Attorneys for the city of Memphis filed court documents this month raising questions that could affect a $550 million civil rights suit being brought by RowVaughn Wells, the mother of Tyre Nichols. Among its claims, the city says that Morgan Jackson, the mother of Nichols’ son, received $400,000 from attorneys for Wells in exchange for relinquishing her right to administer Nichols' estate. The documents also include a claim allegedly made by Jackson during depositions that Nichols was physically abusive of her. Lawyers for Wells are pushing back on the disclosures, saying they are being made to smear the family and “poison the jury pool.” They dispute the source of the payments to Jackson, saying they came from private citizens via a GoFundMe account, and say that the filing violates a previous order that gave attorneys time to designate portions of depositions as confidential. The Daily Memphian has more on the story.

Shelby County Circuit Court Judge Felicia Corbin-Johnson has dismissed the second ouster attempt against Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert, the Commercial Appeal reports. Corbin-Johnson said that the way the motion was structured — filed by private attorney Robert Meyers, who was hired for the job after Shelby County attorney Marlinee Iverson recused herself, but naming Iverson as a relator — meant it was filed with knowledge and information from Iverson. That led the judge to conclude that Iverson was responsible for the investigation that led to the ouster attempt and Meyers had no standing to bring the case. Meyers now has 30 days to decide whether to appeal. The first ouster attempt, filed by Hamilton County District Attorney General Coty Wamp acting as a special attorney, was dismissed because Wamp does not live in the jurisdiction where Halbert was elected.

A Chattanooga attorney has been accused of repeatedly sending pornographic videos that involved child and animal abuse, the Chattanooga Times Press reports. Patrick Bryant Hawley has been charged federally with sexual exploitation of children, animal crushing, coercion, enticement, and the receipt, possession and distribution of child pornography. Hawley is expected to be arraigned Nov. 22 in Chattanooga's federal court according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee.

The parents of a man who died in the Hamilton County Jail after a suspected drunk driving violation have filed a wrongful death suit against the sheriff's office and its health care team, alleging deliberate indifference and inadequate care. The lawsuit seeks $4.5 million in damages from the county over the death of their son, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reports. A jail log allegedly indicates that staff were aware of the man's deteriorating condition long before he was found unresponsive on a shower floor. He was later sent to the hospital and pronounced dead just over an hour later. According to the newspaper, the jail has faced multiple allegations of inadequate medical care, inhumane living conditions and inmate-on-inmate violence, with at least 16 in-custody deaths since the sheriff's office took control of the jail in 2020.

TennCare is seeking a $975 million budget increase for next year, largely driven by rising medical costs. According to the Tennessee Lookout, two main factors are contributing to the increase: an estimated $165 million in price hikes for medical care and $41 million to cover the cost of new classes of drugs for treating obesity, heart disease and diabetes. This year's budget request follows significant cuts in TennCare enrollment, with 300,000 people losing coverage last year. A federal judge ruled in August that those cuts violated Tennesseans' rights following a 2020 class action lawsuit. In presenting the proposed budget to Gov. Bill Lee earlier this month, TennCare officials said the agency is on more solid fiscal ground and providing more services than ever before.

The Shelby County District Attorney General (DA) will appeal two recent decisions by a lower court judge to release multiple shooting suspects without bond. The DA’s office is challenging decisions by Shelby County General Sessions Criminal Court Judge Bill Anderson, who allowed suspects involved in multiple shootings to be released on their own recognizance. Among them is a man who engaged in a nearly 12-hour standoff with police earlier this month, as well as three suspects charged in the shooting of a FedEx employee last month. According to the Daily Memphian, the appeal follows a series of headlines in recent months over bail decisions by Anderson, particularly in cases involving violent crimes.

The American Bar Association (ABA) has approved 56 law schools — more than a quarter of all ABA-accredited campuses — to use JD-Next, an alternative law school admissions program. Developed in 2019 by the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law, the program recently was acquired by Aspen Publishing, Reuters reports. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. JD-Next participants take an eight-week online course that concludes with an exam. Earlier this month, the ABA created a new pathway for law schools to admit students without relying on traditional standardized tests, offering more flexibility in admissions. While JD-Next is currently offered four times a year and remains a small part of the law school admissions landscape, Aspen says it plans to expand the program's reach with more participants and law schools.

Former Tennessee State Sen. Katrina Robinson, who represented parts of Memphis, has been resentenced for misrepresentations made to the Health Resources and Services Administration, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Tennessee. Robinson was resentenced to time served and fined $48,600. Her original sentencing in 2022 was for time served and one year of supervised release. Robinson was founder and director of The Healthcare Institute, a for-profit organization that provided educational and training programs for jobs in the health care field. The institute received $2.2 million in federal grants between 2015 and 2019. In 2021, a jury found Robinson guilty of two counts of wire fraud in connection with transfers she made from the institute's operating account for personal expenditures.

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti recently has taken action on a number of issues, including leading a group of 31 state attorneys general in urging congressional members to pass the “Kids Online Safety Act.” The bill is designed to protect children from online harm by giving parents easy access to safety settings, the ability to disable algorithms and improved processes for reporting dangerous content. Skrmetti also recently joined with 46 other state attorneys general to call on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to strengthen consumer protections against robocalls and texts. The group outlined a list of actions it would like to see made in the FCC’s Robocall Mitigation Database. Finally, the Office of the Attorney General issued a reminder of the VSAFE.gov website, which highlights fraud schemes targeted at veterans as well as tools for protecting against and reporting scams.

The Tennessee Department of Revenue has refunded $938 million to almost 47,000 businesses based on a change to the franchise tax law passed during the 113th General Assembly. The Nashville Post reports that the 2024 fiscal year budget had provided $1.6 billion for about 120,000 taxpayers to receive refunds due to the legislature's change to its tax on businesses, a modification that removed the provision for the tax based on the amount of property a business owned. Almost 59% of the money in the budget for the refunds has been given to approximately 39% of businesses that are eligible. The department is accepting refund claims until Dec. 2 for most taxpayers, but those in eight counties impacted by Hurricane Helene have until May 1, 2025.