News

September 9, 2024
Nashville, Tenn- Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Mary L. Wagner received a warm welcome to the bench as family, friends, colleagues, elected officials, and the judiciary joined her in Germantown for a ceremonial investiture by Governor Bill Lee.“Justice Wagner is highly qualified and brings…

August 27, 2024
Nashville, Tenn. – The Tennessee Supreme Court today clarified that an alert from a trained drug-sniffing dog can be part of law enforcement’s probable cause for a search even though the dog cannot tell the difference between illegal marijuana and legal hemp.On February 16, 2020, law enforcement…

July 31, 2024
Nashville, Tenn- The Tennessee Supreme Court held today that a person who bought property near downtown Nashville, but failed to record the deed, could not gain full ownership of the property under a rule of law known as “adverse possession.” Under adverse possession, someone who may not own…

July 19, 2024
The Tennessee Supreme Court today held that attorneys must pay their professional privilege tax or face suspension, and if they are suspended, it takes effect the moment the Court enters the order of suspension.   Every year, attorneys licensed in the State of Tennessee are required by…

July 10, 2024
Nashville, Tenn- The Tennessee Supreme Court today held that, when a trial judge misunderstands his role as “thirteenth juror” in a civil case, appellate courts should send the case back to the trial judge to review the case instead of automatically requiring the parties to go through a new trial.…

July 3, 2024
Nashville, Tenn- The Tennessee Supreme Court has held that a defamation and false light suit filed by Bill Charles against Donna McQueen must be dismissed under the Tennessee Public Participation Act (“TPPA”). The litigation began in 2020 after Durham Farms, a planned community in…

June 25, 2024
The Tennessee Supreme Court today affirmed the trial court’s dismissal of a prisoner’s petition to consider newly discovered evidence, called an error coram nobis petition. The Supreme Court clarified that, if the error coram nobis petition is not filed within one year after the conviction, the…

June 20, 2024
Nashville, Tenn – The Tennessee Supreme Court upheld the decision of a Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility hearing panel disbarring a Davidson County attorney for three criminal convictions.  The criminal convictions arise from the attorney’s conduct in representing a client in post…

June 12, 2024
In an opinion released today, the Tennessee Supreme Court affirmed a finding of multiple ethical violations by Knoxville attorney Loring Justice and reinstated a three-year suspension imposed by a hearing panel of the Board of Professional Responsibility. Although Mr. Justice previously was…

May 29, 2024
The Tennessee Supreme Court will hear three cases in Nashville, Tennessee, beginning at 9:00 a.m. CDT. The details of the cases are as follows:     Clayton D. Richards v. Vanderbilt University Medical Center – On December 12, 2014, Plaintiff-Appellant Clayton Richards filed a…