Case Notes From Freeman & Fuson

A client was charged with vehicular homicide simply for being the vehicle's owner. Freeman & Fuson built a defense around the client's account and evidence the legal team uncovered, showing she was not responsible for the crime. The District Attorney agreed, and the case was dismissed at the State's request.

A client was involved in a wreck and was later charged with both DUI and leaving the scene of the accident. Freeman & Fuson secured a dismissal for lack of evidence and failure to prosecute.

An active-duty U.S. Army servicemember came to Freeman & Fuson facing a DUI charge after a traffic stop in Williamson County. The stakes reached well beyond the courtroom. The arrest alone had already put his military career in jeopardy, flagging him for promotion, blocking him from Army schools and awards, and threatening both his security clearance and his ability to remain in the service.

Joseph W. Fuson took the case to a jury trial. After trial, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty on the DUI, and the client was convicted only of speeding.

For a servicemember whose career depended on the outcome, the acquittal removed a charge that had shadowed him for two years and cleared the path to rebuild what the arrest had put on hold.

A client was removed as a part owner of a business and denied his fair share. Mark T. Freeman and Charles Grissom prepared a thorough complaint and hard-hitting discovery served alongside it. Filed in late July, the matter settled favorably less than a month later.

After a traffic stop that led to multiple charges, including drug paraphernalia, Nickolas I. Schulenberg had the entire case dismissed.

Appearing in court on a charged violation of an order of protection, Joseph W. Fuson persuaded the court to dismiss the charge, with no voluntary contact established under Tennessee law.

Appearing in court on a charged violation of an order of protection, Joseph W. Fuson persuaded the court to dismiss the charge, with no voluntary contact established under Tennessee law.

The client was charged with DUI. With no breathalyzer or blood draw, and the State relying on field sobriety tests and officer observation, Joseph W. Fuson negotiated a reduction to reckless driving.

A client with more than 16 years in her profession faced charges that threatened to place her on the Tennessee abuse registry. Mark T. Freeman reached an agreement to have the charges dismissed, keeping her off the registry and protecting her career.

To convict on a DUI, the State must prove the defendant had physical control of the vehicle. Here, the client had passed out in the vehicle without any intent to drive. The State ultimately agreed, and Joseph W. Fuson secured a reduction to public intoxication.

A client needed a 2009 public-intoxication charge cleared from his record. Nickolas I. Schulenberg petitioned the district attorney and the court, appeared in court, and had the charge expunged and removed from the record.

A father had lost legal custody years earlier, leaving all visitation to the maternal grandmother's discretion. Family tension made consistent visitation nearly impossible. Marissa Knight secured agreement on a consistent, reliable visitation schedule.

A client was arrested for domestic assault. After three court dates, Nickolas I. Schulenberg had the case dismissed.

A client was cited for speeding, and the court initially declined to offer traffic school given the speed involved. After one court appearance, Nickolas I. Schulenberg persuaded the court to allow traffic school and dismiss the ticket.

Marissa Knight secured approval for a step-father to adopt his nearly 16-year-old step-son.

A mother had raised her child largely on her own since birth, with the father rarely present and never contributing financially. Marissa Knight obtained a judgment of more than $40,000 against the father for retroactive child support.

After clients were injured as the victims of a crime, Makenzie Clark petitioned the Tennessee Department of Treasury to cover a significant portion of their medical expenses and to provide economic support for the work they missed due to their injuries.

Carolanne R. King and the family law team finalized a contested divorce for a client who was both a survivor of domestic abuse and a mother who consistently put her children's safety first. Her patience through the process and trust in the firm paid off at trial.

With the client facing aggravated assault charges, the State moved to revoke his bond. Joseph W. Fuson opposed the motion, and after a hearing the court denied it, allowing the client to remain out of custody. The client is presumed innocent.

A mother sought sole custody of her son in light of an estranged and unhealthy relationship with the father. After persistent litigation by Carolanne R. King, the matter settled with the mother receiving full custody.

