Georgia lawyer Erik Todd Fuqua has been reinstated to the practice of law in Tennessee. Fuqua was placed on inactive status more than five years ago, on Oct. 5, 2014. He petitioned for reinstatement and the Board of Professional Responsibility deemed it to be satisfactory. The court issued its order today but made the reinstatement effective as of March 22.

The Nashville Hispanic Bar Association (NHBA) recently named its 2024 board of directors. They are: President Ana L. Escobar, judge on the Davidson County General Sessions Court, Div. 3; Vice President Alé Dalton with Bradley Arant Boult & Cummings; Secretary Ginnette Garza Brown, associate general counsel for Tennessee State University; Treasurer Michael Rivas with Michael Rivas Law; and Immediate Past President David Esquivel with Bass Berry & Sims. The NHBA began in 2019 and was officially incorporated in 2022. The group’s Eviction Right to Counsel Program provides free legal services and education to low-income residents in the immigrant community who are facing eviction. Read more in a news release from the group. For more information contact the association at hispanicattorneystn@gmail.com.

A lawsuit against Vanderbilt University Medical Center over the release of medical records of some patients of its transgender health clinic will move forward but with a narrower scope, a judge ruled Monday. According to the Tennessean, Davidson County Chancellor Patricia Head Moskal dismissed four of the plaintiffs' 10 claims, narrowing the issues down mostly to the plaintiffs' accusations of negligence against the medical center. Vanderbilt said it was pleased several claims were dismissed and that it looks “forward to the opportunity to prove that all sensitive information was handled appropriately and in accordance with state and federal law.” The issue centers on whether Vanderbilt erred when it turned records over to the state attorney general’s office, which said it needed the information for an investigation into possible medical billing fraud.

The Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands will hold its 6th Annual Breakfast of Champions on April 17 at 8 a.m. CDT in Nashville. The event, which will take place at the City Winery, 609 Lafayette St., Nashville 37203, brings Middle Tennessee’s legal community and business leaders together to support the organization’s work. Funds raised at the breakfast directly impact low-income and vulnerable communities by providing free community education and legal representation. Learn more and register online or view the invitation.

LARSEN, Circuit Judge. Jason Schwebke sued his employer, United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM), alleging disability discrimination under state and federal law. For seven months, UWM participated in extensive discovery—producing tens of thousands of pages of documents, taking and defending depositions, and issuing third-party subpoenas—without ever mentioning arbitration. Then, with discovery nearly complete, UWM moved to compel arbitration. The district court denied that motion because UWM implicitly waived its arbitration right. We AFFIRM.

A renal care company retained a broker to locate sites for new dialysis clinics. The company agreed to pay the broker a commission when leases were signed and “at the renewal or extension of said leases.” The company later negotiated amendments to the leases without the broker’s participation. The broker sued the company for breach of contract, alleging that he was due a commission on the lease amendments. The trial court determined that eight lease amendments were renewals or extensions of the original leases. And it entered a judgment against the company for the amount of the unpaid commissions. We conclude that the evidence preponderates against the court’s finding that two of the lease amendments were renewals or extensions. So we affirm the judgment as modified.

A taxpayer failed to pay property taxes for a number of years. The county began enforcement proceedings and, following the entry of a default judgment against the taxpayer, the taxpayer’s property was ultimately sold at a delinquent tax sale. The purchaser filed a writ of possession to obtain possession of the property from the taxpayer, at which time the taxpayer filed a motion to set aside the default judgment and resulting tax sale. The taxpayer alleged lack of notice concerning the underlying delinquent tax proceedings and violation of her due process and equal protection rights. The trial court denied the taxpayer’s motion to set aside, concluding the taxpayer was properly served with notice of the underlying delinquent tax proceedings. We affirm.

In this post-divorce case, the husband filed a petition for declaratory judgment on the issue of whether a provision of the parties’ marital dissolution agreement concerning military retirement was modifiable. The trial court dismissed the husband’s petition on the ground of failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted and ruled that the provision at issue was not modifiable. While we find that the trial court erred in granting the wife’s motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, we affirm the result reached by the trial court on the merits of the dispute. Further, we have determined that the wife was not entitled to an additional award of attorney fees at trial and is not entitled to her attorney fees on appeal.

Gary Porter (“Petitioner”) filed a petition in the Davidson County Chancery Court (the “chancery court”), wherein he requested that the chancery court award him certain pre-trial jail credits which he was already awarded toward a separate sentence that Petitioner previously served. The chancery court granted summary judgment in favor of Amber Phillips (“Phillips”), Director of Sentence Management Services for Tennessee Department of Correction (“TDOC”). Petitioner appeals the judgment of the chancery court. Having determined that Petitioner’s brief is not compliant with the relevant rules of briefing in this Court, we conclude that his issue purportedly raised on appeal is waived. The appeal is dismissed.

Caprice McLemore, Gary McLemore, Misty Tanner, Barrett Tanner, and McKinley Tanner (together, “Plaintiffs” or “Appellants”) appeal from the judgment of the trial court dismissing their case against the defendant, Knox County (“Appellee” or “the County”). Appellants were injured in a car accident on Clinton Highway after being struck by a vehicle driven by Roy Michael Simmons (“Mr. Simmons”), who was evading a Knox County sheriff’s deputy. Plaintiffs filed suit against the County, alleging that it was liable for their injuries arising from the accident. Following a bench trial, the trial court concluded that the deputy pursuing Mr. Simmons did not act unreasonably under the circumstances and that the County was thus not liable for Plaintiffs’ injuries. Plaintiffs timely appealed to this Court. Discerning no error, we affirm.