Learn how to avoid legal malpractice claims Legal malpractice claims are growing more common and insurance coverage is becoming more expensive and difficult to obtain. This 3-hour seminar will discuss current legal developments in the area of legal malpractice, common (but often avoidable) mistakes by lawyers and ethical issues implicated by legal malpractice claims. https://www.tba.org/onsiteinfo/legalmal_2005.html    TODAY'S OPINIONS: Monday, November 28, 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 01 - TN Worker's Comp Appeals 01 - TN Supreme Court - Rules 02 - TN Court of Appeals 00 - 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 BUILDING MATERIALS CORPORATION d/b/a GAF MATERIALS CORPORATION v. LEONARD COLEMAN Court: TWCA Attorneys: Brian A. Lapps, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Building Materials Corporation d/b/a/ GAF Materials Corporation. Ann Buntin Steiner, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellee, Leonard Uriah Coleman. Judge: WILLIAM H. INMAN, SR. This workers’ compensation appeal has been referred to the Special Workers’ Compensation Appeal Panel of the Supreme Court in accordance with Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6-225(e)(3) for hearing and reporting to the Supreme Court of findings of fact and conclusions of law. The employee sustained injuries to his left shoulder while working for the employer. The trial court: (1) held that the injury was compensable; (2) awarded a 45 percent vocational disability; (3) awarded the employee 45 weeks of temporary total disability benefits; (4) held that the employer denied the claim in bad faith; and (5) awarded a bad faith penalty of 25 percent of the temporary total disability award plus 25 percent of the permanent partial disability award. We affirm the trial court’s finding that the injury was compensable. We affirm the award of 45 percent to the arm. We modify the award of 45 weeks of temporary total disability to 16 weeks. We vacate the penalty for partial permanent benefits, but affirm the penalty for temporary total benefits, as modified. http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TSC_WCP/2005/building112805.pdf SUPREME COURT OF TENNESSEE SUPREME COURT DISCRETIONARY APPEALS Court: TSC-Rules http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TSC_Rules/2005/certlist112805 LUCY R. CHAPMAN v. H & R BLOCK MORTGAGE CORPORATION, ET AL. Court: TCA Attorneys: Whitney Durand, Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the Appellant, Lucy R. Chapman. Winston S. Evans, Nashville, Tennessee, for the Appellees, H & R Block Mortgage Corporation and Option One Mortgage Corporation. Judge: SHARON G. LEE This appeal presents the issue of the enforceability of an arbitration agreement. The plaintiff entered into a loan transaction with the defendant mortgage corporation to obtain funds on behalf of her daughter. The loan was secured by a mortgage on plaintiff’s home. Plaintiff’s daughter subsequently discontinued making payments on the loan, and plaintiff filed a petition to rescind the loan, asserting that plaintiff was caused to sign the loan by defendant lender’s fraud. Several months after the case had been pending, lender demanded that the case be submitted to arbitration pursuant to an agreement signed by plaintiff when the loan was closed. The trial court granted lender’s motion compelling arbitration. Plaintiff appeals, arguing that the arbitration agreement she entered into is unenforceable because it is an adhesion contract and is unconscionable and unreasonable. Plaintiff further argues that lender waived its right to compel arbitration under the circumstances in this case. We hold that the arbitration agreement is enforceable, and we affirm the judgment of the trial court. http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCA/2005/chapmanl112805.pdf IN RE: ESTATE OF MILLER S. PRICE, DECEASED, GREENE COUNTY BANK, v. MARK F. PRICE Court: TCA Attorneys: Mark A. Cowan, Morristown, Tennessee, for appellant. Kenneth Clark Hood, Greeneville, Tennessee, for appellee. Judge: HERSCHEL PICKENS FRANKS Deceased had executed loan guaranties to claimant. Claimant filed claim in Estate based on the guaranties. The Estate excepted on the grounds that the underlying loans were not due and payable because claimant had not accelerated the indebtednesses. The Trial Court upheld the claims. We affirm. http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCA/2005/pricem112805.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! While Opinion Flash is a free service of the Tennessee Bar Association, you must be a member of the Tennessee Bar Association in order to access the full text of the opinions or enjoy the many other features of TBALink. To join the TBA go to: http://www.tba.org/join_bar.mgi SUBSCRIBE TO OPINION FLASH! Would you like to receive the TBALink Opinion Flash free each day by e-mail? Anyone, whether a TBA member or not, is welcome to subscribe ... it's free! Sign up for text or HTML version. Visit the TBALink web site at: http://www.tba2.org/op_flash.php UNSUBSCRIBE TO OPINION FLASH? ... SURELY NOT! But if you must, visit the TBALink web site at: http://www.tba2.org/op_flash.php TBALink Home • Contact Us • PageFinder • What's New • Help © Copyright 2005 Tennessee Bar Association