A U.S. appeals court on Friday upheld an Illinois state ban on assault-style weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines, reports Reuters. The ban was enacted after a 2022 mass shooting in a Chicago suburb that left seven people dead and dozens wounded. In a 2-1 vote, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals threw out a lower-court injunction imposed against the firearms restrictions in one set of cases but affirmed other decisions keeping the law intact. The Democratic-backed state measure bans the sale and distribution of high-powered semiautomatic weapons such as AK-47 and AR-15 rifles and large-capacity magazines. 

The Nashville Department of Transportation announced the end of the city’s six-month pilot program use of License Plate Readers (LPRs), reports the Tennessean. The automated cameras can read license plates and flag vehicles connected to certain crimes. The Metro Council voted 24-14 on Aug. 16 to expand the program. During the pilot program, the cameras read over 70 million plates, resulting in 112 arrests. Of those arrests, 103 had a history of local criminal charges, according to the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD). A spokesperson for Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell said MNPD will now gather proposals on camera costs and software.

A Tennessee resident's lawsuit against actress Kathy Griffin has been revived after the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the state has jurisdiction over Griffin for her social media posts, the Tennessean reports. The Oct. 31 decision could have broader implications on the jurisdiction and legal liability of free speech in online platforms. In 2021, a video of Samuel Johnson's altercation with a teenage promgoer in Franklin went viral. Shortly after the video was posted to Twitter (now X), Griffin reposted the video with Johnson’s name and hometown and tagged Johnson’s employer. Johnson was soon fired from his position as CEO of a Franklin-based telehealth company. Johnson sued Griffin in federal court for interference with his employment, infliction of emotional distress, invasion of privacy and negligent injury. The district court dismissed the lawsuit in March 2023 for lack of personal jurisdiction over Griffin.

A new report published by the American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession details the experiences of female Native American lawyers as they navigate the intersection of race and gender in the legal profession. The report was published in collaboration with the National Native American Bar Association (NNABA). "Excluded & Alone: Examining the Experiences of Native American Women in the Law and a Path Towards Equity" recounts personal stories of the challenges facing female Native Americans who practice law and is based on a qualitative research study conducted by Arin N. Reeves, Ph.D., president and managing director of Nextions LLC. For the study, 74 Native American female lawyers were randomly chosen to participate in group sessions, sharing personal stories about their journeys into and within the legal profession. Findings from the report were presented yesterday as part of a webinar. Read the ABA's full press release. 

Vanderbilt University Law School has launched an AI Legal Lab (VAILL) to explore how artificial intelligence intersects with the delivery of legal services and access to justice. “AI has the potential to reshape the law and legal services in an unprecedented fashion,” said Dean Chris Guthrie. “Through this new lab, Vanderbilt Law has a unique opportunity to play a pivotal role in this transformative era.” VAILL plans to build coursework focused on both applications within the law and technological skill-building, with help from thought leaders across Vanderbilt. VAILL’s immediate plans also include co-development of service delivery solutions with legal aid organizations as well as law firms and legal departments, and the development of executive education programming focused on using AI in various practice settings. Read the full announcement.

Memphis Mayor-elect Paul Young on Friday named TBA member Tannera Gibson as his city attorney and Penelope Huston as his head of communications, reports the Daily Memphian. Gibson, a former president of the Memphis Bar Association, was the first Black female partner at Burch, Porter & Johnson and was named one of the country’s top lawyers. She has specialized in government relations, commercial litigation, personal injury and municipal law. Since 2016, Huston has led communications at the Downtown Memphis Commission after working at ALSAC, Memphis in May and Contemporary Media. The city attorney, also known as chief legal officer, is involved in most city contracts and serves as a key advisor to the mayor. The chief communications officer oversees how the city disseminates information and interacts with the media. 

A Tennessee haunted attraction billed as a “rough, intense and truly frightening experience” is being investigated by the Tennessee Attorney General's Office after it was featured on a recent Hulu documentary, reports the Tennessean. Assistant Attorney General Kristine Knowles sent a letter to McKamey Manor founder Russ McKamey on Oct. 31 expressing concern over the attraction's business practices of not honoring participants' wishes to stop during the tour. In addition, Knowles questioned whether a $20,000 prize offered to those who complete the tour exists. Located in Summertown, McKamey Manor warns participants that the attraction is not for those who are pregnant, claustrophobic, suffer from seizures, respiratory or heart conditions, or, as the company states, are "wimpy." Knowles said the attorney general's office will be requesting documents from McKamey in the coming weeks.

The deadline for applying to be part of the Tennessee Bar Association’s Leadership Law 2024 class has been extended to Nov. 10. Contact Paul Burch if you have questions about the program or the application process.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in a new court filing released yesterday, accused Amazon.com of using illegal strategies to boost profits, including an algorithm, “Project Nessie,” that earned the online retailer more than $1 billion, reports Reuters. Details of the lawsuit, filed in September, were withheld until yesterday when a version with fewer redactions was made public in U.S. District Court in Seattle. The FTC said the algorithm allowed the retailer “to extract more than a billion dollars directly from Americans' pocketbooks,” calling it an "unfair method of competition" because it manipulates other online stores into raising prices, allowing Amazon to do the same. The complaint also accuses Amazon of hiding operations from antitrust enforcers and destroying office communications. In a section of the lawsuit which remains heavily redacted, Amazon allegedly deterred Walmart from offering discounts to online shoppers who picked up their purchases from stores.

Shelby County Criminal Court Judge James Jones Jr. ordered the release of additional records in the Tyre Nichols state criminal case, the Commercial Appeal reports. The records were initially to be released by the city of Memphis in March, but Jones agreed to a motion to block the release until the defense attorneys had reviewed them. The records have been the subject of litigation from a coalition of news media outlets that asked for the records to be released quickly. According to the city of Memphis and the Shelby County District Attorney's Office, the records include more than 20 hours of additional audio and video footage from the night Nichols was beaten by now-former officers with the Memphis Police Department, as well as over 2,000 documents including personnel files and statements made during internal investigations.