A juvenile faced several charges, including felony burglary and theft. Working with the State, Nickolas I. Schulenberg secured a year of diversion on the agreement that all charges would be dismissed if the juvenile stayed out of trouble. The juvenile complied, the charges were dismissed, and the record was expunged.

The client was charged with aggravated assault following a road-rage incident involving a firearm. After several court dates, Nickolas I. Schulenberg secured a complete dismissal, and the charge will be expunged from the client's record.

Carolanne R. King stepped in to finalize a long-running petition seeking reimbursement of certain financial obligations. With the case in hand for only a month, the family law team worked through years of financial records to help the client avoid trial and reach a favorable settlement.

Carolanne R. King and the family law team finalized a default divorce for a survivor of domestic violence, bringing the client long-awaited peace and closure.

The client was charged with simple possession and drug paraphernalia. Nickolas I. Schulenberg had the case dismissed on payment of court costs, with no drug test required, and the client only had to appear in court once.

A client asked us to represent her in an appeal of a judgment for past rent from her prior landlord. The client had represented herself in General Sessions and as unable to work out an agreement with the Plaintiff. After two weeks, Michael successfully got the case dismissed and prevented the judgment from affecting her credit.

A client came to Joseph W. Fuson and Carolanne R. King in a panic after her child’s father filed a Petition to completely flip their parenting schedule. Joey and Carolanne successfully tried her case before the Sumner County Juvenile Court where she walked away as the Primary Residential Parent with the ability to choose her child’s school. The Court found, based on the arguments of Carolanne and Joey, that the father had not carried his burden of proving that he should be the primary residential parent.

Mother came to Joseph W. Fuson and Carolanne R. King after the father of her child filed a Petition requesting that her parenting time be reduced. After a very emotionally challenging trial in the Marshall County Chancery Court, which included testimony of their child, Joey and Carolanne were successful in maintaining mother’s parenting time.

Carolanne R. King was able to negotiate a temporary agreement with the opposing party, which granted her client the status of primary residential parent with the majority of the parenting time. This is important in this case because walking into Court that day, Father was only receiving parenting time at mother’s discretion.

Client released without ever posting a bond.

Case dismissed after getting case ready for trial.

Client was charged with speeding 92 mph in a 70 mph zone on Interstate 65. Case dismissed at trial.

Charges on college student were dismissed thereby saving his future employment and career.

Implied consent cases rarely end with a judge ruling for the driver, which is what makes this result worth noting. After a bench hearing that ran about an hour before a Middle Tennessee judge, Freeman & Fuson secured a dismissal of the implied consent violation, and the client kept his driver’s license. The argument turned on the officer’s training. Under Tennessee’s implied consent law, an officer who believes a driver has been drinking or using drugs can request a blood or breath test, but the State has to prove the officer properly advised the driver of the consequences of refusal and that the driver then refused. Where those elements are not established, the violation cannot stand, and the questions raised about how this officer handled the stop are what carried the hearing. The Driving Under the Influence charge remains pending, and Freeman & Fuson is continuing to defend it. Anyone who believes an officer failed to advise them of their rights at a stop should talk to a Tennessee attorney about their options.

For a commercial driver, a speeding ticket or moving violation puts both the license and the job on the line, and Freeman & Fuson regularly represents CDL holders when that is at stake. A driver from Memphis came to the firm after being accused of traveling 72 miles per hour in a 55 mile per hour zone. He did not believe he had been going that fast and wanted to dispute the Tennessee Highway Patrol officer’s conclusions. CDL cases are harder to resolve than ordinary traffic matters because federal law limits how much discretion a judge has in disposing of these offenses, which is exactly why having counsel matters. Freeman & Fuson worked the case out with the District Attorney’s office, making clear the firm was prepared to take it to trial and that the officer’s findings were open to challenge on several grounds. The ticket’s impact on the client’s driving record was substantially reduced, he kept his job, and the violation will affect his record very little. Freeman & Fuson understands how much a single violation can mean for a truck driver’s livelihood, and defends these matters accordingly.

