Cummings Manookian PLC purchased an historic building on Nashville’s Music Row for its law offices, The Tennessean reports. Attorneys Brian Manookian and Brian Cummings bought the 4,074 square foot building for $1.3 million. The firm is currently located at 102 Woodmont Blvd.

Former Knox County Chief Deputy Clerk Tim Wheeler filed a federal lawsuit against Knox County Circuit Court Clerk Cathy Quist-Shanks and Knox County over his April 2015 firing without warning. Wheeler claims an inner-department demotion and subsequent firing were in retaliation for medical leave he took, the Knoxville News Sentinel reports. Wheeler filed another lawsuit last year claiming Quist-Shanks was paying a ghost employee.

Two Democratic senators from Maryland last week tried to get the U.S. Senate to confirm Waverly Crenshaw as a U.S. District Court judge in Tennessee's Middle District. Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn rejected the bid. Crenshaw was nominated by President Barack Obama in 2015 and was unanimously approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee eight months ago. Read more from The Tennessean.

The 14th Edition of the Alimony Bench Book is now available from the TBA Family Law Section. Produced by the members of the section’s Alimony Committee, the book is available for purchase in a loose-leaf format for $40 or a three-ring binder for $50. To order the book, visit the TBA’s online bookstore or contact the TBA at (615) 383-7421. Members of the Family Law Section can download the new edition at no charge by logging in to TBA.org and going to the Resources link on the Family Law Section's webpage.  

The state House last week passed a resolution thanking Tennessee’s U.S. Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker for stating they will not vote for anyone nominated by President Barack Obama as a U.S. Supreme Court nominee. House Democratic Caucus Chairman Mike Stewart of Nashville criticized the measure (HR178) as "engaging in these partisan games." Read more from The Knoxville News Sentinel.

The state Senate last week unanimously approved a bill that would repeal the "spiritual treatment" exemption to the state's child abuse and neglect statute, the Knoxville News Sentinel reports. The measure (SB 1761 / HB 2043) is sponsored by Sen. Richard Briggs, R-Knoxville, a cardiac surgeon. The exemption was at the center of a case involving the 2002 death of a Loudon County girl after her mother refused medical care in favor of “spiritual treatment” and prayer. The state House Criminal Justice Committee is scheduled to consider the bill Wednesday.

Attorney General Hebert Slatery said attorneys who worked on the case overturning Tennessee’s ban on same-sex marriage should be paid $1.1 million, The Associated Press reports. The figure is $1.2 million less than the 19-attorney team requested. Kentucky lawyers representing same-sex couples were paid $1.1 million. U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger will determine the amount of fees the lawyers should receive.

As an investigation continues against Rutherford County and a former probation company, The Tennessean reports on lawsuits in a number of states that have “spotlighted tensions between companies and offenders.” Jack Long, a Georgia attorney who has brought 18 suits against a probation company, said, "We still have a system in which there is a profit motive to keep people on probation and to keep them there for as long as possible.”

"Open government is a hallmark principle of a constitutional democracy." The Tennessean argues for the importance of public access to court in the wake of the Erin Andrews case, in which reporters were barred from jury selection. The reporter argues that seeing evidence (some of which had been sealed in 2012 from public disclosure) and viewing the jury’s reaction throughout the Andrews trial are just a few of the reasons why media access, governed by the Tennessee Supreme Court’s Rule 30, is necessary.

U.S. District Judge Sandy Mattice today upheld the conviction and death sentence of Christa Pike, who was convicted of the 1995 torture murder of a fellow Job Corps worker in Knoxville. Pike was 20 when she was sentenced to death, making her the youngest woman to be sentenced to death in the United States since the U.S. Supreme Court's Furman ruling in 1972. Mattice said he did not see “valid grounds” for the appeal to proceed, the Chattanoogan reports. Pike was also convicted in 2004 for nearly strangling a fellow inmate with a shoestring.