A multi-year legal challenge to Tennessee’s 48-hour waiting period for abortions now rests with a federal court, but Senior Judge Bernard Friedman, a Michigan judge appointed to preside over the case, has no set timetable for issuing his ruling, the Tennessean reports. The 2015 law requires women seeking an abortion to wait 48 hours between receiving in-person counseling from a doctor and returning to a clinic for an abortion. Both sides submitted final written conclusions late last month.

With the December release of his feature film, “Hell on the Border,” filmmaker Wes Miller seeks to tell the true story of Bass Reeves, a black lawman fighting to protect the same frontier that oppressed him. A native of Jackson, but raised in Memphis, Miller had his own trouble with the law before becoming a civil rights attorney. But after nearly a decade in the law and frustrations with practicing, he decided to pursue a new career. He considers his ties to Memphis strong, saying coming home recharges him. The Daily Memphian has more on his story.

Retired Third Judicial District Circuit Court Judge John K. Wilson died Friday at 75. He was an assistant district attorney for eight years before being appointed by Gov. Lamar Alexander to the circuit court for Greene, Hamblen, Hawkins and Hancock counties, a position he held for 35 years. He retired in 2014. Funeral services took place Dec. 23 at the Doughty-Stevens Chapel in Greeneville.

Georgia lawyer Eric Jason Byrd on Thursday received a public censure from the Tennessee Supreme Court yesterday. Byrd began working remotely for a Tennessee law firm in late 2018. In January 2019, he moved to Nashville and began working in the law firm’s Nashville office. However, he did not file an application for comity admission in Tennessee until May 16. In addition, his website and the letterhead used by the firm failed to indicate that he was not yet licensed in Tennessee. His actions were found to violate Rules of Professional Conduct 5.5 and 7.1.

Despite Gov. Bill Lee’s consent to continue refugee resettlement in Tennessee and several losses in federal court, Republican legislative leaders say they will continue to push a lawsuit challenging constitutionality of the federal resettlement program, the Daily Memphian reports. House Speaker Cameron Sexton and Lt. Gov. Randy McNally are prepared to move ahead with a suit authorized by the state legislature in 2016. Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery has declined to take the case so it is being handled by the Thomas More Law Center. The suit has lost at three levels in federal court, including two defeats at the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. The lawmakers are hoping the U.S. Supreme Court will consider it.

Shelby County lawyer Clinton Daniel Hermes was reinstated to the practice of law on Dec. 5. He was placed on inactive status on May 10, 2013. Hermes petitioned the court for reinstatement and the court found his petition to be satisfactory and reinstatement to be appropriate. The court issued its order on Dec. 20.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, along with ACLU's national organization, is suing the city of Mt. Juliet over a zoning ordinance that limits surgical abortion clinics to industrial zones and bans them within 1,000 feet of churches and schools — a move opponents say will effectively ban abortions in the city limits. The Mt. Juliet City Commission passed the ordinance at a special called meeting in March, the Lebanon Democrat reports. The groups allege the ordinance was aimed directly at the women's clinic Carafem, which opened in the city two days before the ordinance was considered. Read more from the group.

As Chief Judge Marshall L. Davidson III prepares to leave the Tennessee Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board to become disciplinary counsel for the Tennessee Board of Judicial Conduct, Workers Compensation.com has a review of how the appeals court has grown under his leadership. Davidson was named presiding judge of the brand new court in 2014 and oversaw its launch. Now, five years later, the court has issued more than 400 opinions and has complied with all statutory deadlines, often issuing opinions early. Reflecting on his time with the court, Davidson says it has been a “blast.” He will leave the court and start his new job on Jan. 1. In addition to teaching at the Nashville School of Law, he also will teach a workers' compensation course at the Belmont College of Law and return to volunteering with Court-Appointed Special Advocates (CASA).

The TBA’s 2019 CLE Blast continues next week with sessions from 7 a.m. to 6:45 p.m. on Monday and from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesday. Choose from general or dual certified programs in three rooms. All available for live classroom credit.

A $120 million settlement has been reached in an antitrust class action lawsuit against Massachusetts-based Momenta Pharmaceutical and its New Jersey-based distributor Sandoz Inc., the Nashville Post reports. The governing body of Nashville General Hospital led the suit which alleged that from 2011 to 2015, Momenta and Sandoz conspired to monopolize the sale of generic treatment enoxaparin, known by its brand name Lovenox. The settlement will pay hospitals, insurers and companies that paid for their employees’ health care costs, as well as uninsured patients in Tennessee and 29 other jurisdictions who paid for the drug. It has not yet been determined how much Nashville General will receive.