Negative comments about other people are common online, and individuals and companies alike have grown more aggressive in how they attack one another on the internet. A false statement about a person can be devastating when it reaches hundreds or thousands of people, including potential customers, and Freeman & Fuson handles both sides of these disputes: pursuing claims for people harmed by false statements and defending people who have been wrongly accused of making them. In a recent case, the firm tried a matter involving a client who was alleged to have accused another party of theft in a Facebook post. After trial, the case was dismissed and the client was vindicated. There is a fine line between defaming or disparaging someone and simply offering an opinion, and that line often gets blurred when people post online. Anyone weighing in publicly should be careful with opinions that could affect another person’s livelihood or character. Freeman & Fuson represents both those who believe they have been harmed by a false statement posted online and those who have been falsely accused of posting one.

Freeman & Fuson represents both clients who have been sued for breach of contract and those harmed by someone else’s breach. In a recent property dispute that went to trial, the firm’s client had agreed to give a mobile home to another person as a gift in exchange for that person doing work on her property. The arrangement was never put in writing. When the individual failed to meet his end, the client refused to let him remove the mobile home, and he sued her for breach of contract. The court found in the client’s favor, largely because the parties had never entered into a written agreement. Plenty of deals still happen on a handshake, but a written contract is the better way to memorialize what each side is offering, what each side is accepting, and what the terms actually are. Had these parties signed one, the expectations on both sides would have been far clearer. Freeman & Fuson drafts written agreements when clients need them and represents clients in court when a contract dispute arises.

Freeman & Fuson represents people charged with DUI, including the most serious repeat offenses. In this case, the client was charged with DUI (5th). Under Tennessee law, a fourth or subsequent DUI is a Class E felony that carries a possible sentence of one year, with a mandatory minimum of 150 consecutive days in confinement. The fines for a DUI (5th) run from $3,000 to $15,000, a conviction revokes the license for five years with no restricted license available, and the vehicle is subject to seizure and forfeiture. The exposure on a charge like this is severe, which is why experienced counsel matters from the start. Freeman & Fuson negotiated a settlement with the State of Tennessee in which the client pleaded to Reckless Endangerment with a sentence of 11 months and 29 days, served 10 days in jail, and paid a $525 fine.

Freeman & Fuson has years of experience handling felony drug charges. In this matter, Joseph Fuson resolved a case for a client charged with possessing a large quantity of marijuana that had been shipped through FedEx. Officers had obtained an anticipatory search warrant, meaning they secured permission to enter the home and seize the package before the marijuana was ever delivered. When the controlled delivery was made, the client’s home was raided and 20 pounds of marijuana, still in the package, was seized. After several discussions with the District Attorney’s office, a preliminary hearing, and discovery, and before the case was set for trial, Joseph Fuson worked out an agreement requiring the client to serve 20 days in jail followed by two years of probation. The client was able to keep his job and move forward with his life.

A large part of Freeman & Fuson’s criminal defense practice is devoted to defending people charged with DUI, and many of those are first offenses. A DUI conviction cannot be expunged from a criminal record in Tennessee, which is why keeping the charge off the record in the first place matters so much. In this case, the client was stopped for DUI in a county known for prosecuting these offenses aggressively. After reviewing the stop video and discussing the matter with the officer, Joseph Fuson had the DUI (1st) charge reduced to Reckless Driving. The client did lose his license for one year for violating the implied consent law, and the firm helped him obtain a restricted license that allowed him to drive for work six days a week. The client was pleased with the result.

In a county known for taking a hard line on DUI cases, Joseph Fuson represented a client facing both Driving Under the Influence and felony evading arrest. The State of Tennessee alleged that the client had been driving under the influence of alcohol and had tried to evade arrest by failing to stop once the officer activated his blue lights. The client maintained that he was not impaired by the alcohol he had consumed that evening and that he had not realized an officer was behind him trying to pull him over. By building a defense early and examining the client’s medical history, Joseph Fuson reached an agreement with the State on the day the court was set to schedule a trial date. The DUI was reduced to Reckless Endangerment with no jail time, and the felony evading arrest charge was dismissed. The client was very pleased with the outcome.