Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron has agreed to publicly release grand jury deliberations in the Breonna Taylor case and also acknowledged he never recommended homicide charges against any of the officers conducting the drug raid that led to Taylor’s death, the Associated Press reports. The jury last week decided to file no charges against any of the officers involved in Taylor’s fatal shooting, opting to instead charge one officer with wanton endangerment for shooting into an adjacent apartment. Cameron said a record of the proceedings would be released Wednesday, and that the public “will see that over the course of two-and-a-half days, our team presented a thorough and complete case to the grand jury.” Cameron also said he will not object if members of the panel wish to speak publicly about their experience, stating he was not concerned about them talking because he was “confident” in the case his team presented.

Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery, alongside the Federal Trade Commission and more than 50 federal and state law enforcement partners, today announced a nationwide law enforcement and outreach initiative to protect consumers from phantom debt collection and abusive and threatening debt collection practices.” Operation Corrupt Collector” includes enforcement actions brought by the FTC, three federal partners, and partners from 16 different states against debt collectors engaged in these illegal practices. The AG’s website has the full release on the initiative.

The Tennessee Attorney General’s Office and the Division of Consumer Affairs are warning consumers of an alleged driveway paving scam after receiving several complaints from state residents. Robert Stevens with Blacktop Pros, who was also named in a January complaint from the Arkansas Attorney General, is named in the Tennessee complaint for deceptive trade practice violations. In one instance, neighbors said they were approached by a man offering a deal on leftover materials. They paid him $1,500, but the work crew did not finish, claiming they ran out of asphalt and demanding a much higher price to finish the job. The operators may have also used the following business names in the past: Robert Stevens Construction, R S Asphalt, and Pro-Pave Asphalt. 

The TBA Entertainment & Sports Law Section will present the second installment of its webcast series on Oct. 14 from noon until 1 p.m. CDT. The program, titled Recent Cases in Copyright and Entertainment Law, will focus on cases decided this year dealing with the Copyright Act and in the field of entertainment. Issues to be discussed include an analysis of applicable statutes of limitations, who owns the law, whether tattoos on basketball players depicted in video games are protected by copyright, whether a state can be liable for copyright infringement and whether cartoon characters are protected by copyright. The program is certified for one general CLE credit.  

Davidson County Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle today ruled that the state Registry of Election Finance violated Tennessee’s Open Meetings Act with a secret email vote in early April approving a civil penalty settlement with state Rep. Joe Towns, the Daily Memphian reports. Lyle denied the request from the Attorney General’s Office to dismiss the case, ruling that while the Registry “cured” its violation by voting on the matter in a public meeting held in July, that action did not make the lawsuit moot.  The lawsuit was filed in April by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, which claimed that state law required the board to file notice in advance of the meeting and to hold the vote in public. The Attorney General’s Office argued that the email vote taken was “incidental” and not an official meeting by the Registry, thus did not violate the Open Meetings Act. Lyle disagreed, finding that the Registry made a “consequential decision” that qualified as a meeting. She opted against monitoring the Registry but said its action would be considered on a case-by-case basis. She ruled the reporters’ group would recover its costs.

The Tennessee Attorney General’s Office, on behalf of the Department of Commerce & Insurance, today announced it has joined the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and 29 other states to file a complaint alleging Metals.com has been running a fraudulent precious metals scheme that has solicited more than $185 million from seniors and other investors across the United States.  According to the complaint, Metals.com is accused of targeting elderly investors through traditional and social media, providing unregistered investment advisory services designed to “instill fear in elderly and retirement-aged investors and build trust with investors based on representations of political or religious affinity.” Read the full complaint and statutory restraining order here.

Attorney General Herbert Slatery has joined a coalition of 31 states in filing an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit to support states’ authority to enforce price gouging regulations that protect consumers during emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The coalition is asking the appellate court to overturn the district court’s preliminary injunction that prevented Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron from enforcing price gouging regulations against retailers selling products on Amazon. In its filing, the coalition emphasizes how important state price gouging laws are in ensuring that essential items are fairly allocated among residents. Read the full release from the AG’s office.

Gov. Bill Lee’s office is now accepting applications to fill the public defender post for the 26th Judicial District until the next biennial election takes place in August 2022. The vacancy is due to the retirement of George Googe, effective Jan. 1. The 26th Judicial District covers Madison, Henderson and Chester counties. Interested attorneys should mail a resume and cover letter to Lang Wiseman, Deputy & Chief Counsel of the Governor, State Capitol, First Floor, 600 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Nashville, 37243 or email to rebecca.kaunisto@tn.gov by 5 p.m. CDT on Oct. 9.

The Raybin Tennessee Supreme Court Hot List analyzes cases that have recently been granted review by the state Supreme Court. Three new cases were posted to the hot list this week on the issues of res judicata, juvenile life sentences and parental right termination.

Attorney John Brendan Russell of Brentwood died June 23 at 57. Russell had a successful career in commercial real estate until 2003 when he decided to pursue his lifelong dream of songwriting in Nashville, where he released several CDs, performing as “JR and the Roadkill Choir.” Russell went on to earn his law degree from Nashville School of Law in 2014 and afterward opened Russell Real Estate Law. Donations are being received in John’s honor by the Leiomyosarcoma Support & Direct Research Foundation.