The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday asked a federal judge to shut down a scheme involving companies in New York and Arizona that allegedly connected hundreds of millions of robocalls across the country each month. In first-of-their-kind filings, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn requested temporary restraining orders against five companies and three individuals who allegedly bridged spam calls — most of which originated from India — into the American telecommunications system. The department reports that foreign fraudsters increasingly are using robocalls to impersonate U.S. government officials — including from tax and immigration agencies — to secure sensitive information from Americans. News 4 has the story from CNN.

The Tennessee Senate Commerce and Labor Committee on Tuesday easily approved a resolution to add Tennessee’s “right to work” law to the state constitution, the Times Free Press reports. The 73-year-old law bars employers from denying employment to anyone based on whether they belong or don’t belong to a labor union. Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, sponsor of the resolution, said the move is necessary to make it harder for future legislators to repeal the law.

Attorneys representing death row inmates say emails from the Tennessee Department of Correction show the state might not have the supplies needed to carry out a crowded schedule of executions in 2020, the Commercial Appeal reports. That information came to light in documents filed Tuesday in federal court as part of a case challenging the state's execution methods. The filing included several emails in which state prison officials suggest the state is searching for different drug mixes that could be used for lethal injections.

Former Knox County Circuit Court Judge Harold M. Wimberly Jr. died Jan. 24. A graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Law, he served on the circuit court from 1987 to 2014. Previous to that post, he served on the Knox County General Sessions Court. Memorial services will be held Friday at 5 p.m. at Church Street United Methodist Church, 900 Henley St., Knoxville 37902. A receiving of friends will follow in the Parish Hall. Burial will be at Highland Memorial Cemetery at 11 a.m. on Saturday. Memorial donations may be made to Church Street United Methodist Church and its Altar Guild.

Davidson County lawyer A. Sais Phillips Finney received a public censure from the Tennessee Supreme Court yesterday for violations of Rules of Professional Conduct 1.3, 1.4, 1.16, 3.4(c) and 8.4(d). Finney was representing a client in a custody matter in juvenile court when the father of the children asked that a request for rehearing be withdrawn. Finney told her client that she would seek reimbursement of attorney fees against the father, but she did not file the motion. She also failed to respond to at least two requests in writing from her client to provide an affidavit to assist in seeking reimbursement of the fees and failed to respond to an order from the court that she provide an affidavit of fees and signed retainer letter directly to the court. Due to her lack of response, the client’s request for fees against the father was eventually dismissed.

We are excited to share the new TBA website and hope you have had a chance to visit. TBA implemented a new system to ensure that our website, database and communication tools continue to meet the standards necessary to best serve our members and we want to hear from you. We received comments from a few members that Monday’s formatting of TBA Today, specifically the “Opinions” section had glitches. We made updates to the template and in testing, the issues were resolved. We also added a link at the top of the TBA Today email to view the newsletter in a browser. We continue to welcome your questions and comments regarding the new site and ask that you contact us to report any issues you are experiencing so we can address them. Call 615-383-7421 or email membership@tnbar.org. TBA will continue to use this Launch Information page for updates about the new website and email communications.

The Supreme Court today reversed a decision from the Court of Appeals in a wrongful death case and reinstated the trial court’s pre-trial dismissal for lack of proof. The court explained that the standard appellate courts use to review motions to amend a judgement is called “abuse of discretion.” When those decisions are appealed, appellate courts may only reverse if the trial judge “abused” his or her discretion. In this case, the court found that the Court of Appeals had substituted its judgement for that of the trial court and reinstated the trial court’s decision after finding it was not outside the “range of reasonableness."

Yesterday, Louisville attorney Cassidy Teater was prohibited from practicing law in the courts of the State of Tennessee by the state Supreme Court and ordered to pay restitution to one client as a condition of reinstatement. Teater, who is licensed to practice law in Kentucky and Texas, represented an individual in U.S. Immigration Court while living in Nashville. After accepting payment from the client, Teater ceased communication and failed to perform the services for which she was paid, a violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct 1.1, 1.3, 1.4(a), 1.5, 1.16(d), 8.1(b) and 8.4(a). Teater must pay the court within 90 days of the order.

A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday sided with a district court ruling that rejected a lawsuit challenging the security of voting machines in Shelby County, the Commercial Appeal reports. The lower court ruling was made in September against the Shelby County Advocates for Valid Elections lawsuit. The group had sued for a switch to handwritten ballots and a voter verifiable paper trail, arguing that the touchscreen voting machines in Memphis aren’t secure. Appellate judges wrote that the plaintiffs failed to show that there is an imminent risk of people hacking into voting machines in the county.

President Donald Trump today announced plans to nominate former state House Speaker Beth Harwell and East Tennessee State University President Brian Noland to the Tennessee Valley Authority Board of Directors, the Knoxville News Sentinel reports. In 2011, Harwell became the first female speaker of the House. She retired to launch an unsuccessful bid for governor in 2018 and has since worked for private companies and taught a political science class at Middle Tennessee State University. Noland has been ETSU’s president since 2012 and previously served as chancellor of the West Virginia Higher Education System for six years. The TVA board is made up of nine members who must first be nominated by the president and then approved by the U.S. Senate before serving their five-year terms.