A federal appeals court this week reinstated a looming deadline for businesses to comply with a new law aimed at cracking down on money laundering, Bloomberg Tax reports. The U.S. 5th Circuit on Monday lifted an injunction that had blocked enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act, which requires an estimated 32.6 million entities to disclose who owns and controls their businesses by Jan. 1, 2025. The U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network had pushed back the deadline to Jan. 13, 2025, after the injunction was imposed earlier this month.

Congress is putting another $100 billion into disaster relief funding, the Associated Press reports. The funds include $29 million for FEMA to help those recovering from recent hurricanes, $21 billion to help farmers, $12 billion for community recovery through Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grants, $8 billion for rebuilding damaged roads and highways, and $2.2 billion for low-interest loans for businesses, nonprofits and homeowners trying to rebuild after a disaster. The funding is in a bill to keep the government operating through March 14, 2025. President Joe Biden signed it into law on Saturday.

Nashville Judge I'Ashea Myles granted a temporary injunction Monday, stopping the Tennessee Department of Agriculture from enforcing a rule that would have drastically altered hemp sales across the state, reports WKRN. The rule was set to take effect on Dec. 26, prohibiting sales of THCA products that could convert to 0.3% or more THC, with some exceptions for licensed sellers. The injunction, granted until Feb. 18, 2025, follows a lawsuit from the Tennessee Growers Coalition, which argues the ban could harm local hemp businesses. The coalition plans to return to court in February to seek a permanent injunction, WBIR reports.

President Joe Biden granted commutations to nearly every individual on federal death row Monday morning, replacing 37 of the 40 death sentences with life without the possibility of parole. Biden's administration imposed a moratorium on federal executions, and the President said he is “more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level.” He did however let three death sentences remain in place: Robert Bowers, convicted for the mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue; Dylann Roof, convicted of the shooting at the Mother Emanuel AME Church; and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, convicted for the Boston Marathon bombing, CBS reports.

The TBA Intellectual Property Section launches its 2025 webcast series with the first installment on Feb. 5, 2025, focused on subject matter eligibility updates for AI-related inventions. On July 17, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued an update on patent subject matter eligibility to assist eligibility evaluations in patent applications and patents involving inventions related to AI technology. The webcast, beginning at noon CST, will provide an overview of the guidance update, including examples issued in conjunction with the update and community comments submitted. Make plans to join Knoxville lawyer Lauren Sherwood with Bookoff McAndrews on this one-hour webcast to learn more.

THAPAR, Circuit Judge. An Immigration Judge denied Miguel Angel Moctezuma-Reyes’s application for cancellation of his removal from the United States. The Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed. The Immigration Judge and the BIA’s interpretation of the operative statute was correct, and their application of the statute to these facts doesn’t warrant reversal. We deny the petition for review.

The Defendant, Colton Shane Sutliffe, was convicted in the Maury County Circuit Court of eighteen offenses, including multiple counts of aggravated rape, rape, and incest, and received a total effective sentence of thirty years, six months to be served at one hundred percent. On appeal, the Defendant claims that the juvenile court erred by transferring him to circuit court to be tried as an adult, that the evidence is insufficient to support his convictions, and that his effective sentence is excessive. Based upon our review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.

The plaintiff filed a declaratory judgment action seeking a declaration on whether a settlement agreement she signed in 2016 and amended in 2017 still requires her silence on the details of the alleged sexual abuse of her son in light of the 2018 enactment of Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-34-103, which makes such agreements “void and unenforceable as contrary to the public policy of this state.” The trial court granted the defendant’s motion to dismiss, issued a blanket sealing order, and held that the Attorney General and Reporter did not have to be notified of the action and that the plaintiff’s interpretation of the statute would lead to unconstitutional retrospective application. We reverse the trial court’s grant of the motion to dismiss, vacate the decisions on the remaining issues, and remand the matter for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

This appeal arises from a complaint filed by Abdolhossain Motealleh (“Plaintiff”) entitled, “Petition for Criminal Conspiracy to Petition David Margulies for Representations.” The trial court dismissed the complaint upon the defendants’ Tennessee Rule of Civil Procedure 12.06(b) motion to dismiss for failing to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. Plaintiff appeals that decision. Due to profound deficiencies with Plaintiff’s brief, particularly his failure to comply with Rule 27(a)(4) and (7) of the Tennessee Rules of Appellate Procedure and Rule 6 of the Rules of the Court of Appeals of Tennessee in several material respects, Plaintiff has waived his right to an appeal. Accordingly, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed. The defendants, ReMax Tri Star Realty and Jarrod Cruz, (“Defendants”) contend this is a frivolous appeal and seek an award of damages pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated § 27-1-122. Having determined that this appeal is devoid of merit, we find the appeal to be frivolous. Therefore, Defendants are entitled to recover their reasonable and necessary attorney’s fees and expenses incurred in defending this frivolous appeal. Accordingly, we remand this case to the trial court to make the appropriate award.

In this case involving termination of the father’s and mother’s parental rights to two of their minor children, the trial court determined that two statutory grounds had been proven as to each parent by clear and convincing evidence. The trial court further determined that clear and convincing evidence demonstrated that termination of the father’s and mother’s parental rights was in the children’s best interest. The father and mother have each appealed. Discerning no reversible error, we affirm.