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Judge, Court of Appeals of Tennessee
Brandon Shane Wooley v. Dickson County
Court of Appeals of Tennessee · 2025-12-26
Inmate Brandon Shane Wooley sued Dickson County and several jail officials in chancery court, alleging he was wrongfully denied good-behavior sentence credits under Tenn. Code Ann. § 41-21-236, that his custody classification improperly relied on old criminal history, and that the jail’s policies violated his Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights. After the defendants missed the initial response deadline, Wooley moved for default judgment; the defendants then filed a motion to dismiss on the merits. The trial court denied default, dismissed the complaint without prejudice for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction on the ground that Wooley had failed to exhaust administrative remedies, and declined to reach the motion to dismiss. The Court of Appeals vacated that jurisdictional ruling, holding that the sparse record does not identify what administrative remedies (if any) were available or whether they were exhausted, that the defendants never raised exhaustion, and that the trial court must determine those threshold issues before dismissing on that basis or proceeding to the merits.
criminal lawcivil rightsprocedure
Keith R. Prather v. Yvonne R. Prather
Court of Appeals of Tennessee · 2025-12-23
In a divorce case between Keith R. Prather and Yvonne R. Prather, who married in 1981, the central dispute concerned the division of the husband's military retirement benefits earned from his service that began in 1978 and ended with retirement in 2019. The trial court awarded the wife a share of those benefits by calculating the marital portion based on the parties' informal separation in 2010 rather than the retirement date, treating the post-2010 benefits as the husband's separate property. The Court of Appeals vacated that classification and the overall marital estate division, holding that retirement benefits accrued during the marriage are marital property under Tennessee law. The court reasoned that the husband retired while the marriage was still legally intact, with no prior order of legal separation having divided assets, so the relevant period for classification runs from the 1981 marriage date until the 2019 retirement. The case was remanded for reclassification of the benefits as marital property and recalculation of an equitable division.
family lawproperty
ROBERT C. SIMMONS v. MICHAEL D. BLACK
Court of Appeals of Tennessee · 2025-10-29
This case involved a boundary line dispute between neighboring property owners in Bledsoe County, Tennessee, where plaintiff Robert Simmons sought a declaratory judgment to establish the correct common boundary with defendants Michael and Anna Marie Black, specifically regarding control of an access road. The trial court credited the survey and testimony presented by Simmons’s surveyor and set the boundary line accordingly. On appeal, the Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that the trial court did not err because only one surveyor testified and provided a detailed, credible explanation of his methods and reliance on an artificial monument, while the competing survey lacked any explanatory testimony. The court found no clear and convincing evidence to overturn the credibility determination and rejected the defendants’ related easement request, as the adopted survey placed the road entirely on Simmons’s property.
property
ROBERT L. DAVIS v. KAREN EDWARDS
Court of Appeals of Tennessee · 2025-10-21
This case involved a dispute between neighboring property owners over a shared driveway in Bradley County, Tennessee. Plaintiffs Robert and Lala Davis sued neighbor Karen Edwards (later substituted by new owners Joe and Amber Hamby) to enforce an oral agreement requiring Edwards to build her own driveway instead of using Plaintiffs’ driveway under the Driveway Easement and Maintenance Agreement (DEMA) that Plaintiffs had signed with the prior owner. After a trial, the circuit court ordered Edwards to build the driveway and then granted Plaintiffs’ post-trial motion to terminate the DEMA, finding it temporary despite the written terms. The Court of Appeals reversed, holding that the DEMA’s unambiguous language created a permanent easement that runs with the land, with no textual basis or trial evidence supporting termination by estoppel or otherwise, and that the trial court abused its discretion by nullifying it. The case was remanded for further proceedings.
property
Senior Pastor Charles Dowell, Jr. v. State of Tennessee Macon County Assessor's Office
Court of Appeals of Tennessee · 2025-10-17
This case involves an appeal by Senior Pastor Charles Dowell, Jr. and Priest Baldwin Hutchinson, representing Straitway Truth Ministry, challenging the denial of their motion to recuse Chancellor I’Ashea L. Myles in a Davidson County Chancery Court proceeding. The underlying dispute concerns the ministry’s effort to obtain judicial review of an administrative decision by the State Board of Equalization upholding the Macon County Assessor’s denial of property tax exemptions for certain parcels claimed on religious grounds under Tennessee law. The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s denial of the recusal motion. The court reasoned that the petitioners’ allegations stemmed solely from the chancellor’s procedural rulings—such as requiring proper service on the Board and the Attorney General, mandating counsel for the entity, and allowing a late response from the opposing party—which do not demonstrate bias or impartiality, as adverse or contested rulings are not grounds for recusal absent evidence of personal prejudice.
religious libertytaxespropertyprocedure
THOMAS J. TABOR, JR., ESQ. v. GLORIA JUANITA MILTON
Court of Appeals of Tennessee · 2025-10-14
Attorney Thomas J. Tabor, Jr. sued former client Gloria Juanita Milton in General Sessions Court for unpaid fees after successfully defending her in an appeal, claiming she still owed over $8,000 plus collection costs under a retainer agreement that called for a $15,000 initial payment plus $250 hourly rates. The General Sessions Court awarded Tabor $10,030, but Milton appealed to the Circuit Court, which found that any amount beyond the $15,200 she had already paid was excessive and unreasonable given the limited scope of Tabor’s work (preparing one appellate brief and arguing the case). Tabor appealed that ruling. The Tennessee Court of Appeals affirmed the Circuit Court’s judgment, holding that the trial court properly applied the RPC 1.5 factors for determining the reasonableness of attorney’s fees and did not abuse its discretion in concluding the additional charges were excessive.
business & regulatoryprocedure