Law Commons^™

An Empirical Study Of Supreme Court Justice Pre-Appointment Experience, Benjamin H. Barton

Scholarly Works

This study compares the years of experience that preceded appointment to the Supreme Court for each Justice. The study seeks to demonstrate that the background experiences of the Roberts Court Justices are quite different from the Justices of earlier Supreme Courts and to persuade the reader that this is insalubrious.

The first proposition is an empirical one and the difference in Justice backgrounds is demonstrable. To determine how the current Justices compare to their historical peers, the study gathered a massive database that considers the yearly pre-Court experience for every Supreme Court Justice from John Jay to Elena Kagan. The …

Lawyers Intentionally Inflicting Emotional Distress, Alex B. Long

Scholarly Works

This article examines the tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED) as applied to lawyers engaged in the practice of law. IIED claims against lawyers have arisen in a variety of contexts, ranging from a lawyer’s act of disclosing client confidences to a prosecutor to demanding sex from a client in exchange for legal services. Courts have always had difficulty defining the concept of “extreme and outrageous conduct” for purposes of an IIED claim, but IIED claims against lawyers pose even greater definitional problems for courts. In an effort to provide greater clarity, the article advocates that courts should …

Reader's Digest, Walter Machnicki

Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Case Studies

No abstract provided.

2013 Revisions To The Tennessee Business Corporation Act, Trevor Mcelhaney

Transactions: The Tennessee Journal of Business Law

The Tennessee Business Corporation Act, as amended (“TBCA”), is the primary governing authority over the formation and operation of all Tennessee for-profit corporations. The TBCA was enacted in 1986 and became effective on January 1, 1987, replacing the Tennessee General Corporation Act of 1968. The TBCA is codified in sections 48-11-101 through 48-27-103 of the Tennessee Code Annotated.

In general, the TBCA was enacted as an enabling statute and was written to conform to the standards of the Revised Model Business Corporation Act (“MBCA”), which was adopted by the Corporate Law Committee of the Business Section of the American Bar …

Contested Elections As Secret Weapon: Legislative Control Over Judicial Decisionmaking, Matthew Lyon, Judy Cornett

College of Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Fatherhood By Conscription: Nonconsensual Insemination And The Duty Of Child Support, Michael Higdon

College of Law Faculty Scholarship

Nathaniel was a California teenager who became a father in 1995. The mother of Nathaniel’s child was named Ricci, and at the time of conception, she was thirty-four years old. Nathaniel, however, was merely fifteen. Although Nathaniel admitted to having sex with Ricci voluntarily about five times, the fact that he was under sixteen years of age at the time made it legally impossible for him to consent to sexual intercourse. In other words, under California law, Nathaniel was not only a new father, but was also a victim of statutory rape. Nonetheless, in a subsequent action for child support, …

Federal Income Tax Issues Of Financially Troubled Corporations, Don Leatherman

College of Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Reforms For Hire: The Jobs Act Legislation, James E. Bitter, Todd B. Skelton

Transactions: The Tennessee Journal of Business Law

Just over ten years ago, following corporate and accounting scandals in which investors lost billions of dollars, Congress enacted the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Sarbanes-Oxley reformed public accountability reporting standards, raising the costs of compliance. In 2010, following the recent financial crisis, Congress enacted the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”). The Dodd-Frank Act further increased market regulation. Sarbanes-Oxley and the Dodd-Frank Act have together worked to stem market participation.

On April 5, 2012, President Barack Obama signed the bipartisan Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (the “JOBS Act”). The JOBS Act now seeks to ease …

Mesa Airlines, Brittany Brent, Lindy Harris

Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Case Studies

No abstract provided.

Solyndra, Brandon Brewer, Matthew Kinsey, Anthony Mendenhall

Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Case Studies

No abstract provided.

In Re Jazz Photo Corp., Archie Carden, Cory Swainston

Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Case Studies

No abstract provided.

In Re Adelphia Communications Corp., Hilari Sheffield, Adam Smith

Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Case Studies

No abstract provided.

New Era Bankruptcy, Holly N. Mancl

Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Case Studies

No abstract provided.

William Edwin Lindsey, Lida Griest, Chris Inklebarger, Sydney Koch

Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Case Studies

No abstract provided.

Business Faculty Notes

Transactions: The Tennessee Journal of Business Law

No abstract provided.

Case Commentaries

Transactions: The Tennessee Journal of Business Law

No abstract provided.

Forward: Reforms For Hire: The Jobs Act Legislation, Joan Macleod Heminway

Transactions: The Tennessee Journal of Business Law

No abstract provided.

