Two environmental organizations are joining the state in a law suit against the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). The legal dispute centers on alleged threats that pollutants from TVA's Gallatin coal plant pose to the Cumberland River — the source of drinking water for Nashville and surrounding communities. According to the complaint, the river is jeopardized by arsenic, aluminum, barium, boron, cadmium, mercury and other chemicals that seep from coal ash ponds. Lawyers with the Southern Environmental Law Center are representing the Tennessee Clean Water Network and Tennessee Scenic Rivers Association in the suit filed by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation last month. The Tennessean has more.

A new report on the growth of court fines and fees that are charged to often-impoverished offenders finds that impoverished people who go through the criminal justice system almost always get cash from family and friends to help pay their court-ordered fines, even though those family and friends are often poor, too. Titled "When All Else Fails, Fining the Family," the study notes "the incarcerated individual's friends and family ... become, in effect, a parallel welfare state." NPR has the story.

A federal appeals court in Atlanta said Wednesday it will not move forward with Florida’s gay marriage case until after the U.S. Supreme Court decides the issue nationally, probably in June. Same-sex marriages in Florida and the recognition of out-of-state marriages will continue until the court decides, Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida told the Miami Herald.

The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals ruled Wednesday that both the parents of two Knox County slaying victims and the public are barred from reviewing an investigative file on former Criminal Court Judge Richard Baumgartner, whose crimes led to new trials in the high-profile case, Knoxnews reports. The court ruled that Tennessee Bureau of Investigation files have been given special protection from the state Open Records Act — even when such a file is entered as an exhibit in judicial proceedings that do fall under the act.  

Melody Fowler-Green has been appointed executive director of the Metro Human Relations Commission, the Tennessean reports. A former attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, Fowler-Green has taken up causes for migrant workers and argued for same-sex marriage at the Tennessee Supreme Court. She replaces Tom Negri, who has been interim director since 2013.

The Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands named Zachary Oswald as attorney for its consumer and housing section. Oswald has worked for Legal Aid  since July 2014 as a legal fellow through the University of Miami Legal Corps Program, specializing in family law and consumer law, the TNLedger reports.

Robert J. English died yesterday (Feb. 5). He was 76. English began his trial experience as an attorney for the City of Knoxville soon after his graduation from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1964. He represented individuals and their families in serious personal injury and wrongful death cases. A celebration of life will be held Feb. 15 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Central Baptist Church of Bearden. ?In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Second Harvest Food Bank or Central Baptist Church of Bearden. 

Remember to take a few minutes to participate in the Tennessee Bar Association survey of Tennessee-licensed attorneys that was emailed to you recently. The results of the survey will be presented in aggregate form, so individual responses will remain anonymous and confidential. For more information or assistance with the survey, contact TBA Membership Director Kelly Stosik at (615) 383-7421 or Will Hampton at Yacoubian Research at (877) 250-7890.

Darren T. Cole of St. George, Utah, was suspended by the Tennessee Supreme Court for three years on Tuesday. The court took the action based on four complaints of misconduct. Cole formerly maintained an office in Maury County. The court also ordered him to pay the costs of the disciplinary proceeding. View the BPR notice.

Knox County lawyer Roy Patrick Neuenschwander was suspended from the practice of law on Monday for misconduct. After settling a personal injury case, Neuenschwander’s borrowed money from his client’s settlement proceeds. After his client passed away, Neuenschwander agreed to represent her son in connection with her estate. He then signed a promissory note in which he agreed to re-pay the loan to the son but did not advise either client of a conflict of interest and the need to obtain independent legal advice, nor did he obtain the clients’ written, informed consent. View the BPR notice.