Lenoir City Municipal Court Judge Terry Vann died Sunday (March 13) following a yearlong battle with cancer. He was 68. Vann served as city judge for 16 years and previously served as Lenoir City attorney. “He always had a passion for the area and its people, and he’s going to be greatly missed,” said Amber Scott, assistant city administrator for Lenoir City. Read more from the News-Herald.

Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey will not seek re-election this November, WSMV reports. Ramsey’s term as Speaker of the Senate will expire in January 2017. "After a lot of prayer and many sleepless nights, I have determined that I simply cannot commit to another four years in office," Ramsey, R-Blountville, said. Ramsey, who was first elected to the General Assembly in 1992 as a member of the House, said he wants to spend more time with his family and grandchildren.

President Barack Obama today nominated Judge Merrick Garland, 63, to the U.S. Supreme Court to fill the vacancy left by the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Garland, chief judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, was considered for previous vacant Supreme Court seats. As President Bill Clinton's pick, he was confirmed to the D.C. court in 1997 with a 76-23 Senate vote. His experience prior to the bench includes leading the investigation into and prosecution of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. CNN reports Senate Republicans do not plan to have hearings on Garland, but the president encouraged the Senate to not treat Garland like a “political piñata.” Tennessee's Republican U.S. Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker today again suggested that the next president should fill the Supreme Court vacancy, the Knoxville News Sentinel reports. 

The trial for a teenager charged with raping a fellow Ooltewah High School teammate will stay in juvenile court, WATE reports. The teenager charged was 17 at the time of the incident, but has turned 18. Two other 16-year-old boys have been charged in the case, along with three Ooltewah staff members.

The Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week unanimously reversed the conviction of a North Carolina man whose lawyer slept through parts of his trial. While the attorney denies sleeping at trial, the three-judge panel erased the 30-year prison sentence of Nicholas Ragin and called the facts of the case “extraordinary and egregious.” Read more from The Wall Street Journal’s Law Blog.

Bloomberg BNA features a series of videos from its interview with Richard Susskind, co-author of The Future of the Professions. Susskind answers question about how the ideas in his book apply to the Big Law community, including if technology will ever replace lawyers.

Above the Law criticizes a recent 5-4 decision by the Oklahoma Supreme Court changing bar exam scoring in an effort to make bar passage easier. “…Bar exam grading and scaling should not be made easier to accommodate the failings of law schools to properly cull their entering classes,” the author writes.

WBIR reports an undisclosed settlement has been reached between Knox County and Louis Flack, a mentally ill former inmate whose 2014 jail beating was captured on video. Flack and his attorney, Lance Baker, originally sought $5 million in the civil-rights lawsuit. The county and Baker will still have to reach an agreement on the attorney fees.

Steve Olita, a Memphis-area inventor, is suing Carrier Corp. for allegedly using his ideas in its Collierville factory without paying licensing fees, The Commercial Appeal reports. He says the air conditioner manufacturer worked with one of his former employees to copy his ideas to avoid paying. Olita also filed a separate lawsuit against former employees and other companies.

The mother of a three-year-old boy who shot himself with a pistol in the family’s vehicle waived her rights Monday to a pretrial hearing, the Chattanoogan reports. Kelly Pittman’s charges – criminally negligent homicide and child endangerment – now go straight to the Grand Jury.