Titan Kicker's Estate File Sealed From Public View

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

The court papers disclosing details of a distribution plan for some $3 million in assets from the estate of former Titans kicker Rob Bironas have been sealed from public view.
The case file was apparently sealed Tuesday less than a week after Bironas' heirs had asked the Davidson Probate Court to approve the distribution plan and also seal it from public view.
The petition cited confidential and personal information in the filing as justification for sealing the record. Also cited was the fact that one of the heirs, Bironas son London, is a minor.
The other heirs are Bironas wife, Rachel Bradshaw and members of her family. Rachel is the daughter of Terry Bradshaw, the former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback and current television commentator.
Prior to the sealing the court filings state that there was a dispute between Rachel and the other heirs over some aspects of the distribution and administration of the estate.
Bironas died Sept. 20, 2014 after his truck, traveling at more than twice the speed limit careened off a road near his home striking a tree.
An autopsy showed his blood alcohol level was 0.218 percent, double the legal limit. He was released by the Titans in 2014 ending a nine season pro career.
The now sealed file shows the vast majority of the estate assets will be shared by London and Rachel.
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Family Seeks to Seal $2.8 Million Bironas Estate Settlement

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

The family of former Tennessee Titans kicker Rob Bironas is asking the court to keep secret the details of a $2.8 million settlement of a dispute over the distribution of his estate.
In a suit filed recently in Davidson Probate Court in Nashville, Tenn., Bironas' family is asking the court to approve  a distribution agreement for Bironas' assets but also to seal the records of the case because the filing includes sensitive personal information and also involves his son London, who is a minor.
Primary heirs of the estate are London and Rachel Bradshaw Bironas, Rob Bironas' widow. Rachel, the records show had earlier objected to a distribution plan for the estate assets.
Bironas died in a Sept. 20, 2014 single vehicle crash on Battery Lane, not far from his home.
Witnesses said his truck was observed traveling at a high rate of speed shortly before it left the road and struck a tree. Police later reported he was traveling 73 mph, double the speed limit at the location.
A subsequent autopsy concluded he was legally drunk with a blood alcohol level of 0.218 percent. The legal limit was 0.08.
He was 36 at the time of his death. He had been  released by the Titans earlier that year ending  a nine season career.
In the suit filed June 18, Bironas' family including the legal guardian of his son London, asked the court to approve the agreement which calls for the distribution of several million dollars worth of assets.
Though the family attorneys asked that the court filings be sealed because a minor was involved in the case, that sealing motion has yet to be acted on.
The petition states that sealing is justified in that it contains "sensitive and private information."
Paul Gontarek, one of the attorneys for Rachel Baronas, said he could not comment when asked to detail his client's objections to the distribution plan.
The lawyer for other Bironas family members could not be reached for comment.
The suit states that "a dispute has arisen among the petitioners regarding the distribution and administration of the assets."
 It asks that the proposed settlement and accompanying administrative plan be approved because it is "fair and reasonable."
A copy of the proposed distribution calls for London to receive $9,000 a month for 90 months, to be followed by $4,000 a month indefinitely.
The  disputed agreement also calls for Rachel to vacate the family residence by May 24 of this year.
Assets of the estate, according to the records, include $523,068 in a savings plan, $445,881 in an annuity plan, $1.6 million from a life insurance policy and $32,000 from another life policy.
Under the settlement Rachel and London will share a $195,443 retirement account, while the $523,068 savings plan and the $445,881 annuity plan will go to Rachel alone.
A $1.6 million insurance policy will be shared by London, Rachel and other members of the Bironas family.
All together the estate assets total an estimated $3 million.
Baronas' actual estate and a 13-page will was previously filed in a separate case in the same court.
Filed by his father Larry W. Bironas, the estate petition includes the will calling for all the assets to be distributed to the Gateway Promise Revocable Living Trust. The assets to be distributed under the settlement would come from that trust.
An amended claim against the estate for $294,909.51 has been  filed by First Tennessee Bank.
The will, according to the filings, was prepared on Feb. 25, 2009, which preceded his marriage to Rachel. Rachel and the former NFL star had signed a pre-nuptial agreement, the filing states.
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Homeless Nashville Man Placed in Conservatorship

By Walter F. Roche Jr.


Ronald Carter, a 64-year old homeless Nashville man, has been a patient at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center for well over a month but the health care facility has initiated legal action that could soon bring about his forced discharge.
Carter, according to court filings, was admitted to the facility on April 26 suffering from pneumonia. He had prior admissions at Vanderbilt in June, October and November of last year, records show.
John Howser, medical center spokesman, said in a Friday email response to questions that Carter was a Vanderbilt patient and that his current condition was stable.
He said that privacy laws barred him from releasing additional information. 
 The legal action initiated by Vanderbilt on May 28 was made under the provisions of a new law passed by the General Assembly in 2013 which made a series of changes in the state statutes governing conservatorships. Most of  the changes had been recommended by the Tennessee Bar Association following a series of statewide hearings.
It was a last minute amendment to that bill, however, that gave health care facilities a special route to seek the discharge of patients on an expedited basis.
Court records show that almost immediately after the new law became effective Nashville area hospitals, including Vanderbilt,  began filing petitions to have temporary healthcare conservators appointed for some of their patients. The majority of those patients were homeless and nearly all were subsequently discharged to nursing homes and other health care facilities.
In its petition filed by attorney Monica Edwards, Vanderbilt stated that their social workers believed Carter had been homeless for 20 years and, though he had said he had relatives in Tennessee, he gave no information about their whereabouts. Nor could Vanderbilt locate any relatives.
Stating that Carter's cognitive function is "profoundly impaired," the hospital center said that an emergency conservator was needed to arrange for his discharge or transfer.
The filing states that on one of his prior visits to the emergency room, Carter was brought to the facility by a nurse for the Room in the Inn, a Nashville center for the homeless.
Inn officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Probate Judge David R. Kennedy appointed April Jackson to serve as Carter's attorney ad litem or advocate and she subsequently filed a motion to require that Carter be allowed to attend a June 3 hearing on whether the conservatorship should be extended.
Records indicate the hearing was then transferred from the courthouse to the medical center.
Following the hearing Kennedy issued a ruling in which he acknowledged that Carter and Jackson opposed the extension, but he concluded that continuation of the conservatorship was appropriate.
Jackson, declined to comment and Edwards did not respond to a request for comment.
Anthony Burns, who was appointed as Carter's emergency temporary healthcare fiduciary also did not respond.
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