Nineteen current and former Tennessee legislators have filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of petitioners who oppose tax incentives to health insurance plans bought on the federal exchange. This March, the Court is set to hear the case of King v. Burwell in which the central question is whether health insurance on federal or state exchanges are eligible for tax incentives or whether tax incentives are available only on state exchanges. The Tennessean has more.

Several new laws will take affect in Tennessee on Thursday, Knoxnews reports. Tennessee is now one of more than 20 states and the District of Columbia that have passed laws adding insulin to medications that school staff may volunteer to be trained to administer, according to the American Diabetes Association. Other laws include requirements for marinas to install ground fault protection on electric lines and other notices in order to ensure ground fault safety; new welfare eligibility requirements; and protections from negligent hiring lawsuits for businesses that hire ex-felons.

The defeats of two Democrats, Chancellor Daryl Fansler and Circuit Judge Harold Wimberly Jr., by lesser-known Republicans are at the top of the list of major local political events in 2014, columnist Georgiana Vines states in Knoxnews. Republican Clarence "Eddie" Pridemore beat Fansler without much campaigning and with practically no support from local lawyers, while Republican Bill Ailor beat Wimberly with more effort and some credentials as an administrative judge.

The legal battle continues over Tennessee’s Amendment 1, with opponents of the abortion measure calling the election process “tainted” and asking a federal judge to allow a lawsuit to continue that seeks to either re-count or reject the vote count in favor of the measure. Amendment 1, which passed with 53 percent of the vote on Nov. 4, gives lawmakers more power to restrict or regulate abortion. State officials have asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit. The Tennessean has more.

Former Knox County Trustee Mike Lowe has filed a motion in Knox County Criminal Court seeking to either move his April trial out of Knox County or cull potential jurors from another locale. Lowe faces six felony theft charges for allegedly paying two ghost employees for work they didn’t do. Lowe’s attorney Gregory P. Isaacs argues in the motion that the publicity surrounding Lowe’s case has been nonstop since even before his April 2012 indictment. Isaacs also told the Knoxville News Sentinel that the Knox County jury pool also has been tainted by the continued high-profile scandals involving the trustee’s office.

A U.S. District judge in California has ruled that Facebook must face a class-action lawsuit that claims the company violated users' right to privacy by scanning their private messages. The plaintiffs in the case have alleged the company scanned private user messages on its site to help determine user preferences and target personal ads to them. Facebook has said it had stopped scanning private messages in October 2012. The Memphis Business Journal has more.

Despite increasing awareness of America’s sex-trafficking industry, many states have not yet enacted laws to combat it with enough funding to support trafficking victims, WRCB reports from the Associated Press. National advocacy groups say relatively few states have appropriated substantial funding to support victims with shelter, mental-health services and life-skills training. Without such services, advocates say, many victims are less useful as witnesses against their traffickers and more vulnerable to being forced or lured back to the sordid underworld that exploited them.

Law professor Erwin Chemerinsky presents his five most important stories about the U.S. Supreme Court in 2014 in terms of their impact on the law and society for the ABA Journal. The list includes the court’s unanimity, rulings on intellectual property, the increasing rights of corporations, influence of Justice Anthony Kennedy and the lack of vacancies on the court — specifically 81-year-old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s refusal to retire so that Democratic President Barack Obama could appoint her successor. The court is predicted to consider marriage equality, the Affordable Care Act, abortion and affirmative action in 2015.

Thomas Fleming Mabry was suspended yesterday (Dec. 30) for committing ethical misconduct by failing to exercise appropriate diligence in the representation of a client. View the BPR notice.

A funeral director sustained injuries to his shoulder and back while assisting with carrying a casket. His injury was accepted as compensable. Within a few days, he submitted a letter of resignation to his employer. After recovering from his injuries, he filed this action seeking permanent disability benefits. He also sought reconsideration of a previous settlement pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated section 50-6-241(d).