alleged sexual harassment of a police officer within the department by the administrative assistant to the Chief of Police. After a trial by jury, judgment was rendered in favor of Lt. Thompson in the amount of $300,000.00 for embarrassment and humiliation and $4,000.00 for loss of benefits. The City of LaVergne has appealed. Finding no reversible error, we affirm. http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCA/2005/thompsons111705.pdf RALPH DEWAYNE MOORE v. STATE OF TENNESSEE Court: TCCA Attorneys: Mart S. Cizek, Clinton, Tennessee, for the appellant, Ralph Dewayne Moore. Paul G. Summers, Attorney General and Reporter; David E. Coenen, Assistant Attorney General;Scott McCluen, District Attorney General; and Roger Delp, Assistant District Attorney General, for the appellee, State of Tennessee. Judge: GLENN The petitioner, Ralph Dewayne Moore, appeals the denial of his petition for post-convictionrelief, arguing that the post-conviction court erred in finding he received effective assistance of trial counsel. Following our review, we conclude that the petitioner failed to meet his burden ofshowing either that counsel was deficient in his representation or that any alleged deficiency prejudiced the outcome of the petitioner’s trial. Accordingly, we affirm the denial of thepetition. http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCCA/2005/moorer111705.pdf   PLEASE FORWARD THIS E-MAIL! Feel free to forward this Opinion Flash on to anyone you know of with an e-mail address. GET A FULL-TEXT COPY OF AN OPINION! See the instructions at the beginning of this edition of Opinion Flash. JOIN THE TENNESSEE BAR ASSOCIATION! 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