News
December 29, 2020
The Tennessee Supreme Court recently appointed a new member to the state’s Commission on Continuing Legal Education and Specialization.Kyonzté Hughes-Toombs will take her seat on the Commission effective January 1, 2021. She replaces outgoing Commission Chair John Alexander, whose second three-year…
December 22, 2020
Responding to the increase in coronavirus cases across the state, the Tennessee Supreme Court today issued an Order reinstating the suspension of most in-person hearings from December 28, 2020, to January 29, 2021. Court clerk offices remain accessible, the Order provides a list of…
December 17, 2020
The Tennessee Supreme Court has unanimously held that Endo Health Solutions Inc., Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc., and Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc.—drug companies that manufacture prescription opioids—may be sued by babies harmed by their mothers’ use of opioids. Under the Tennessee Drug Dealer…
December 10, 2020
The Tennessee Supreme Court has approved an innovative Alternative Dispute Resolution Plan prepared by the Alternative Dispute Resolution Commission (ADRC) to assist courts facing a backlog of civil cases caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. For many years, mediation has been used to successfully…
December 10, 2020
In an opinion released today, the Tennessee Supreme Court settled a split of authority in the Court of Appeals about the interpretation of a Tennessee statute authorizing termination of parental rights. The Supreme Court held that the statute authorizes termination of parental rights upon…
December 7, 2020
The Tennessee Supreme Court today issued a supplement to its November 17, 2020 Order that further clarifies the protocols judges, attorneys, court staff, and others should follow when entering a courthouse during the pandemic. The November 17 Order continued the judicial state of emergency and…
December 4, 2020
In an opinion released today, the Tennessee Supreme Court held that the rebuttable presumption of acceptance of an insurance policy’s terms by payment of premiums in Tennessee Code Annotated section 56-7-135(b) applies in actions against an insurance agent for failure to procure a policy in…
November 17, 2020
In response to the increased number of COVID-19 cases in the state, the Tennessee Supreme Court issued an Order today designed to protect all of the participants in the judicial system and the public at large while keeping the courts open and accessible to carry out essential constitutional…
November 3, 2020
The Tennessee Supreme Court has six cases set for its November 4–5, 2020 docket. The first five cases will be heard using livestream video conferencing, and the sixth case will be submitted on briefs. The details of the cases are as follows:State of Tennessee v. Michael Rimmer – In this appeal,…
October 27, 2020
The Tennessee Business Court Docket Pilot Project continues to expand and break new ground, providing an invaluable resource to Tennessee’s business community. Today, the Tennessee Supreme Court designated Chancellor Patricia Head Moskal as an alternate judge for the Business Court Docket Pilot…
October 23, 2020
The Tennessee Supreme Court issued an order today approving remote administration of the February 2021 Uniform Bar Examination in Tennessee, citing the continuing risk associated with large gatherings due to the pandemic and the increase in COVID-19 cases in Tennessee. A “remote examination” means…
October 6, 2020
In an opinion released today, the Tennessee Supreme Court affirmed a holding of the Court of Appeals that Crouch Railway Consulting, LLC (“Crouch”), a Tennessee company, met its burden of establishing personal jurisdiction to sue LS Energy Fabrication, LLC (“LS Energy”), a Texas company, in…
October 2, 2020
The Tennessee Supreme Court held in a unanimous decision that under the Post-Conviction Procedure Act of 1995 an appellate court does not have the authority to consider an issue, or raise an issue on its own, that was not raised in the post-conviction trial court.Petitioner Marty Holland pled…
October 2, 2020
The Tennessee Supreme Court today suspended the law license of a Morristown attorney for two years. The Court held that the attorney made false representations in a child custody case, exploited a client with a disability in an estate case, and engaged in dishonest conduct in order to get an…
October 1, 2020
Arguing a case before an appellate court is often a pinnacle moment in any lawyer’s career. Doing it well takes practice, polish, and some inside knowledge into the workings of the appellate courts.A panel of distinguished Tennessee appellate judges provided some insight recently during a…
September 28, 2020
The Tennessee Supreme Court has four cases set for its September 30, 2020 docket. These cases will be heard by using video conferencing and will be livestreamed to the TNCourts YouTube channel. The details of the cases are as follows:In re Neveah M.– This expedited appeal examines one of the…
September 10, 2020
The Tennessee Supreme Court today entered an order permanently disbarring an attorney from practicing law in Tennessee. A lawyer is “disbarred,” that is, expelled from the legal profession, when the Supreme Court finds that he or she has engaged in misconduct so serious that it must revoke…
September 8, 2020
The Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services (TALS) will honor Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Cornelia A. Clark with the prestigious Janice M. Holder Award for Justice Clark’s leadership in advancing the quality of justice statewide to ensure the legal system is open and available to all. The award…
September 1, 2020
The Tennessee Supreme Court has two cases set for its September 2, 2020 docket. These cases will be heard by video conferencing. The cases will be livestreamed to the TNCourts YouTube page at 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., respectively. The details of the cases are as follows:Jared Effler, et al. v. Purdue…
August 26, 2020
The Tennessee Supreme Court has unanimously held that a court may not retroactively correct, or “reform,” a deed when reformation would harm parties with valid recorded liens on the property and would benefit other parties who bought the property with notice of the liens. Courts in Tennessee…