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August 2014
Page 15
2014 Election Coverage
Shelby County General/State and Federal Primary Elections ~ Thursday, August 7
A Pre-Election Primer
The Tennessee Supreme Court
By David Peel
By Terry Louderback
On August 7, you may
need a little more time in the
voting booth.
The sample ballot available
at www.shelbyvote.com for
the 2014 Federal & State
Republican and Democratic
Primary and Shelby County
General Elections is a whopping eight pages long, primarily due to the number of
judgeships contested. Here
are brief “job descriptions” of
some of the less-familiar
positions in the order in which
they appear on the ballot.
Judges serve eight year terms;
all other county offices, including court clerks, four.
Circuit Court is a court of
general jurisdiction consisting
of nine judges presiding
over nine divisions. The court
hears a variety of civil cases,
including: appeals from lower
courts, auto accident, breach
of contract, condemnation,
divorce, medical malpractice,
minor settlement, name
change, personal injury,
worker's compensation, and
wrongful death
The three Chancellors of
the Chancery Court hear all
cases of an equitable nature,
such as actions between partners, concerning a breach of
contract, the enforcement of
liens, or actions resulting from
fraud.
The two Probate Court
judges oversee corrections to
birth certificates, judici al
ho sp italizatio ns, na me
changes, trusts, and wills
among other services.
The Criminal Court of the
Thirtieth Judicial District of
the State of Tennessee is
comprised of ten different
divisions of court, with each
judge listening to cases involving: assault, burglary/
theft, drugs, DUI, homicide,
and robbery.
The Assessor of Property’s
primary role is to locate, identify and appraise at market
value all real and personal
property. The Assessor is also
responsible for listing current
property ownership, mapping
parcels and providing a full
description of land and improvements, such as dwellings
and other building types.
The duties of the Shelby
County Trustee include accounting & reporting, billing
& collections, banking &
operations, forecasting
& analysis, and investment
management of county funds.
The General Sessions
Criminal Court handles
100,000 cases per year. These
are misdemeanors, preliminary hearings on felonies,
traffic and environmental
cases.
The General Sessions Civil
Court consists of six civil
judges who preside in approximately 65,000 new cases
annually. The General Sessions Civil Court has jurisdiction in the following actions:
civil cases up to $25,000,
forcible entry detainer actions
(evictions), action to recover
personal property, emergency
mental commitments, denial
petitions for handgun permits,
interpleaders, drug dealer
eviction program.
The General Sessions
Criminal Court handles misdemeanors, preliminary hearings on felonies, traffic and
environmental cases.
The Shelby County Environmental Court handles
violations health, fire, building, and zoning codes.
The Juvenile Court is responsible for all assessment
screenings of all juveniles
detained for serious offenses
and evaluation referrals for
youth affected by mental and
health issues or substance
abuse.
The Shelby County Clerk’s
biggest job is selling more
than 650,000 vehicle license
plates annually. In addition to
vehicle licenses, the clerk:
collects liquor by the drink
taxes, issues notary public
commissions, sells business
licenses, swears in deputy
sheriffs, and issues marriage
licenses.
The Register of Deeds files
certain legal documents
mainly pertaining to or affecting real estate and provides
public access to these records.
The register must determine
whether each instrument
offered for registration is
entitled to registration under
state laws.
Early voting ends August 2.
Voters may cast ballots at
ANY location during early
voting, but only at their assigned polling places on Election Day. Satellite early voting
at The Refuge Church, 9817
Huff N Puff, Lakeland,is open
from 10:00 am-7:00 pm on
weekdays and 10:am-4:00 pm
on Saturday. You will need a
photo ID to vote.
Information for this article
was
taken
from
www.shelbycountytn.gov.
The elections
have caused many
clients and friends
to
question
something nonlawyers do not
normally think
about at all: The
Supreme Court of
Tennessee.
Some have criticized
the Court because they
were appointed by a
governor rather than
elected. Others have said
they are “liberal” and
some have stated they are
“conservative.” I have
seen political ads saying
both, and have gotten mass
mailings that seem
contradictory. I wonder
how many people dealing
with this actually read the
Tennessee Supreme Court
o p inio n s, and t he
reasoning underlying each.
The Tennessee State
Fraternal Order of Police
announced its support to
retain the three Justices:
Connie Clark, Sharon Lee
and Chief Justice Gary
Wade.
The Tennessee Bar
Association announced
that 9 out of 10 of
its members voted
to retain in a poll
of its 12,000
m e m b e r s
concluded
last
month. Each of the
Justices earned
recommendations of at
least 92% to retain.
Memphis
Bar
Association announced
recently that 8 out of 10 of
its members voted to retain
the Justices.
At least 74% of the
TBA attorneys said they
"highly recommend" the
Justices. This is impressive
to me in that many of
those attorneys have likely
had them rule against their
client in a case at some
point.
I actually read many of
the Tennessee Supreme
Court decisions, and they
affect my ability to help
injured Tennesseans.
I think they are quality
judges and I would like to
see them all retained. I am
concerned about the
politicizing of state wide
judicial elections. What
do you think?