Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti yesterday released a statement saying his office would continue to gather evidence and investigate complaints regarding issues with Ticketmaster’s presale of Taylor Swift tickets. The statement was released after Ticketmaster announced it would be giving some Swift fans a second chance at purchasing tickets. Skrmetti called the effort a “short-term solution for a long-term problem,” adding his Consumer Protection team was still investigating the incident. “We are working hard to deliver lasting change and a fair ticket-buying experience for all consumers,” Skrmetti said in the statement. Read more from the AG’s office.

Attorneys representing the City of Memphis have asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit from rape victim Alicia Franklin, arguing Memphis police had no duty to investigate her case to the extent she believes was needed. Cleotha Henderson has been charged with Franklin’s 2021 rape and with the kidnapping and murder of Memphis jogger Eliza Fletcher. Franklin sued the city for failing to investigate her case properly, claiming the failure to arrest Henderson led to the death of Fletcher – a claim the city called “immaterial, impertinent and scandalous” in its Dec. 6 motion. The city is asking Circuit Court Judge Mary L. Wagner to dismiss the case or, alternatively, to strike all references to Fletcher and delays in the testing of rape kits from the plaintiff’s complaint. Read more from the Daily Memphian.

U.S. Supreme Court justices will again announce decided cases from the bench, a practice that was paused during the COVID-19 pandemic. Oral arguments before the court continue to be livestreamed to the public, but the court said its opinion announcements will not. Instead, audio of the opinions will be available from the National Archives next term. The last time the justices delivered an opinion from the bench was March 3, 2020. Since then, the court has released opinions online. Read more from Bloomberg Law.

A new episode of the TBA’s Sidebar podcast is now streaming, featuring Administrative Law Section members Jerry Taylor of Thompson Burton and Bill Penny of Burr & Forman. Taylor and Penny discuss judicial deference to agency expertise in federal and in state courts and how agencies evaluate and interpret rules and statutes. The episode was produced by the Administrative Law Section and its chair, Rita Gibson Rayford. The section will host its annual forum on Dec. 15 from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. CST at Burr & Forman in Nashville and also via Zoom. Register for the event here.

The judges of the U.S. District Court of the Middle District of Tennessee will hold a memorial service next month to honor the judges who have recently passed away. The event will pay tribute to District Judges Todd J. Campbell, Thomas A. Higgins, John T. Nixon and Thomas A. Wiseman Jr., Magistrate Judges E. Clifton Knowles and Kent Sandidge III and Circuit Judge Gilbert S. Merritt. The memorial will take place on Jan. 20 at 3 p.m. CST in the rotunda of the Fred D. Thompson U.S. Courthouse & Federal Building, 719 Church St., Nashville. A reception will follow. Read the invitation.

The Tennessee Comptroller today released findings from its audit of the Department of Children’s Services, reporting that DCS failed to adequately investigate dozens of reports of sexual abuse and sexual harassment, the Tennessean reports. The audit also found that children remained in abusive or unsafe locations while DCS struggled to conduct “timely investigations,” that case workers failed to make “essential monthly supervision contacts” with those children, families and school providers in probation cases and that DCS didn’t move in a “timely manner” to investigate a large number of sexual abuse cases that fell under a federal rape law. The department is currently struggling with critical staffing and placement issues. Under a new bill filed by Rep. Yusuf Hakeem, D-Chattanooga, DCS case workers would have a hard cap of 20 assigned cases. WKRN has more on that story.   

Brandon S. Griffin of the Griffin Law Group PLLC in Sparta has been named president of the White County Bar Association. Griffin graduated from the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law in 2013 before returning to Sparta and founding his law practice. He can be reached at Griffin Law Group, 621 North Spring St., Sparta or at 931-837-2050.   

Davidson County Chancellor I'Ashea L. Myles this week ruled that a Tennessee man on death row must exhaust the prison grievance process before his case can continue, the Tennessean reports. Henry Hodges filed a lawsuit over the psychological and physical care he received after an October incident in which he severely injured his own genitals. He was kept in full restraints nearly continuously for eight days after the incident. Myles stayed the case over a procedural need to exhaust the state's internal process, but expressed frustration with the narrow avenue prisoners have to raise issues with their care in extreme situations like Hodges'. News outlets the Associated Press and the Nashville Banner have filed freedom of information motions over the case. The AP is fighting the state’s request for a protective order that would seal broad categories of documents. The Banner seeks to unseal all documents that have already been filed.  

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti recently announced that a $10 billion agreement has been reached with CVS and Walgreens for their role in the national opioid crisis. The agreement requires CVS to pay $5 billion and Walgreens to pay $5.7 billion. Both companies must also monitor, report, and share data about suspicious activity related to opioid prescriptions. Should all incentives be met, Tennessee is expected to receive a combined total of $265 million. Skrmetti said the funds will be sent “to the Opioids Abatement Trust Fund to assist in bringing the epidemic to a halt.” Read more from the AG's office. 

Parnassus Books in Nashville is hosting the launch of former Tennessee Bar Journal editor Suzanne Craig Robertson's book, He Called Me Sister: A True Story of Finding Humanity on Death Row. The event will be on Feb. 21 at 6:30 p.m. CST. The event is free, but seating is limited and registration is required. With a foreword by Sister Helen Prejean and preface by Bill Moyers, the memoir recounts the Robertson family's 15-year friendship with Cecil Johnson, who was on Tennessee's death row and was executed in 2009. Drawing from Johnson's own memoir, news accounts and court documents, the book also features interviews with many lawyers involved in the case. Preorders are available from Parnassus and other online retailers.