A federal judge dismissed an 18-month old class action lawsuit against Erwin-based Nuclear Fuel Services (NFS) and other defendants, the Johnson City Press reports. Filed in June 2011, the suit alleged injuries, property damage and emotional distress suffered by 19 plaintiffs caused by “repeated releases of hazardous and radioactive substances” by NFS.

Toyota Motor Corp. has agreed to pay $1.1 billon to settle a class-action lawsuit over claims that millions of its vehicles from 1998 to 2010 accelerate unintentionally. The settlement will compensate Toyota customers for any financial losses related to possible safety defects in their vehicles. Toyota admitted no fault in the proposed settlement. The Nashville Business Journal has more.

The Trust for Public Land, the nation’s second-largest land conservation organization, is awarding Chattanooga attorney Allen McCallie with its highest honor, the Douglas P. Ferguson Award. McCallie has helped create public parks and open spaces around Chattanooga for 15 years. Additionally, he supported the development of the Aetna Mountain Wildlife Management Area, the Tennessee River Gorge and the Lula Lake trail system. WATE Knoxville has the story.

The Tennessee Supreme Court has announced that incoming Senior Judge Paul Summers will be sworn in on Monday in Nashville. Supreme Court Justice Cornelia A. Clark will administer the oath at 9:30 a.m. at the Supreme Court Building, 401 7th Ave North. His appointment was announced earlier this month.

Only five days are left to complete your yearly CLE requirement! Join us for our annual Year End CLE Blast on Dec. 27, 28 and 31 to get live credit, or take one of our many online programs at any time. The Blast, offered at the bar center in downtown Nashville, features three tracks of dual and general credit programs as well as educational games. Programs will run from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day. For questions about the Blast, call the TBA at (615) 383-7421. 

The uncertainty of the ongoing “fiscal cliff” negotiations has resulted in a flood of work for attorneys as their clients try to plan for the future, the National Law Journal reports. Due to the potential for changes in tax rates, Medicare taxes and capital gains taxes, businesses are looking to accelerate income before the year ends to avoid uncertainty in 2013. Attorneys are presenting their clients with different year-end scenarios to prepare them better for the future.

The U.S. Senate has confirmed five more district court judges, for a total of 13 confirmations so far this month, the Legal Times reports, and more votes are possible when lawmakers return to Washington, D.C. tomorrow. That makes December the second most active month for filling the federal bench during this session of Congress, behind the 15 confirmations made in October 2011.

An all-male high court in Iowa ruled in favor of a dentist who fired his female assistant because he found her attractive, and he and his wife viewed the woman as a threat to their marriage. The woman filed a lawsuit alleging gender discrimination, but the court ruled unanimously that an employer can legally fire a worker seen as an “irresistible attraction” since they were motivated by feelings and emotions, not gender. The Chattanooga Times Free Press has the story.

Lawmakers in Moscow effectively banned Americans from adopting Russian children by passing a bill that imposes a series of sanctions on U.S. interests, WCYB News reports. The move is widely seen as retaliation against the Magnitsky Act, which President Obama signed on Dec. 14. That law imposes U.S. travel and financial restrictions on human rights abusers in Russia. Russia is one of the top countries of origin for international adoptions in the United States, behind only China, with more than 60,000 Russian children joining American families in the past 20 years.

The portraits of Bradley County’s first two judges -- Judge Charles Fleming Keith and Judge Daniel Coffee Trewhitt -- were recently placed on display in the courtroom of Circuit Court Judge Lawrence Puckett in downtown Cleveland. Puckett said he believes it is important to remember the two men who helped lay the foundation for Bradley County's beginnings. “These two portraits will hang on permanent display in this courtroom,” he told the Cleveland Banner.