University of Memphis Law Review, The

Parental Immunity From Liability in Tort: Evolution of a Doctrine in Tennessee

For most of a century, the parental immunity doctrine provided a complete bar to tort actions by minor, unemancipated children against their parents in Tennessee.1 In 1903, Tennessee was one of the first jurisdictions to adopt the doctrine,2 and it was one of the last to adhere to it in unmodified form.3 Tennessee did not abrogate its version of the parental immunity doctrine until 1994, when, in Broadwell v. Holmes? the Tennessee Supreme Court modified the doctrine to limit its application t...

United States V. O'brien Revisited: Of Burning Things, Waving Things, and G-Strings

The Court in O 'Brien said that it could not accept the claim that a limitless variety of conduct becomes speech solely because it intends to express an idea.6 The Court assumed that O'Brien's conduct qualified as speech, but said that, when speech was combined with conduct, a sufficiently important governmental interest in regulating the non-speech element [could] justify incidental limitations on First Amendment freedoms. "7 The Court stated a four-part test for when governmental regulatio...

The Rise and Fall of an Archetype: Revisions to the 'Wisconsin Model' Child Support Guidelines

The current estimate of the cost of raising a child to age eighteen for an intact, middle income family is $170,460.2 While such a monetary outlay is difficult under the best of circumstances, it is especially problematic when the children are from divorced or separated families. Across the country, jurisdictions have developed various methods to ensure that the children of separated families receive financial assistance from their parents.3 Wisconsin codified its efforts in this area in sec...

Contracts-Murfreesboro Medical Clinic, P.A. V. Udom: Physician Noncompete Agreements Go Under the Knife: The Tennessee Supreme Court Rejects Physician Noncompete Agreements

The court had three realistic options in addressing the legality of the noncompete agreement between a physician and his private employer: (1) it could have evaluated the covenant as it would any other commercial noncompete agreement to examine if it were reasonable under the circumstances;6 (2) it could have applied a special level of scrutiny, specifically for physician noncompete agreements,7 or (3) it could have invalidated the agreement as a violation of public policy.8 The Tennessee Sup...

Criminal Law-United States. V. Chriswell: The Sixth Circuit Holds Sentence Enhancements for Unduly Influencing a Minor to Engage in Sexual Conduct Inapplicable When the 'Victim' Is an Undercover Officer

3 The district court acknowledged the absence of a real victim, but stated that in cases where there is no real victim, the court should focus on the defendant's conduct to determine if he exercised undue influence.4 Accordingly, the district court applied the enhancement.5 On appeal, the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held, reversed.6 section 2A3.2(b)(2)(B) of the United States Sentencing Guidelines is not applicable in cases in which the victim is an undercover agent representing hi...

Criminal Law-State V. Sawyer: Tennessee Supreme Court Holds That a Police Officer Cannot Read an Affidavit to a Person in Custody Without Giving Miranda Warnings

A later Supreme Court decision construed and redefined interrogation, the word that has the utmost significance in Sawyer.22 In Rhode Island v. Innis,23 law enforcement officers arrested the defendant on suspicion of armed robbery.24 The officers gave the defendant the Miranda warnings, and the defendant informed the officers that he understood his rights and asked to have the assistance of an attorney.25 While transporting the defendant to the police precinct, one of the officers spoke of th...