Tennessee Attorney General Robert Cooper has filed a motion to intervene and defend state law that caps damages in civil cases, The Nashville Ledger reports. A lawsuit filed by the husband of a Brentwood woman who died after getting fungal meningitis from tainted steroid injections seeks $12.5 million in compensatory damages, well above the maximum $750,000 that plaintiffs can receive under a 2011 Tennessee law. A hearing on the state’s request was heard this morning in Davidson County Circuit Court.

Former Assistant U.S. Attorney for West Tennessee James L. Croom was appointed Wednesday as a judge for the Western District's Bankruptcy Court, NWTN Today reports. Croom is a graduate of University of Tennessee at Martin and the Cecil C. Humphrey’s School of Law at what was formerly Memphis State University. Prior to becoming an assistant U.S. attorney, Croom served as an estate administrator for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District and later as an attorney/advisor in the office of the U.S. Trustee for Region Eight. A resident of Greenfield, Croom’s chambers and courtroom will be located in the district’s Jackson office.

Memphis attorney L. Wade Harrison Jr. died Monday. He was 74. Harrison earned his bachelor’s and law degrees from Memphis State University. Upon graduation, Harrison practiced with his father, Lawrence “Larry” Wade Harrison Sr., before opening his own practice a short time later. In 1991, his daughter Zoe joined him in the practice. Visitation will be held at 1:45 p.m. Sunday at the Church of the Holy Apostles in Collierville, with funeral services following immediately at 2:30 p.m. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Friends of Music Ministry at the Church of the Holy Apostles, the Senatobia Presbyterian Church, or Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.

Law Day art and essay entries for the 2013 competition are due April 12 to local contest coordinators. This year’s theme “Realizing the Dream: Equality for All” provides an opportunity for students to explore civil and human rights movements in America and the impact they have had in promoting the ideal of equality under the law. Students also are asked to consider what remains to be done to rectify injustice in society, including eliminating all forms of discrimination, putting an end to human trafficking and ending other violations of human rights. The art contest is open to all Tennessee students in K-8 grades. The essay contest is open to students in grades 9-12. Learn more about this year’s competition and rules for submitting entries.

A man currently in jail in Ohio is suspected in a series of bomb threats at courthouses in five states including Tennessee last November and December. The Mansfield News Journal reports that Lonny Bristow was arrested Wednesday in connection with the threats in Nebraska, Washington, Oregon, Mississippi and Tennessee.

Leading energy law and land use expert Hannah Wiseman will speak Thursday about fracking at Vanderbilt Law School. The talk is titled “Natural Gas Fracturing, Federalism Debates and the Regulatory Divide” and will explore the recent, rapid expansion of oil and gas development in the United Sates, driven large hydraulic fracturing and drilling in shale formations, and the legal issues that arise in its wake. The event is free and open to the public.

Interim Commissioner of the Department of Children’ Services Jim Henry has rehired Debbie Miller, the agency’s former executive director of family and child well-being, the Nashville City Paper reports. Miller was removed from the department in early January by former commissioner Kathyrn O’Day. “The department had a recent vacancy and Commissioner Henry asked Ms. Miller to return. He has known her work for many years and respects her skills and experience in the area of child welfare,” a spokeswoman for DCS said.

Probate Judge David Randy Kennedy this week replaced a Davidson County public guardian who had been charging her full hourly fee for legal work regardless of the service she was performing, the Tennessean reports. Court records show that while Jeanan Mills Stuart was serving as conservator of Marlee Spalding she billed $986 to accompany her to a Christmas concert at the Schermerhorn and $1,282 for a shopping trip, the newspaper reported.  Spalding’s sister Myra S. Whitaker will take over as conservator, and Judge Kennedy has said he will not assign any additional cases to Stuart pending a review of the fees she has charged.

Allied Waste North America and its BFI Waste Services subsidiary are suing their attorneys Linda Mowles and Deborah Stevens of Lewis, King, Krieg & Waldrop for negligence and breach of contract. According to the Nashville Post, the companies had to pay Metro Nashville $7.2 million following a fire that destroyed a downtown thermal plant. The attorneys helped file an appeal, which was denied on all counts by the Tennessee Supreme Court. The lawsuit now alleges Mowles and Stevens did not communicate with the companies about a strategy before filling the appeal, specifically stating that the attorneys' exclusion of expert testimony related to the value of the thermal plant was detrimental to the case. An attorney representing Lewis King said the firm disputes the allegations and plans to defend itself in court.

Belmont University College of Law student Franklin Graves is one of 12 law students selected for the 3rd Annual Law Student Reporters Program during the American Bar Association Intellectual Property Law Conference next month in Washington D.C. The students will be live reporting via social networks and blogs at each conference event on behalf of the ABA’s Law Student Action Group. Use the Twitter hashtag #IPLSpring to follow the action.