“We are witnessing today a tremendous and ominous expansion of preventive law in the area of civil liberties. More and more, our controls are being devised not as punishment for actual wrongful conduct, but with a view to preventing future evils by a series of restrictions and qualifications that seriously jeopardize freedom of expression.” Thomas
An interesting juxtaposition of developments trailing one of the biggest news stories of 2013 reinforces just how convoluted the whole situation is and likely will be for the foreseeable future: First, to the surprise of few (and the dismay of more), the White House yesterday confirmed it is not considering amnesty for Edward Snowden, the
Former federal supervisory probation officer Dewayne Kelley accepted judicial diversion last week after being charged with criminally negligent homicide. In February Kelley crashed his car into the Tomato Head restaurant in Knoxville, killing a 58-year-old woman. Kelley was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol, but prosecutors considered his behavior “criminally negligent” because he
Governor Bill Haslam unveiled a proposal to revamp Tennessee workers’ compensation laws during his State of the State speech last week. Under the proposed Tennessee Workers’ Compensation Improvement Act of 2013, a new state agency, the Court of Workers’ Compensation Claims, would oversee all aspects of workers’ compensation claims. The new system would allow for
After years of uncertainly and even anticipation regarding how Congress would handle federal estate taxes, the American Taxpayer Relief Act was remarkably a “non-event.” The Act essentially extended, or made “permanent” (with one notable exception for very wealthy people), the rules and exemptions for estate, gift and generation skipping transfer taxes that were established in
In order to convince their buyers to purchase a water front home site on Lake Nickajack, the listing agents told them would buy the lot back if the buyers ever wanted to sell it. The buyers said they would agree if the agents “would put it in writing” and negotiated a written contract provision that
While most of the attention of this week’s election focused on the Presidential race, the legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington state and the approval of same-sex marriage in Maine and Maryland will have a more profound and longer term effect on state and Federal laws—and probably on everyday life, as well. Marijuana is classified as an illegal drug
It’s pretty common knowledge that it’s against the law to purchase beer for minors, but that’s not the only way to get charged with “contributing to the delinquency of a minor” when it comes to alcohol. The reality is that you can receive that same “contributing to the delinquency of a minor” charge for allowing someone under
The underlying issue in this case is whether a police officer that had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of his military service in Iraq could be terminated as being unfit for duty. Procedurally, this case raises several issues related to the complexity of employment decisions by municipalities, particularly police offices, in
Teresa Larkin died in 2003 with $703,000 in life insurance proceeds payable to her husband, Dale. The decedent’s daughter (Husband’s stepdaughter) sued Dale Larkin, alleging that he killed her mother and that, under the “Slayer Rule“, which prevents a person from taking property at the death of someone he or she intentionally kills, he was