According to the ABA Journal, Lex Machina’s 2022 Employment Litigation Report shows a total of $1.17 billion in damages were awarded in 1,016 employment cases in 2021—the highest amount of damages in nearly a decade. The report focuses on the three-year period from 2019 to 2021, examining cases that were filed under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act. Additional data shows that 73% of employment cases in district courts settled between 2019 and 2021, while only 10% of claim defendants and 3% of claimants won. In the appellate courts, appellees won in 51% of employment cases during the three-year period. Appellants won in 13% of cases, while 15% of cases settled. Read highlights from the report.

The Tennessee Department of Health this week appointed two Nashville attorneys to serve as its chief of staff and general counsel, the Nashville Post reports. Elizabeth Foy will serve as the department’s chief of staff. Foy served as legislative liaison for the department since 2021 and was appointed assistant commissioner earlier this year. She also served as an assistant district attorney in Nashville for more than 10 years. The department also appointed Mary Katherine Bratton as general counsel. Bratton originally started with TDH as assistant general counsel in 2012, and most recently served in the office of general counsel at the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.

The American Bar Association has appointed Tennessee Lawyers Assistance Program (TLAP) Executive Director Buddy Stockwell to its Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs (CoLAP). CoLAP is instrumental in supporting all state LAPs in the development and delivery of top-tier clinical support and monitoring services to judges, lawyers, and law students who are confronting alcoholism, substance use disorders, or any other type of mental health issue such as depression. The Tennessee Supreme Court appointed Stockwell as TLAP executive director in July 2020. Now into his 40th year of recovery from alcoholism, Stockwell has been personally involved in lawyer assistance for 30 years.

A retirement celebration for Davidson County Seventh Circuit Probate Court Judge Randy Kennedy will be held on Aug. 23 from 2- 4 p.m. CDT, on the Sixth floor of the Historic Davidson County Courthouse. Notes and well wishes for Kennedy can be left here. RSVPs are not required, but questions can be directed to Adam Hill.   

Outgoing state Sen. Mike Bell, R-Riceville, will resign his seat early to take a job as senior advisor for legislative affairs and policy with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA), the Tennessean reports. Bell announced earlier this year he’d be leaving his position after nearly 16 years in the legislature. He was elected to the state House in 2006 and then the state Senate in 2010. Bell’s District 9 seat was redrawn as part of redistricting this year and is now considered District 1. He previously chaired the Senate Government Operations Committee, which oversees all the state government agencies and departments, including the TWRA.

A challenge to Nashville's laws restricting home-based businesses was today sent back to the trial court by the Tennessee Supreme Court. A Nashville music producer and a licensed cosmetologist, both running businesses out of their homes, sued Metro in 2017 after their businesses were found to be in violation of Nashville’s “client prohibition” law, which states that “No clients or patrons may be served on the property.” A trial court ruled in Metro’s favor. While the appeal was pending, Metro Council repealed the client prohibition law, replacing it with a new law allowing home businesses up to six customer visits per day. The Court of Appeals ruled the case moot due to Metro's repeal of the law. On appeal before the Supreme Court, the plaintiffs argued their case was not moot because they were still being harmed by the new law. The high court found the new law did not completely cure the harm claimed by the plaintiffs and that the appellate court could not be sure whether the plaintiffs will suffer ongoing harm. The justices unanimously decided to vacate the previous decisions and send the case back to trial court. Read more from the Administrative Office of the Courts.

From an initial client interview, to completing a representation, a lawyer’s duty of communication with a client creates ongoing potential for ethics missteps and legal malpractice liability. TBA CLE will present the “Lawyer’s Duty of Communication” webcast on Oct. 3 from noon until 3 p.m. CDT where attendees will learn what they can do to effectively meet this important attorney-client duty. Learn more and register here.

Knox County Chancellors John F. Weaver and Christopher D. Heagerty and Chancellor-elect Richard B. Armstrong have appointed J. Scott Griswold as the court’s clerk and master. He will be sworn in on Aug. 31, and he will succeed Howard G. Hogan, who is retiring after 24 years of service. Griswold is currently a shareholder with Long, Ragsdale & Waters. He previously was a law clerk for then Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice William M. Barker. Read more in a release from the firm.

Davidson County lawyer C. LeAnn Smith was suspended from the practice of law today for two years and six months. As a condition of reinstatement, Smith would have to enter into a Tennessee Lawyers Assistance Program monitoring agreement that includes reporting to the Tennessee Supreme Court’s Board of Professional Responsibility. The court took the action after receiving one complaint that Smith testified falsely under oath as a party to a lawsuit. Her conduct was found to violate Rule of Professional Conduct 8.4(c) and (d).

Tennessee's next state attorney general, Jonathan Skrmetti, is coming under criticism from Democratic legislators unhappy with recent comments that he might create a new special unit to handle suits against the federal government. Tennessee Senate Minority Leader Jeff Yarbro, a Nashville Democrat, said the "barrage of partisan, multistate litigation by attorneys general is a new phenomenon," and noted that the state had sued the federal government “17 times in the last 18 months.” Skrmetti has said the purpose of the unit would be to protect the agency's "nonpartisan" attorneys who do not want to work on ideological cases. Chattanooga Times Free Press has the story.