Intermediate Scrutiny Blog

March 22–March 29, 2024 Witness: Shows up voluntarily for a hearing.  Trial Court: “Sir, let me tell you what the law says. This isn’t me, Judge Michael Binkley, saying this. This is the law that I need for you to understand so we don’t have a problem later on. . . .  You’re not

March 16–March 22, 2024 Biological Daughter tells her Elderly Father that she’ll take care of him in his old age, convinces him to transfer her his assets and grant her a remainder interest in his property.  Oh no!  After he does so, she takes a bunch of his money but doesn’t take care of

March 9–March 15, 2024 Pro se plaintiff repeatedly fails to comply with court orders to answer discovery in a car accident case.  He has time to file serial motions to disqualify the trial court judge, though.  Trial court: Three generations of orders to answer discovery are enough; case dismissed as a sanction for discovery

March 2–March 8, 2024 Trial court issues order forbidding contact between Mother and Father who share a child.  To enable court-ordered visitation exchanges, though, the original order is then modified by agreement to require contact between Mother and Father.  After Father twice talks to Mother about their shared Xfinity account, Mother petitions for criminal contempt based

February 24–March 1, 2024 Ex-Husband who’s big mad about losing three Subway franchises in the divorce files a Rule 60.02 motion to set aside the judgment, claiming that Ex-Wife committed fraud in her valuation of the franchises.  Tennessee Court of Appeals: Lettuce count the ways you lose, beginning with the facts that Ex-Husband “failed to