Four teenagers escaped from Nashville’s juvenile detention center last week because employees broke “multiple rules in quick succession,” the Tennessean reports. Youth Opportunities, the company that manages the facility has acknowledged the failures and has fired three employees and put a fourth on suspension. On the night of the event, employees let youths out of their cells after bedtime; left them alone and unsupervised; left an elevator open and ignored security camera footage from within the elevator; and failed to call 911 immediately after realizing the teens were missing. Two of the teens have been apprehended, while two remain at large. The company has announced a $5,000 reward for tips leading to their arrest. Metro Nashville Police also announced this week it will undertake an investigation of the incident.

Marcia Gaile Owens, whose death sentence was commuted by Gov. Bredesen in 2010, died last weekend after being found unresponsive at a friend’s home, the Tennessean reports. Owens was sentenced to death for hiring a hitman to kill her husband in 1984. Her attorneys and other high profile Nashvillians argued she should be spared the death penalty given that she had suffered years of emotional, physical and sexual abuse at the hands of her husband. After Bredesen commuted her sentence, she was granted parole in 2011. Funeral information is not yet available.

The Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility and the CLE Commission recently reported that 26 lawyers previously suspended for administrative violations have been reinstated. They include one for CLE violations in 2019, one for CLE violations in 2012, 18 for nonpayment of fees in 2018, three for nonpayment of fees in 2015, one for nonpayment of fees in 2008, two for not paying the inactive fee in 2016 and one for not paying the inactive fee in 2013. See all lists of suspensions and reinstatements online.

The Tennessee Supreme Court reinstated Bedford lawyer Christopher Paul Westmoreland to active practice today, provided he retains a practice monitor during his remaining probationary period and does not incur any new complaints of misconduct. Westmoreland had been suspended on Oct. 16 for a period of nine months, with one month to be served on active suspension and the remainder on probation.

The Office of the Governor today released a revised notice of an upcoming vacancy on the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board. As indicated in the notice issued yesterday, Judge Marshall L. Davidson III will retire on Jan. 2, 2020. His replacement will serve the remainder of his term, which was incorrectly identified in yesterday's release. Judge Davidson’s term will run through July 30, 2020. The original notice also included an incorrect citation of the state code that governs the board. Finally, the new version of the notice indicates that seven years of experience is required for any applicant for the post. Interested attorneys should mail a resume and cover letter to Deputy and Chief Counsel Lang Wiseman, Office of the Governor, State Capitol, First Floor, 600 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Nashville 37243 or email materials to Rebecca.Kaunisto@tn.gov. The deadline to apply is 3 p.m. CST on Dec. 12.

Memphis Area Legal Services will hold a Veterans Clinic on Dec. 10 from noon to 2 p.m. at the Memphis Vet Center, 1407 Union Ave. Ste 410, Memphis 38104. This clinic is specifically for veterans with questions about their rights and benefits, including basic eligibility for benefits, discharge status upgrades/appeals, disability compensation, pensions, dependency and indemnity compensation, representation before the Veterans Affairs Department and appealing a denial of benefits.

The TBA Corporate Counsel Section is hosting a one-hour CLE with lunch on Dec. 9 from noon to 1 p.m. at the Tennessee Bar Center. The course will focus on privacy laws with a discussion of the European Union’s EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).

Davidson County Chancellor Anne Martin yesterday dismissed a petition that would bar Loews Hotels from receiving public incentives for its planned convention center hotel in Memphis, the Daily Memphian reports. The petition was brought by the owners of the Sheraton Downtown Memphis Hotel, who claimed such incentives would give unfair advantage to a competitor. The Sheraton originally filed a separate suite in Shelby County, challenging the legality of actions by the Memphis City Council that sent the project to the State Building Commission for final approval. That petition was dismissed, but lawyers for the Sheraton filed a second suit in Davidson County, challenging the state’s actions. Martin ruled the commission and state’s actions that made the Loews project eligible for the incentives were properly handled.

The state Supreme Court ruled today that nonpublic, one-on-one conversations between a newspaper reporter and sheriff’s department detective are not covered by the fair report privilege. That privilege shields persons and organizations that report on official acts from defamation claims, if the reports are fair and accurate. The decision arose from a defamation suit brought by Jeffrey Todd Burke against Sparta Newspapers. The newspaper published what Burke claimed were defamatory statements made by a sheriff’s department detective during a nonpublic, one-on-one conversation with a reporter. A trial court sided with the Sparta Newspapers and granted summary judgement based on the fair report privilege. The Court of Appeals reversed that decision and held that the conversation did not fall within the scope of the privilege. The Supreme Court sided with the appeals court, but granted Sparta Newspapers permission to appeal to define the scope of the privilege. The case was sent back to the trial court for further proceedings.

Gov. Bill Lee’s office is now accepting applications to fill the seat of workers’ compensation Judge Marshall L. Davidson III ahead of his upcoming retirement on Jan. 2, 2020. The chosen candidate will serve the remainder of Judge Davidson’s term, set to expire on July 31, 2020. Interested attorneys should mail a resume and cover letter to Lang Wiseman, Deputy and Chief Counsel to the Governor, State Capitol, First Floor, 600 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Nashville 37243. Application materials may also be emailed to Rebecca.Kaunisto@tn.gov by 3 p.m. on Dec. 12. Read more about the position here.