Internal correspondence among Tennessee Department of Health officials contrasted with public comments show that the number of “excess” doses found at the Shelby County Health Department were overstated, the Memphis Business Journal reports. The Journal looks at the state and the county’s methodology for determining the excess doses. It also explores the county’s explanation for the excess doses, including that a stockpile intended for teachers was not used because the state did not open up that phase as early as expected, and that other doses went unused due to unanticipated weather issues.

The Tennessee State Supreme Court’s Access to Justice Commission will hold a virtual event on Friday to discuss America’s reckoning with race. The program will look at America’s long history with race and evaluate that history through the words of the U.S. Supreme Court, evaluate racial buzz phrases, and discuss how best to move toward racial reconciliation. The program is available to all participants in the legal system, including judges, lawyers, court clerks and court personnel, mediators, advocates, law school faculty and law students, court interpreters, court reporters, members of court boards and commissions and other stakeholders. Registration is required but is free. Brooklyn Sawyers Belk, legal counsel for Lyft, will moderate the discussion.

The Tennessee Bar Association is now accepting nominations for its Tennessee Professionalism Award. The Tennessee Professionalism Award is awarded each year to a lawyer or judge whose life and practice display sterling character and unquestioned integrity, coupled with ongoing dedication to the highest standards of the rule of law and the highest standards of the legal profession in Tennessee. The award will be presented to a lawyer or judge residing in the grand division of the state where the TBA's Annual Convention is held (this year, the Western Grand Division). Nominees must be alive when their nomination is submitted but need not be an active member of an American Inn of Court or the TBA. The TBA Annual Convention is scheduled to be held in Memphis and virtually this year the week of June 14. The deadline for submitting nominations is May 3.

Some Tennessee lawmakers want control over when the state should challenge the federal government in court, proposing to remove the solicitor general from the attorney general’s office, giving the position exclusive authority to represent the state in federal court, and making the post accountable to the General Assembly. The new solicitor general would be elected by lawmakers and hold a four-year term., the Tennessean reports. The power to file suit currently rests with the attorney general and reporter's office. The proposal, SB350/HB506, passed the Senate State and Local Government Committee after the sponsor promised to amend it to address some of the concerns expressed. The bill has drawn concerns from Democrats, the attorney general's office and legal experts, who argue the measure could be unconstitutional and lead to inefficiency.

The TBA Corporate Counsel Section will hold its Annual Forum this Wednesday. This year’s four-hour, remote CLE will cover a range of topics including what to expect from the new Biden administration with regard to regulations; labor and employment law updates; using technology to manage a law office; and how COVID-19 is impacting labor and employment, human resources, workplace liability, vaccines and more. Speakers include Adam Dougherty with Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart; Geoffrey Lindley with Rainey, Kizer, Reviere & Bell; and Hemant Sharma from the University of Tennessee.

Hamilton County lawyer Glen Roy Fagan was suspended today by the Tennessee Supreme Court for six years, with five years to be served on active suspension and the remainder on probation. The court directed Fagan to engage the services of a practice monitor, complete six additional continuing legal ethics hours and reimburse all costs of the disciplinary proceeding. The court found that Fagan, a Georgia lawyer employed as in-house counsel in Tennessee, created a fictitious complaint and settlement, and authorized the transfer of funds from his employer to himself under the company’s mistaken belief it was settling the complainant. The court also found that he falsified a second complaint and authorized the transfer of money from his employer to himself. His actions violated Rules of Professional Conduct 4.1 and 8.4(b), (c) and (d).

The Tennessee Supreme Court today upheld a death sentence for Michael Dale Rimmer, convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend Ricci Lynn Ellsworth in 1997. The court’s action upholds Rimmer’s second conviction for the crime. His first conviction in 1998 was overturned and a new trial ordered. Rimmer appealed the second conviction arguing that (1) it violated the double jeopardy clause in the Constitution, (2) DNA evidence in his car should not have been admissible because his attorneys were not able to inspect the car, and (3) evidence of a 1989 rape conviction of Ellsworth and escape attempts from prison should not have been admissible. The court rejected all claims. Justice Sharon G. Lee concurred with the majority but disagreed with how the court determined whether the death sentence was excessive or disproportionate to the penalty imposed in similar cases. Read more about the case from the Administrative Office of the Courts.

Davidson County lawyer Memorie Kristina White received a public censure from the Tennessee Supreme Court yesterday. The court found that White, with knowledge that a corporation was represented by counsel, knowingly contacted corporate employees and negotiated a reduction of a judgment lien held by the corporation. A censure is a rebuke to the attorney but does not affect the ability to practice law.

Roscoe Dixon, a Memphis Democrat who was prominent in state politics for more than a decade before his 2006 conviction in the FBI’s Tennessee Waltz corruption sting, died yesterday at 71, the Commercial Appeal reports. Dixon got his start in politics at the Urban League, the NAACP, the Rev. Jesse Jackson's Operation PUSH and on the 1974 congressional campaign of Harold Ford Sr. He first ran for the Memphis City Council but lost in a runoff. He took a year to work on Jimmy Carter's 1976 presidential campaign in Atlanta and then returned to Memphis to build a grassroots coalition. He was then elected to the state House and served there from 1978 to 1994 when he joined the state Senate. He served there until 2005. Dixon was convicted in 2006 on bribery and extortion charges for accepting $9,500 to help pass legislation. He was sentenced to five years in federal prison. After his release, he became an advocate for the restoration of voting rights for felons.

The Tennessee Registry of Election Finance has assessed a $135,000 civil penalty on former state senator and Rutherford County Mayor Bill Ketron after he took responsibility for nearly $300,000 in questionable campaign contributions and expenditures. Board members voted unanimously to impose the penalty for violations connected to Ketron’s Senate, Quest PAC and mayoral accounts, Tennessee Lookout reports. The registry dismissed $80,000 in previous penalties for numerous late filings and allowed Ketron to start a payment plan, which would make him eligible to run for re-election in 2022. In the past, the registry has required lawmakers to pay all of their penalties before becoming eligible for election. In this case, the body said it will consider the payment plan as a payment. In other actions, the registry voted unanimously to audit an expense by Rep. Todd Warner, R-Chapel Hill, with a new vendor — Dixieland Strategies — to determine whether it was legitimate and potentially whether illegal coordination was made between the campaign and the Faith Family Freedom Forum political action committee.