The law license of Charles Terry Webber was today transferred to disability inactive status by order of the Tennessee Supreme Court. Webber cannot practice law while on disability inactive status, but may return to the practice of law after reinstatement by the Tennessee Supreme Court upon showing clear and convincing evidence that the disability has been removed, and he is fit to resume the practice of law.

The Trial Court Vacancy Commission is now accepting applications for a circuit court judge in the 16th Judicial District, covering Rutherford and Cannon counties. The vacancy will be created by the retirement of Judge David M. Bragg, effective Jan. 1, 2021. Qualified applicants must be residents of the 16th Judicial District who have lived in the state for at least five years, are licensed attorneys and are at least 30 years of age. To apply, submit the Trial Court Vacancy Commission Application to the Administrative Office of the Courts by noon CDT on Oct. 15. A virtual hearing will be held on this matter on Nov. 12 at 9 a.m. CST and will be livestreamed on the AOC’s YouTube page. Complete application instructions and information on who to contact if you’d like to express an objection to the commission are available on the AOC’s website.

Belmont University College of Law Professor Lucian E. Dervan has been elected to a three-year-term on the American Bar Association Board of Governors, the law school’s website reports. The board is made up of 43 members and oversees general operation of the ABA and develops specific action plans. Dervan also will become a voting member of the ABA House of Delegates, the policy-making body of the association. He has been active with the ABA for several years, most recently having been appointed to serve as chair of the ABA Commission on the American Jury from 2019 to 2020. Dervan is a professor of law and the director of criminal justice studies at the law school where his research and teaching focuses on domestic and criminal law.

State officials say that 50-year-old death row inmate Marlon Kiser died on Wednesday of “apparent natural causes,” the Associated Press reports. Kiser was being held at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville where there have been 74 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 virus. Cause of death is pending determination by the medical examiner, but officials said there had been no COVID-19 cases in Kiser’s assigned housing unit. Kiser was sentenced to death in the 2001 deadly shooting of Hamilton County Sheriff’s Deputy Donald Kenneth Bond Jr. in Chattanooga.

Part of the Entertainment & Sports Law 2020 Webcast Series, They All Fall Down: Confederate Monument Removal Cases & Public Art Policy, is a one-hour webcast that will explore what place, if any, Confederate monuments have in the public sphere. Assistant professor of law at Belmont University College of Law Kristi Arth will provide an in-depth look at the lawsuits filed to prevent various monuments from being removed, outline emergent linguistic trends in the courts’ opinions related to public art policy and create a framework for how public art theory can better inform advocacy and judicial decision-making in these types of cases. The webcast will premiere on Dec. 2 from 3 to 4 p.m. CST and is worth one general CLE credit.

Register now to virtually run with the East Tennessee Lawyers Association for Women team in the 2020 Komen East Tennessee Race for the Cure! While the race can’t be held in-person this year, the virtual event will be held on Oct. 31 at 8:30 a.m. EDT. Team participation is open to all ETLAW members, their friends, families and pets. Go to the ETLAW team page to join the team or make a donation on behalf of a team member. The Knoxville Race raises funds that go directly back to local neighbors for mammograms, treatment and things as basic as food, gas and rent. Survivors will be honored in a one-mile Car Parade ending at World’s Fair Park which can be livestreamed on the Komen East Tennessee Facebook page.

The Tennessee Supreme Court today reinstated George H. Thompson III to the practice of law. Thompson was suspended in April for one year, with 30 days served on active suspension and the remainder on probation. He was also ordered to pay the Board of Professional Responsibility for all costs in the disciplinary proceeding. Thompson’s reinstatement to active practice is conditioned upon his engagement for 11 months of a practice monitor who will meet with him monthly to assess his case load, timeliness of tasks, adequacy of communication with clients and provide monthly written reports of progress to the disciplinary counsel. 

Gov. Bill Lee today announced he is extending Tennessee’s state of emergency through October, the Tennessean reports. Executive Order 63 also extends certain targeted provisions of previous orders, including remote online notarization and witnessing, which the order now extends through Oct. 30. The TBA recently asked lawyers in the state to provide feedback on whether remote notarization and witnessing should continue by filling out a survey. The survey found that 88% of the lawyers who responded were in support of the extension. Lee’s order also repeals all COVID-19-related restrictions on businesses and gathering in the state, but county health departments in Tennessee's six largest cities will continue to be able to set their own regulations. The order will allow county mayors to choose whether to impose mask mandates, though some counties in recent weeks had chosen to end their mandates ahead of the governor’s decision. Lee defended his decision to extend the state of emergency, saying he will choose to renew as long as there is a state of emergency at the federal level.

The Davidson County Election Commission has added additional legal counsel as the battle over a proposed referendum to repeal Nashville’s property tax increase begins to heat up, the Tennessean reports. Commissioners today voted to retain Bradley attorney Junaid Odubeko to assist their main legal counsel, former Tennessee Supreme Court Justice and current Nashville School of Law Dean William C. Koch Jr. The commission voted 3-2 on Friday to let a judge decide whether to place the petition on the ballot. The proposed ballot measure would roll back the city’s recent property tax increase, cap future increases to 2% without voter approval and require certain bonds to go before voters. Metro Legal released an opinion yesterday, saying the petition’s language is “not legal and enforceable.” Metro Law Director Bob Cooper, a former state attorney general, said the measure would violate the state law, which requires taxes be set by the Metro Council and not by voter referendum. The commission faces a quick turnaround to get a court decision and call for a special election on Dec. 15. 

Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle on Friday ruled that the state must again change its absentee ballot application, this time to reflect its promise to let voters cast mail ballots if someone in their household has an underlying health condition that makes them more susceptible to COVID-19, the Associated Press reports. Lyle sided with plaintiffs after they pointed out that a deputy attorney general made the eligibility comment for co-habitants last month in front of the Tennessee Supreme Court. The form on the secretary of state’s website was updated accordingly as of Monday. Secretary of State Tre Hargett’s office responded by saying that Lyle was “amending her own language – not language that state election officials wrote.”