The TBA Executive Committee held its second specially set meeting today to determine necessary restrictions on in-person events due to the recent spread of the Delta variant, hospitalizations and strain on public health resources across the state. The TBA will continue to monitor upcoming events and make determinations on continuing those events as scheduled on a case by case basis. All in-person, indoor TBA events, meetings and programs will have the following restrictions through February 2022:

• Masking will be required for attendees and staff regardless of vaccination status for indoor events. Masking for outdoor events is optional.
   
• Social distancing will be required and attendance may be limited to ensure compliance at all in-person events.
   
• Proof of vaccination or a negative PCR test within 72 hours of the event, meeting or program will be required for participation at in-person indoor events.

If applicable, TBA will comply with the more restrictive protocols and requirements of the host venue at the time of the event, meeting or program. All CLE programs will proceed virtually through 2021 with the exception of the Animal Law Forum, which will be held outside and socially distanced at the Nashville Zoo on Sept. 24.

This policy is effective immediately through February 2022.

Davidson County General Sessions Judge William E. “Bill” Higgins has announced that he will not run for re-election next year. Instead, he will return to the practice of law when his term expires in September 2022. Higgins has served on the bench since 1980 and was re-elected five times. Prior to joining the court, Higgins practiced law for 13 years and was elected to three terms as a councilman in the 24th District in West Nashville. Read more in a press release from his campaign.

Judge Brody Kane announced today that he plans to seek re-election for the 15th Judicial District Criminal Court. He will run in the Republican primary on May 3. Kane was first elected in 2014 with more than 70% of the vote. Since 2019, he also has presided over and expanded the district’s recovery/drug court. Prior to joining the criminal court, Kane served 10 years as Alexandria municipal judge. He began his career as a Shelby County assistant public defender in 1995. From 1998 to 2014, he was a partner at two law firms in Lebanon. Kane earned his law degree from the University of Memphis in 1995.

Six North Carolina residents have filed a class-action lawsuit against Tennessee-based HCA Healthcare alleging restraint of trade and unlawful monopolization. The suit targets the Mission Hospital in Asheville, owned by HCA, following accusations from patients, employees and public officials that the facility has sacrificed quality of care and patient and employee health and safety in pursuit of profits, Facing South reports. Specific complaints allege above-market pricing for prescriptions and procedures, unnecessary tests and procedures, obscured pricing and "all-or-nothing" practices that require insurance companies to use hospital facilities for non-essential services. The plaintiffs are being represented by North Carolina-based Wallace & Graham and Fairmark Partners of Washington, D.C.

The Arts & Business Council's Volunteer Lawyers and Professionals for the Arts and the law firm of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings will provide free legal services for Black-owned small businesses and nonprofits at a clinic on Sept. 16. Issues covered include questions about business formation, corporate governance, contract review and navigating local ordinances and state regulations. Eligible businesses may receive up to one hour of assistance. Companies may sign up online. To volunteer email vlpa@abcnashville.org.

The FBI has charged Christopher Michael Cunningham of Nashville with entering restricted grounds and engaging in disorderly conduct in the U.S. Capitol, Mainstreet Nashville reports. The federal government used Facebook selfies of Cunningham in the Capitol and records showing a device associated with his email address entered and exited the building to obtain the arrest warrant. In February, Cunningham called the Metro Nashville Police Department to report a stolen pressure washer. At that time he also stated on body-worn camera footage that he entered the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Prosecutors in the fraud and money laundering suits against Tennessee state Sen. Katrina Robinson, D-Memphis, have asked the court to move the trial from Memphis to Jackson, the Daily Memphian reports. Barring moving the trial, the prosecution has asked for a jury pool from outside of Shelby County. According to court filings, prosecutors made their request due to Robinson’s recent statements that the case is being prosecuted for political and racist ends. Robinson also has allegedly encouraged supporters to “pack the courtroom” and “shut the entire city down” during the trial. Robinson faces federal charges of stealing, intentionally misapplying for funding, federal wire fraud, and money laundering in two separate cases both related to her nursing school. The trial is scheduled to start Sept. 13. Read more from Fox 13 local news.

The TBA Criminal Justice Section is seeking lawyers to serve as mentors for law students during the section’s annual Crim Law Day, taking place virtually this year on Nov. 15 from 8:30 to 10 a.m. EST. Volunteer lawyers will lead a small group of students through a case scenario, facilitate discussion and answer questions. Ideally, each group will be paired with two to three practitioners. This program has grown exponentially in recent years with more than 300 students from all law schools in the state expected to attend. To volunteer for the program please contact Criminal Justice Section staff coordinator Jarod Word at jword@tnbar.org.

District Attorney General John W. Carney Jr. has retired after serving for more than two decades in the 19th Judicial District, the Leaf Chronicle reports. Carney, a graduate of the Nashville School of Law, was elected district attorney for Montgomery and Robertson counties in September 1993, after serving as a criminal investigator with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and as the bureau’s director for two years. Carney also has led the 19th Judicial District Drug Task Force, served on the board of the Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference, and served on the state’s Child Protective Investigative and Child Fatality Review teams and Nashville’s Domestic Violence Death Review Team. He was instrumental in founding the Montgomery County Child Advocacy Center and later served as its president. He also played a key role in state history: securing the governor's office during former Gov. Ray Blanton's pardons scandal.

A six-year-old lawsuit over the adequacy of Tennessee’s funding of public education is now headed to a three-judge panel created by legislation passed in the last General Assembly session, Chalkbeat reports. Shelby County Schools, Nashville Public Schools and 87 rural school districts are challenging the state’s basic education formula. A trial was to have started Nov. 15 but now has been reset for February 2022. And instead of being heard in Nashville, the trial will be held in Murfreesboro. Judges selected to serve on the panel are Senior Judge Don Ash of Murfreesboro, Knox County Circuit Court Judge Deborah Stevens and 25th Judicial District Chancellor William Cole.