Published Opinions

Appellate courts throughout the United States place their most significant opinions in hardback books called Reporters. The appellate decisions placed in Reporters are called published opinions and may be used as precedent for future cases. I have approximately 75 cases that I worked on resulting in published opinions throughout the United States. Here is a short, nonexhaustive sampling of those opinions:

U.S. Supreme Court

U.S. v. Alexander, U.S. (2018)

Washington v. Glucksburg, 521 U.S. 702 (1997)
{Physician-assisted suicide}

PGA Tour Inc. v. Martin, 532 U.S. 661 (2001)
{Americans with Disabilities Act}
*The brief I wrote was the subject of an article in Sports Illustrated magazine.*

Federal Appeals Courts

Richie v. Eberhart, 11 F.3d 587 (6th Cir. 1993)
{Federal Habeas Corpus}
*6th Cir. = TN, KY, OH and MI*

Yeo v. Town of Lexington, 131 F.3d 241 (1st Cir. 1997)(en banc)
{Freedom of Religion/Freedom of the Press}
*1st Cir. = MA, ME, NH, RI and P. R.*

An en banc case is heard by all the judges of a circuit court of appeals instead of just a panel of three members of the court. En banc review is reserved solely for cases the court considers extraordinarily important.

Suhre v. Haywood County, 131 F.3d 1083 (4th Cir. 1997)
{Religious Rights/Separation of Church & State}
*4th Cir. = MD, NC, SC, VA and WV *

U.S. v. Lumpkin, 159 F.3d 983 (6th Cir. 1998)
{Search and seizure — first impression}

Tennessee Supreme Court

Felts v. State, 354 S.W.3d 266 (Tenn. 2011)
{Post-conviction}

State v. Vasques, 221 S.W.3d 514 (Tenn. 2007)
{Coram Nobis}

Hopkins v. Hopkins, 152 S.W.3d 447 (Tenn. 2004)
{Divorce/custody}

State v. Elkins, 83 S.W.3d 447 (Tenn. 2002)
{Jury instructions}

State v. Howington, 907 S.W.3d 706 (Tenn. 2002)
{First-degree murder}
*This case overturned 100 years of Tennessee law.*

Hilliard v. Tennessee State Home Health Services Inc., 950 S.W.2d 344 (Tenn. 1997)
{Workers’ compensation}

State v. Superior Oil Inc., 875 S.W.2d 658 (Tenn. 1994)
{Environmental protection}

Bankston v. State, 908 S.W.2d 194 (Tenn. 1995)
{DUI/post-conviction}

State v. James, 902 S.W.2d 911 (Tenn. 1995)
{Juvenile rights/freedom of the press}

Tennessee Court of Appeals

Riggs v. Riggs, 250 S.W. 3d 453 (Tenn. App. M.S. 2007)
{Alimony}

Parrott v. Abraham, 146 S.W. 3d 623 (Tenn. App. M.S. 2003)
{Custody/jurisdiction}

Wade v. Wade, 115 S.W. 3d 917 (Tenn. App. W.S. 2002)
{Military pay child support}

Bolin v. Bolin, 99 S.W. 3d 102 (Tenn. App. W.S. 2002)
{Divorce/inheritance}

Arms v. Stanton, 43 S.W. 3d 510 (Tenn. App. E.S. 2000)
{Divorce/Property title/bigamy}

Reed v. Hamilton, 39 S.W. 3d 115 (Tenn. App. W.S. 2000)
{Contempt/attorney fees}

Horton v. Hughes, 971 S.W.2d 957 (Tenn. App. M.S. 1998)
{Malpractice}

Montgomery County v. Nichols, 10 S.W.3d 258 (Tenn. App. W.S. 1999)
{Condemnation}

State ex rel. Vaughn v. Kaatrude, 21 S.W.3d 244 (Tenn. App. M.S. 2000)
{Child support}

Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals

State v. Montgomery, 350 S.W. 3d 573 (Tenn. Crim. App. 2011)
{Evidence}

State v. Collins, 35 S.W. 3d 582 (Tenn. Crim. App. 2000)
{Dismissal of case for prosecutorial misconduct}

State v. Jenkins, 859 S.W.2d 364 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1993)
{First-degree murder}

State v. Horton, 880 S.W.2d 732 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1994)
{Drugs/sentencing}

State v. Parrott, 919 S.W.2d 60 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1995)
{Right to counsel}

State v. Hill, 987 S.W.2d 867 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1998)
{Aggravated robbery/sentencing}

Wooden v. State, 898 S.W.2d 752 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1994)
{Post-conviction}

Federal District Trial Cases

Duncan v. U.S., 842 F. Supp. 1016 (M.D. Tenn. 1993)
{Federal habeas corpus}

Suhre v. Board of Commissioners, 894 F. Supp. 927 (W.D.N.C. 1995)
{Religious freedom}

Stinson v. U.S., 102 F. Supp. 2d 912 (M.D. Tenn. 2000)
{Ineffective assistance of counsel}

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