Retired Maryville attorney Roy D. Crawford died Sunday (March 20) at age 94. Following service in World War II, Crawford graduated from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1948. He practiced in Maryville until 2000, when he retired at age 79. Crawford also represented Blount County in the Tennessee Senate from 1960 to 1966. McCammon-Ammons-Click Funeral Home in Maryville will handle arrangements, which are incomplete at this time.

“Jiggery-pokery” and “pure applesauce” are what The Tennessean refers to as “Scalia-isms” in the recent state Supreme Court ruling that barred the newspaper and other media from requested evidence in the Vanderbilt rape case. Tennessee Justice Gary Wade, who authored a dissent, also cited a book co-authored by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in his argument that the majority overstepped its role.

Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris is working on an agreement among Senate Republicans in which Sen. Randy McNally will succeed Sen. Ron Ramsey as Senate speaker and lieutenant governor for at least the next two years. Norris, R-Collierville, said the “transitional” speakership is to avoid a “distraction” in this year’s legislative elections, The Commercial Appeal reports. McNally, R-Oakridge, announced last week that he is running for the speakership.

This appeal arises from a long and turbulent custody dispute. Under the terms of the Permanent Parenting Plan, each parent was designated primary residential parent for one of the parties? two minor children. A few months after the divorce, the father filed an emergency petition to be named the primary residential parent of the younger child. After a hearing, the trial court dissolved the ex parte restraining order but awarded temporary custody of the child to the father. Five months later, the father filed a second emergency petition to suspend visitation with the mother.

This appeal arises out of a breach of contract action filed by a musical performer after the defendant venue owner cancelled the show in which the plaintiff performed. The trial court found in favor of the plaintiff performer and ordered the defendant to pay $70,744 in damages for breach of contract, $59,864.18 in prejudgment interest, and $90,000 in attorney?s fees. The defendant appeals, arguing that the awards of prejudgment interest and attorney?s fees were erroneous according to Nebraska law, which the parties chose to govern their contract.

This is a Rule 9 interlocutory appeal for a determination as to whether a person who has prevailed in a judicial election, but not yet assumed the office of judge, acts as a “state officer or employee” for purposes of the waiver provision set forth in Tennessee Code Annotated section 9-8-307(b), when making administrative staffing provisions. The plaintiff filed this action alleging tortious interference with an employment relationship by the defendant, a newly elected circuit court judge.

The Campaign for Accountability, based in Washington D.C., filed its second ethics complaint against U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Chattanooga. The complaint, filed with both the federal Securities and Exchange Commission and the Senate Select Committee on Ethics, alleges Corker “concealed information" about his financial stakes in two Chattanooga-based funds, as well as one based in Memphis. The Times Free Press reports Corker’s office said the filing is “another baseless accusation.”

In an e-mail sent today to staff and students, University of Tennessee Chancellor Jimmy Cheek said the university since 2011 has been "in high gear" to address sexual assault. Cheek wrote, “While I cannot specifically address the allegations in the lawsuit, I can say that any assertion that we do not take sexual assault seriously enough is simply not true.” Read more from WBIR.

The lease for Middle Tennessee’s U.S. Bankruptcy Court, located in Nashville’s Customs House, is set to expire at the end of April and could result in the court having to relocate. The Tennessean reports negotiations have been ongoing between landlord Customs House Associates and the U.S. General Services Administration. The landlord has reportedly said they'd like to use the space for events.