Social Security administrative law judges have filed suit against the agency claiming they are so overwhelmed by disability claims that they sometimes award benefits they might otherwise deny just to keep up with the workload. The Social Security Administration says it has set a “productivity goal” for each judge to handle 500 to 700 cases a year. The judges, however, claim that is an illegal quota that violates their independence and denies due process rights to applicants. The Associated Press suggests that the suit “raises serious questions about the integrity of the disability hearing process” and comes as the disability program faces serious financial problems. WRCB-TV in Chattanooga has the AP story.
A federal appeals court ruled Friday that President Barack Obama violated the U.S. Constitution when he used recess appointments to fill vacancies on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Obama, stymied by Republican inaction on his nominees, appointed three to the board while Congress was on recess. In the near-term, the ruling casts doubt on the ability of the NLRB to conduct its business and could make recent rulings vulnerable to challenge. In the long-term, the decision could diminish the president's ability to make appointments in the absence of congressional action. Reuters News Service reports.
The Knox County Law Department is seeking to establish a non-exclusive panel of attorneys and firms it may call on to provide legal expertise when it requires the assistance of outside counsel. The county reports it will only seek assistance from outside counsel when it encounters a matter that creates an actual or perceived conflict of interest within the law department; that requires highly specialized expertise; or that requires additional assistance due to its complexity and/or time demands. Any attorney or firm interested in being considered as outside counsel should submit qualifications to the department by Feb. 13. Learn more in this announcement.
Richard Gordon, former chief judge of the Social Security Administration Office of Disability Adjudication and Review Hearing Office in Chattanooga, has joined the law firm of Dale Buchanan and Associates as general counsel. According to Chattanoogan.com, Gordon served as an administrative law judge for 25 years, deciding over 10,000 Social Security disability cases. He also worked for the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, as a judge with the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission and as a Judge Advocate General in the U.S. Army Reserve.
Gov. Bill Haslam said today he will let the federal government set up a health insurance exchange in the state, rather than establish a separate state-run system. Haslam made his remarks during a meeting of the Nashville Rotary Club. In explaining his decision, Haslam said there is still a lot of uncertainty about how a state exchange would work and that draft regulations he has seen led him to conclude there would be little flexibility or autonomy for the state-run systems. The Nashville Business Journal has details.
Former Bass Berry & Sims partner Matt Curley has returned to the firm following a two-year stint in the U.S Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee, the Nashville Post reports. A graduate of Vanderbilt University School of Law, Curley served as an assistant U.S. attorney and chief of the local office’s civil division. At Bass, he will again be a partner in the firm’s compliance and government investigations practice group.
The University of Tennessee this fall began offering a new master of public policy and administration through a partnership between the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy and the College of Arts and Science’s political science department. The new degree replaces the existing master of public administration degree that has been offered for more than 40 years. The degree will "equip students with the knowledge and skills needed to be effective managers, responsible executives and ethical public servants,” program director Professor David Folz said.
Gov. Bill Haslam has signed two bills from his 2012 legislative agenda that make structural changes to the Tennessee Regulatory Authority and 21 boards, commissions and licensing programs. Haslam had announced a review of state boards and commissions during his 2011 State of the State address and worked with the legislature throughout the year to implement many of the review's recommendations. Learn more on Chattanoogan.com
Despite a plea from the Republican chair of the Tennessee Regulatory Authority and criticism from Democratic legislators, a Senate committee Thursday approved Gov. Bill Haslam's plans for transforming the agency. "Maybe it'll work. Maybe not," TRA Chair Kenneth Hill told the committee. "Why go there and inflict damage to the utilities of Tennessee and to the people of Tennessee … then have to come back and fix it?" he asked. Read more from Knoxnews.com
In SNPCO Inc v. City of Jefferson City et al, the Tennessee Supreme Court today upheld previous rulings by the trial court and the Court of Appeals that a city ordinance prohibiting the sale of fireworks inside city limits did apply to businesses incorporated into the city even though the business had been selling fireworks since 2006. Learn more from the Administrative Office of the Court
As the chair of the Administrative Law Section of the Tennessee Bar Association, I want to take this opportunity to share some of the improvements our Section has already made as well some of the goals Vice-Chair Christy Allen and I have for the year. For those of you who don't know us, I am the Director and Chief Administrative Judge of the Administrative Procedures Division of the Office of the Secretary of State.
