News
March 25, 2019
Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Connie Clark recently presided over the final round of the Tennessee Bar Association's 2019 State High School Mock Trial Competition. Students from Agathos Classical School in Columbia were named the winners for the second year in a row. They will now go on to…
March 20, 2019
The Tennessee Supreme Court ruled today a bank that removed an individual from an account held as a joint tenant with right of survivorship without the individual’s permission was not protected from liability. The Court found the plaintiff had sufficiently alleged claims for relief against the bank…
March 13, 2019
The Tennessee Supreme Court ruled today that the fair report privilege provided to journalists cannot be defeated by either express or actual malice. The decision came in an appeal arising out of a defamation action that Davidson County District Attorney General Glenn Funk filed against Scripps…
March 12, 2019
In a divided opinion, the Tennessee Supreme Court has adopted a good-faith exception similar to one set forth by the United States Supreme Court in Herring v. United States, which held “that when police mistakes are the result of negligence . . . rather than systemic error or reckless disregard of…
February 11, 2019
Video recordings from oral argument held before the Tennessee Supreme Court in February are available online. This is the second time oral arguments have been video recorded and made available to the public.“There has been too much mystique about the Supreme Court for too long,” Chief Justice Jeff…
February 5, 2019
The Tennessee Supreme Court will hear six cases on February 6, 2019. The details of the cases are as follows: Wednesday, February 6, 2019TWB Architects, Inc. v. The Braxton, LLC, et al. –This case stems from a contractual dispute related to architectural design services. The trial…
January 31, 2019
The Tennessee Supreme Court has ruled that an employer is not liable for workers’ compensation benefits for not using an available automated external defibrillator (AED) to assist an employee who suffered a non-work related medical emergency. An AED is a medical device that delivers an electric…
January 30, 2019
The Tennessee Supreme Court has upheld two death sentences for the man who murdered two individuals in their home in Bartlett, Tennessee, in 2003.Henry Lee Jones appealed his convictions and sentences after a jury found him guilty of the premeditated murder of both victims, Clarence and Lillian…
January 29, 2019
In a workers’ compensation case, the Tennessee Supreme Court has affirmed an award of permanent partial disability benefits to Christopher Batey, an employee of Deliver This, Inc. For its reasoning, the Court adopted the opinion issued earlier by the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board.In…
January 25, 2019
The Tennessee Supreme Court has held that the attorney-client privilege protects communications between a business’s attorneys and a third party when the third party acts as the functional equivalent of an employee and when the communications relate to the attorney’s representation of the business…
January 24, 2019
The Tennessee Supreme Court today upheld a decision of a Hearing Panel of the Board of Professional Responsibility to suspend for six months the law license of Gerald S. Green, a Memphis attorney with a long history of disciplinary sanctions. The suspension incudes 30 days of active…
January 24, 2019
The Tennessee Supreme Court issued an Order today allowing the Tennessee Board of Law Examiners to reopen bar exam applications for the February 26-27, 2019 exam to allow applicants who had applied to take the exam in Washington, D.C. to take the exam in Tennessee. Around 900 law graduates had…
January 18, 2019
In a case closely watched by Tennessee’s business community, the Tennessee Supreme Court has held that trial courts cannot use evidence outside of the written agreement—called “extrinsic” evidence—to interpret a contract if that evidence is used to contradict the contract’s written terms.Beginning…
January 15, 2019
When Tennessee’s newest federal judge, Mark Norris, took the public oath of office to sit as a trial judge in the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, his state judicial colleagues were there to show their support. Before taking the bench, Judge Norris served in the…
January 8, 2019
The Tennessee Supreme Court will hear three cases on January 9, 2019. The details of the cases are as follows: Wednesday, January 9, 2019Estate of Ella Mae Haire, et al. v. Shelby J. Webster, et al-This case examines the nature of a joint tenant with right of survivorship bank account…
January 7, 2019
In a divided opinion, the Tennessee Supreme Court has reversed and dismissed the conviction of a Davidson County man for attempted especially aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor—“attempted child sexual exploitation”—in a case in which he secretly videotaped a 13-year-old female relative while…
December 20, 2018
The Tennessee Supreme Court has revised the factors for courts to consider when deciding the enforceability of a release of liability signed by someone before participating in an activity or obtaining a service.
In Tennessee, parties may enter into agreements, often referred to as exculpatory…
December 19, 2018
A panel of state and federal judges discussed the career and legacy of United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at a recent CLE organized by the Nashville Bar Association in partnership with the Lawyers’ Association for Women.The discussion, held at the Butler Snow law firm in…
December 11, 2018
The Tennessee Supreme Court affirmed the trial court’s revocation of judicial diversion for Westley A. Albright, who entered a no contest guilty plea to one count of solicitation of a minor, for which he was placed on judicial diversion and received a one-year probationary term. As a…
December 10, 2018
The Tennessee Supreme Court today held that a defendant who pleads guilty is not required to present proof of post-sentencing changed circumstances to prevail on a motion for reduction of sentence under Rule 35 of the Tennessee Rules of Criminal Procedure, if the guilty plea did not include an…