In Search Of A Unique Identity: The L3c As A Socially Recognized Brand, Tanya M. Marcum, Eden S. Blair

Transactions: The Tennessee Journal of Business Law

The driving force for the decision to organize a new business venture as a limited liability company (“LLC”) is typically the desire to achieve favorable pass-through income tax treatment, while simultaneously enjoying the protection of limited liability for its owners. As noted by one court, “[t]he allure of the limited liability company is its unique ability to bring together in a single business organization the best features of all other business forms—properly structured, its owners obtain both a corporate-style liability shield and the pass-through tax benefits of a partnership.”

During the twenty-year period between 1977 and 1997, the legal and …

Talking Union In Two Languages Labor Rights And Immigrant Workers In East Tennessee, Frances Ansley

College of Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Bankruptcy Of D & K Aviation, T J. Hatter, Maurice Echols, Michael Mason

Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Case Studies

No abstract provided.

The Bankruptcy Of Golfers' Warehouse, Inc.: A Lesson In How To Sell A Business In Chapter 11, Briton Collins, Will Smith, David Choi

Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Case Studies

No abstract provided.

Independence Air, Kara West, Patrick Woodside

Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Case Studies

No abstract provided.

Lambuth, Jennifer Crake, Zackarij Gradner, Scott Mcleod

Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Case Studies

No abstract provided.

Movie Gallery, Cornell Kennedy, Phylinda Ramsey, Kevin Rayburn

Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Case Studies

No abstract provided.

Gina, Privacy, & Antisubordination, Brad Areheart

College of Law Faculty Scholarship

This Essay briefly considers both the current and optimal role of privacy in employment discrimination jurisprudence. The recently passed Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) is illustrative of one way to value privacy through employment discrimination mandates. In particular, GINA includes a prohibition on the use of genetic information in all employment decisions, affording a measure of genetic privacy to potential and current employees.GINA stands in contrast to prior employment discrimination statutes, which have often encouraged or required employers to be knowledgeable of and consider particular identity traits through policies such as reasonable accommodation and affirmative action, and the disparate impact …

The Anticlassification Turn In Employment Discrimination Law, Brad Areheart

College of Law Faculty Scholarship

The distinction between antisubordination and anticlassification has existed since the 1970s and has been frequently invoked by scholars to advocate for certain readings of antidiscrimination law. The anticlassification principle prohibits practices that classify people on the basis of a forbidden category. In contrast, the antisubordination principle allows classification (or consideration of, for example, race or sex) to the extent the classification is intended to challenge group subordination.While most scholars writing about antisubordination and anticlassification have done so in the context of equal protection, this Article systematically applies antisubordination and anticlassification values to assess recent developments in employment discrimination law and …

Contested Elections As Secret Weapon: Legislative Control Over Judicial Decision-Making, Judy Cornett

Scholarly Works

The current interbranch tensions in the federal government have been just as potent, if not more so, at the state level. Legislative challenges to state judiciaries are accumulating nationwide. In one state, Tennessee, the newly-elected Republican majority in the General Assembly has flexed its legislative muscle in several ways, ranging from the outright hostile – threatening the imposition of contested elections for the state’s appellate judges and a takeover of the body that governs judicial conduct – to the more sublime. A less-publicized, but no less significant, step that the legislature took in 2011 was to overrule a recent decision …

Desire, Conservatism, Underfunding, Congressional Meddling, And Study Fatigue: Ingredients For Ongoing Reform At The Securities And Exchange Commission?, Joan Macleod Heminway

Scholarly Works

This article suggests the use of program evaluation -- a branch of social science research designed to assess organizations and their activities -- to analyze continued reform efforts at the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") under Section 967 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Section 967 compelled the SEC to retain an independent consultant to evaluate and issue a report on its structure and operations and mandated that the SEC engage in post-study reporting to Congress over a two-year period on its implementation of resulting reforms. The article concludes that program evaluation techniques are useful in …

Second Amendment Penumbras: Some Preliminary Observations, Glenn Harlan Reynolds

Scholarly Works

With the Second Amendment now a working part of the Bill Of Rights in the wake of the Supreme Court's decisions in District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v. Chicago, this brief Essay examines the likely extent of penumbral rights under the Second Amendment, as well as the possible effect on unenumerated rights in general of an enforceable right to arms.

Merit And Mobility: A Progressive View Of Class, Culture, And The Law, Lucille Jewel

Scholarly Works

Rising income inequality and financial trauma in the middle class beg the question of whether social mobility, long a part of America’s narrative identity, is truly available to Americans residing in the lower rungs of society. This paper addresses the connection between culture and social mobility, looking particularly at how culture impacts social outcomes in America’s meritocratic educational system. Analyzing culture and cultural capital from a progressive perspective, this paper concludes that culture operates subtly, helping some retain or improve their existing position but interfering with the mobility of others. The rhetoric of individual merit, however, obscures the role that …