Pride Tomlinson

This case concerned a challenge to the validity of the newly formed Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, created through consolidation of their governmental functions under a charter approved by voters. The plaintiffs argued that the process, including the use of a private act to establish the charter commission, violated constitutional provisions against class legislation and did not properly follow the Eighth Amendment to the Tennessee Constitution. The court upheld the consolidation, ruling that the procedures complied with the constitutional amendment, which requires separate majority approvals from city voters and county voters outside the city, and that implementing statutes were valid. The decision emphasized that the voters' ratifications of both the amendment and the charter established the government's legitimacy, with any potentially invalid provisions subject to severance.

elections

Sissom appealed his conviction under Tenn. Code sec. 39-606 for assault and battery on a five-year-old girl with intent to sexually molest or fondle her but without intent to carnally know her, for which he received a one-to-five-year sentence. The court first addressed and rejected the constitutional challenge that the statute's terms "sexually molest or fondle" were unconstitutionally vague, finding that the language clearly encompassed lewd or obscene acts that normal persons would recognize as baseness or depravity. On the merits of the appeal, however, the court held that the prosecution improperly introduced evidence of a prior 1957 indictment against Sissom for a similar offense involving a child, which was incompetent under the rule that a defendant may not be cross-examined about pending indictments; because this evidence was both incompetent and highly prejudicial and the trial court took no corrective action, a new trial was required.

criminal lawprocedure

This case involves a long-running property dispute in which Evans, owner of tracts on both sides of Cooper Lane in Davidson County, sought to block public use of roads crossing his land, challenged the county's condemnation of one road via eminent domain, alleged a conspiracy among adjoining owners and county officials, and claimed damages from the county's diversion of Cooper Creek away from his 43-acre tract. The court affirmed the lower courts' rulings against Evans on the road dedication and condemnation issues, the conspiracy and related contract claims stemming from his brother's sale of adjacent land, and the denial of costs or other relief. On the creek diversion, the court held that Evans was not entitled to damages because concurrent findings showed the tract's value had increased rather than decreased, and the proper measure of damages for such an injury is the difference in property value before and after, not the cost of restoring the water flow. The court further ruled that equity jurisdiction properly extended to the eminent domain proceedings once invoked for injunctive relief.

propertyproceduretorts & liability

The case involved three defendants convicted of second-degree murder after a fatal car collision during an illegal street race on a public highway at night. Stallard drove one vehicle at high speed, Bennett drove the other, and Green helped initiate and start the race; their cars approached a hill crest side-by-side at 75 mph and struck an oncoming vehicle driven by Dr. Dampier, killing his wife. The court affirmed all convictions, holding that the reckless and unlawful racing implied the malice required for second-degree murder, that Bennett and Green were liable as aiders and abettors under the statute, and that no prejudice resulted from the joint trial or alleged juror misconduct. The minimum statutory sentences were upheld as the evidence clearly supported guilt.

criminal law

The case involved the conviction of Cowan for kidnapping two teenage couples after he approached their parked car in an isolated area at night, threatened them with a pistol to prevent them from leaving, took their ignition key, and detained them for approximately seven hours while attempting to coerce the girls into sexual intercourse. The Tennessee Supreme Court affirmed the conviction under Section 39-2601, T.C.A., which prohibits forcibly confining another with intent to secretly confine or imprison against their will. The court's reasoning was that the evidence showed Cowan had deprived the victims of their personal liberty for an extended period in a location where they were unlikely to receive assistance, aligning with the statute's purpose and similar holdings from other jurisdictions, and any potential errors in the trial were harmless given the overwhelming evidence.

criminal law

The case involved three plaintiffs who sued William Wood for damages after their car, stopped at a traffic light, was struck from behind by Wood's stolen vehicle, which had been left unattended on a highway with the keys in the ignition. The thief, Joe Lane, drove the car while intoxicated at high speeds four hours later to evade police before causing the collision. The trial court sustained Wood's demurrer, dismissing the suits on the ground that Lane's negligence was the intervening proximate cause of the injuries. On appeal, the Tennessee Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the owner's initial negligence in leaving the keys did not render him liable for the thief's subsequent independent and unforeseeable conduct, consistent with the majority of precedents and prior Tennessee Court of Appeals decisions involving similar facts without a controlling statute.

torts & liability