A Board of Professional Responsibility hearing panel determined that an attorney violated multiple rules of professional conduct and imposed a suspension to be served on probation subject to certain conditions. The trial court affirmed the hearing panel?s findings but modified the sanction by requiring the attorney to pay restitution, shortening the term of the suspension and probation, and eliminating and modifying other conditions of probation. Upon careful consideration, we affirm the trial court?s order of restitution, but otherwise reinstate the decision of the hearing panel.

This case involves a will contest and alleged resulting trust. The plaintiff and her husband purchased two adjoining parcels of improved real property located in Strawberry Plains, Tennessee, in 1992. The plaintiff‘s husband died on February 23, 2004. On March 1, 2004, the plaintiff executed a quitclaim deed, conveying title to the property to her husband‘s uncle, ultimately the decedent in the instant action. On March 3, 2004, the decedent executed a last will and testament, bequeathing all of his property to the plaintiff.

Wife and Husband were divorced, and the trial court awarded Wife alimony in futuro as well as alimony in solido. Husband appealed the trial court?s awards, and we affirm. We also award Wife the reasonable attorney?s fees she incurred defending Husband?s appeal pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann. § 36-5-103(c).

This appeal arises from post-divorce litigation between Dale Crafton Roberts (“Mother”) and James Frederick Roberts (“Father”). Primarily at issue is the validity of the trial court?s adoption of a modified permanent parenting plan recommended by its divorce referee. For the reasons stated herein, we vacate the modified permanent parenting plan that was adopted and remand for further proceedings that are consistent with this Opinion.

Attorney fees and expenses from a federal excessive force lawsuit filed in 2014 against Knox County and Knox County Sheriff's Office Corrections Officer Kevin Potter have been approved by the court, the Knoxville News Sentinel reports. The Knox County Law Director's Office agreed earlier this year to pay Michael Craig Berger, whose nose was broken in the incident, $50,000 to settle the lawsuit. Attorneys Adam A. Edwards and Greg Coleman initially claimed $90,735 in fees for work in the case and $11,651 in expenses. U.S. Magistrate Judge Clifford Shirley ruled the attorneys’ billing was “excessive,” and reduced their figures down to $72,198 and $3,170. U.S. District Judge Pamela Reeves last week approved Judge Shirley's decision, bringing the total awarded in the case to $144,000.

The Tennessee Court of Appeals ruled Chancellor Clarence "Eddie" Pridemore did not follow proper legal standard when he tossed out a Knox County teacher’s lawsuit against her boss. Susan Weaver Jones is suing Superintendent Jim McIntyre because she claims her transfer in 2012 from an instructional coach to classroom teacher was a demotion. The court said Pridemore failed to weigh only whether Jones had enough proof to mount a successful case. "...In our judgment, Jones has alleged facts sufficient to state a claim for relief," Appellate Judge D. Michael Swiney wrote in the opinion. The case was returned to Pridemore’s court.  Read more from the Knoxville News Sentinel.

Ramiah T. McDougal was sentenced today to serve 18 months after pleading guilty to impersonating a lawyer in Obion County, The Paris Post-Intelligencer reports. In 2014, McDougal passed through a courtroom security checkpoint after saying he was an attorney representing a jail inmate. He was arrested a few days after the incident.

Williamson County Chancery Court Judge Michael Binkley announced that he will make a “speedy” decision about whether votes for and against abortion measure Amendment 1 in November 2014 were counted correctly, The Tennessean reports. A federal lawsuit filed by eight voters after the election is also challenging the method state election officials used to count the measure’s votes. The amendment, approved by 53 percent of the vote, adds these words to Tennessee’s constitution: "Nothing in this Constitution secures or protects a right to abortion or requires the funding of an abortion."

The Tennessean examines the application of the state’s Right to Natural Death Act, stating the act was never intended to allow terminally ill patients to ask their physician for medication that would end their life. The act says that Tennesseans can “accept, refuse, withdraw from, or otherwise control decisions relating to the rendering of the person's own medical care, specifically including palliative care and the use of extraordinary procedures and treatment.” Attorney John Jay Hooker, whose death with dignity appeal was denied by the state’s Supreme Court, argues the state’s Constitution already allows residents to choose assisted suicide. "What's the difference between the doctor taking you off the essential ingredients to live and giving you some medicine that will speed up your death?" Hooker said. The Tennessean announced yesterday that Hooker has been named the 2015 Tennessean of the Year in recognition of his work fighting for more than 20 years for the constitutional rights of Tennesseans.