U.S. District Court Judge Curtis Collier ruled that AT&T is not liable to pay the 911 emergency management districts in Hamilton County, the Times Free Press reports. The Hamilton County Emergency Management District sued the telephone company in 2011, claiming AT&T was not collecting enough fees from business telephone users under requirements of state law. The fees help fund enhanced 911 services. In his opinion, Collier said that the allegations from the 911 districts “strains the language of the 911 law.”

The Knoxville News Sentinel asserts that the “political honeymoon” between Gov. Bill Haslam and the General Assembly's Republican majority may have come to an end. The author cites tort reform limits on damages awards in lawsuits and the governor’s new merit-pay system for state employees. State Rep. Rick Womick, R-Rockvale, called for the impeachment of the Republican governor for accepting the gay-marriage ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. “The governor's controversy-avoidance skills may be challenged on multiple other matters that seem to be of high importance to him as well as state legislators,” the author writes.

The Tennessee Supreme Court publicly censured Jeffery Lamont Warfield on Jan. 8. Warfield is licensed to practice law in Tennessee but has been living and practicing law in Guam. The reprimand was issued because of diligence, competence and communication issues related to the representation of two clients in criminal cases. Read the BPR release.

A man who was an accomplice in the 2007 killings of Knoxville couple Channon Christian and Chris Newsom is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review his case, the Knoxville News Sentinel reports. George Thomas and his defense attorney Stephen Ross Johnson say that Thomas’ convictions “present the perfect test case of criminal responsibility laws across the nation.” Thomas was one of three men convicted for for the crimes; he admitted to knowing the plan for the carjacking that led to the murders. He also admitted in doing nothing to rescue one of the victims. "Accordingly, this case involves an important issue in which there is a split of authority in the lower courts over the constitutional limits to accomplice liability in criminal cases involving the common law doctrine of natural and probable consequences," Johnson wrote in the petition.

The U.S. legal market added 10,000 jobs from the beginning of 2015, Bloomberg BNA reports. Although the job market for lawyers fluctuated during 2015, the statistics put the industry ahead from the beginning of year.

The Tennessean published a list of of six lawmakers to watch when the legislature convenes tomorrow. The Republicans are Rep. Jeremy Durham, R-Franklin; House Speaker Beth Harwell, R-Nashville; and Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown. Kelsey is expected to advance legislation that will address criminal justice reform. The list also includes Democrats Sen. Jeff Yarbo, D-Nashville; Rep. John Ray Clemmons, D-Nashville; and Rep. Joe Armstrong, D-Knoxville. Armstrong was indicted by a federal grand jury in June for felony fraud and tax evasion charges.

The Chattanooga firm of Harry B. Ray & Associates announced it has been renamed to Ray Law Firm PLLC. The new firm is located at 6150 Shallowford Rd., Suite 105.

The Commercial Appeal discusses the potentially “dramatic” race between U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., and state Sen. Lee Harris, D-Memphis. Harris announced last week that he is seriously considering challenging the five-term congressman. Cohen said it would be a “serious political blunder” for Harris to enter the race.

Peers of House Majority Whip Jeremy Durham will discuss removing the Franklin Republican from his leadership position when the legislature reconvenes tomorrow. The Tennessean reports it is unclear what action of Durham’s resulted in the formal caucus, but Durham, R-Franklin, faced criticism after he requested a lenient sentence for a former youth pastor convicted of possessing child porn. "Durham is a walking cancer for the caucus ... From his questionable interactions with lobbyists to the way he berates staff and his inappropriate relationship with colleagues, this needed to happen a while ago,” said a high-ranking Republican official.

Greeneville attorney William H. Bell, who is representing Hilda Willis in her negligence lawsuit against McDonald's Restaurants of Tennessee, said he will take her case to the state Supreme Court. The lawsuit, filed in 2013, alleges Willis injured her knees after she slipped and fell on the floor of the restaurant when she was a customer. Circuit Court Judge Alex Pearson issued a summary judgment, requested by lawyers for McDonald’s, dismissing Willis’ lawsuit. The Tennessee Court of Appeals affirmed that decision in December. Read more from The Greeneville Sun.