District Court, E.D. Tennessee — appointed by Ronald Reagan
Carswell v. Raytheon Employees Disability Trust
District Court, E.D. Tennessee · 2001-04-03
The case concerns Angela Carswell's ERISA challenge to the termination of her long-term disability benefits by the Raytheon Employees Disability Trust, administered by MetLife, after an initial court-ordered reinstatement. The plan granted MetLife discretionary authority to determine eligibility, so the court applied an abuse-of-discretion standard of review to the updated administrative record. That record included medical examinations indicating Carswell could perform sedentary or semi-sedentary work, a transferable-skills analysis showing she had relevant electronics-assembly experience, and evidence of available jobs in her area. The court concluded that MetLife's decision to terminate benefits based on this evidence was rational under the plan's definition of total disability. It therefore granted judgment on the administrative record to the defendants and dismissed the action.
labor & employment
Frontier Health Inc. v. Shalala
District Court, E.D. Tennessee · 2000-05-10 · cited 1×
In Frontier Health Inc. v. Shalala, a psychiatric hospital sought a preliminary injunction to prevent the Secretary of Health and Human Services from terminating its participation in Medicare and Medicaid programs before completing the administrative appeal process. The court held that it lacked jurisdiction to review the merits of the termination decision prior to exhaustion of administrative remedies under 42 U.S.C. § 405(g), but found it had authority under 28 U.S.C. § 1331 to grant injunctive relief where termination would effectively deny later judicial review. Applying the four-factor test for preliminary injunctions, the court determined that the hospital showed a substantial likelihood of success on appeal, would suffer irreparable harm including potential closure and loss of revenue, and that the balance of harms and public interest favored maintaining the hospital's certification during the appeals process. The court therefore enjoined the Secretary from terminating participation or notifying others of any termination until the administrative process concluded.
healthcarefederal powerprocedurebusiness & regulatory
Herman v. United States
District Court, E.D. Tennessee · 1999-09-28 · cited 2×
In Herman v. United States, taxpayers who purchased medical equipment from a bankrupt hospital for $40,000 and later donated it to a new nonprofit hospital sought refunds of income taxes and penalties after the IRS limited their charitable deductions under IRC Section 170 to the purchase price and imposed gross valuation misstatement penalties. The court granted the taxpayers' motion for summary judgment, finding them entitled to deductions based on the equipment's higher appraised fair market value (around $500,000 each) and refunds of the assessed amounts plus interest. The reasoning centered on the reliability of the appraisals obtained through the hospital administrator, which were not procured or influenced by the taxpayers, reflected arm's-length professional estimates rather than liquidation value, and supported reasonable cause to avoid penalties; the low bankruptcy purchase price was deemed a distress sale that did not establish fair market value for the donation.
taxes
Cousin v. McWherter
District Court, E.D. Tennessee · 1995-09-28 · cited 3×
This case concerns a challenge by African-American voters in Hamilton County, Tennessee, to the county's use of at-large, county-wide elections for circuit court, criminal court, chancery court, and general sessions judges. Plaintiffs alleged that the system violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and the Fifteenth Amendment by diluting minority voting strength. Applying the Gingles preconditions and the totality of circumstances, including Senate factors, the court found that black voters were sufficiently numerous and geographically compact to form a majority in a single-member district, were politically cohesive, and that white bloc voting usually defeated their preferred candidates, resulting in vote dilution that outweighed the state's interest in maintaining at-large elections with jurisdiction-wide linkage. The court therefore held that the at-large system violated the Voting Rights Act and ordered the Tennessee legislature to submit a remedial plan, such as districting or cumulative voting, within ninety days.
electionscivil rights
Blue Diamond Coal Co. v. Shalala (In Re Blue Diamond Coal Co.)
District Court, E.D. Tennessee · 1994-11-09 · cited 16×
This case involved Blue Diamond Coal Company, a former signatory to National Bituminous Coal Wage Agreements that stopped participating in United Mine Workers of America benefit funds after 1964, challenging the constitutionality of the Coal Industry Retiree Health Benefit Act of 1992's super-reachback provision that assigned retired miners and orphans to past operators for health benefit funding. The district court denied Blue Diamond's summary judgment motion and granted the motions of the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Combined Fund trustees. The court reasoned that the Act was a rational legislative response to the financial crisis in the UMWA trusts resulting from industry decline and orphaned retirees, allocating proportional responsibility to former participants in a manner comparable to other upheld economic regulations on pensions and black lung benefits, and thus did not violate the Due Process or Takings Clauses of the Fifth Amendment.
business & regulatorylabor & employmenthealthcare
Internal Revenue Service v. Bentley (In Re Bentley)
District Court, E.D. Tennessee · 1994-10-05 · cited 1×
This case involved the IRS appealing a bankruptcy court ruling in favor of Chapter 13 debtors Joey and Letha Bentley regarding their tax liability for FICA and FUTA taxes on drivers they hired for their trucking business. The bankruptcy court granted summary judgment to the debtors, finding they qualified for the safe haven provisions of Section 530 of the Revenue Act of 1978 by treating drivers as independent contractors rather than employees, based on industry practice for 1990 and 1991. The district court affirmed, holding that the debtors' affidavits, including from a competitor, established a long-standing practice in a significant segment of the trucking industry, and the IRS's evidence did not create a material factual dispute. The court also upheld the denial of additional discovery time for the IRS.
taxesbusiness & regulatorylabor & employment