Certified as a Civil Trial Specialist by the National Board of Trial Advocacy
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Appellate Law Blog2020-04-20T05:17:08-04:00

Mr. Vowell blogs on appellate law and practice

January 2023

October 2019

TENNESSEE SUPREME COURT ESTABLISHES NEW STANDARD FOR DETERMINING THE VALIDITY OF EXCULPATORY CLAUSES

By |October 6th, 2019|Categories: Appellate Law|

In a decision handed down Dec. 20, 2018, the Tennessee Supreme Court adopted a new standard for determining the legality of exculpatory clauses. [Copeland v. HealthSouth/Methodist Rehabilitation Hospital, LP, 565 S.W.3d 260 (Tenn. 2018)] The Court ruled that the five factors that it had identified in Olson v. Molzen, 558 S.W.2d 429 (Tenn. 1977) were still valid but expanded the factors to be considered to a “totality of the circumstances” test, in its first look at exculpatory clauses in 25 years. I handled the appeal at the request of Memphis colleague David Gordon. The Plaintiff, Frederick Copeland, 77 years old, […]

TENNESSEE SUPREME COURT REVERSES TRIAL COURT IN WORKERS’ COMPENSATION CASE

By |October 6th, 2019|Categories: Appellate Law|

In a decision handed down Sept. 20, 2019, the Tennessee Supreme Court reversed the trial court’s dismissed of a workers’ compensation case where the trial court had ruled that the statute of limitations had expired when the action was initiated. Williams v. SWS LLC d/b/a SecureWatch, 2019 WL 4740106. I handled the appeal at the request of my Knoxville-based colleague Martin Ellis. This was a direct appeal to the Tennessee Supreme Court by was of T.C.A. 50-6-225. This statute provides that appeals in workers’ compensation cases are appealed directly to the Supreme Court, bypassing the Court of Appeals. The statute […]