Mother/Appellant appeals the trial court’s termination of her parental rights on the ground of severe child abuse, Tenn. Code Ann. § 36-1-113(g)(4), and on its finding that termination of Mother’s parental rights is in the child’s best interest. Discerning no error, we affirm.

This appeal arises from post-divorce petitions and counterpetitions for enforcement and modification of the parties’ marital dissolution agreement (the “MDA”), and permanent parenting plan (the “PPP”). The dispositive issue on appeal is whether either party is the prevailing party for the purpose of recovering his or her attorney’s fees. Because the final decree of divorce incorporated a mandatory dispute resolution provision, we must first determine whether either party qualifies as the prevailing party concerning claims “to procure enforcement” of the MDA or PPP. We then consider whether either party qualifies as the prevailing party pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated § 36-5-103(c), (the “Statute”), which has a broader application but is discretionary. During the pendency of the action, the defendant/father delivered two checks to the plaintiff/mother, one in satisfaction of the mother’s claim for past due child support and a second check in satisfaction of her claim for past due alimony. Thereafter, the remaining claims went to mediation, after which the parties approved an agreed order resolving all remaining claims except attorney’s fees, reserving the fee issue for the trial court. Each party, claiming to be the prevailing party, sought to recover their respective attorney’s fees. The trial court ruled that “[s]ince both parties were awarded their beneficial, judicial relief that materially altered the other party’s behavior, the court cannot consider either party the sole ‘prevailing party.’” Thus, neither was awarded any attorney’s fees. This appeal followed. Because the father paid the child support and alimony arrearages after the mother filed her petition and motion to enforce the MDA and PPP, we find that the mother is the prevailing party on the enforcement claims, for which she is contractually entitled to recover her reasonable and necessary attorney’s fees and costs pursuant to the dispute resolution clause in the MDA. As for the respective claims and defenses related to modification of the MDA and PPP, for which the Statute applies, we affirm the trial court’s decision to not award attorney’s fees based on the finding that neither party can be considered the prevailing party. Thus, we reverse in part, affirm in part, and remand with instructions for the trial court to award the mother a judgment for the reasonable and necessary attorney’s fees and costs she incurred to enforce the father’s obligations to pay child support and alimony pursuant to the MDA and PPP. Because neither party can be considered the sole prevailing party on appeal, we deny both parties’ requests to recover their attorney’s fees incurred on appeal.

In this interlocutory appeal, the employee sought temporary disability benefits after the treating physician rescinded his earlier assessment placing her at maximum medical improvement. The employee suffered a rotator cuff tear, which the employer accepted as compensable and for which it provided workers’ compensation benefits, including surgery. After the employee suffered a recurrent rotator cuff tear, the employer authorized a second surgery. Following a subsequent tear, the employer paid for a third surgery and follow-up care but then argued that the employee was unable to prove this tear arose primarily from the work accident and, therefore, she was not entitled to further benefits. In the alternative, the employer argued that even if the third tear arose primarily from the work accident and caused a new period of temporary disability, benefits should begin on the date the treating physician rescinded his prior assessment of maximum medical improvement, not the date it last paid temporary benefits. Following a hearing, the trial court awarded the requested temporary disability benefits, and the employer has appealed. Having carefully reviewed the record, we affirm the trial court’s decision, modify the award of accrued temporary disability benefits, and remand the case.

TBA’s Legislative Updates podcast returns with attorneys and TBA lobbyists Berkley Schwarz of Pier Strategies LLC and Brad Lampley of Adams & Reese. This week they discuss TBA's Day on the Hill, happening next Wednesday; the extrajudicial adoptions bill HB1263/SB1238; real estate bills HB569/SB394, HB1970/SB1985 and HB1762/SB1707; TBA's adoption bill SB2165/HB2350; a probate bill SB2184/HB2451; and a family law bill SB2324/HB2429. Tune in on the TBA website or through this link. Attorneys may support the TBA’s lobbying efforts by contributing to LAWPAC.

The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals has upheld the convictions of one of the men who fatally shot Memphis rapper Young Dolph — whose real name was Adolph Thornton Jr. — in 2021, the Daily Memphian reports. A jury convicted Justin Johnson, known as “Straight Drop” in 2024 of shooting the rapper. He was sentenced to life in prison plus an additional 35 years. Johnson appealed the conviction, challenging the prosecutors’ evidence against him. Read the appeals court opinion. Hernandez Govan, the accused mastermind of the plot to kill the rapper, was found not guilty by a jury in 2025.

The city of Nashville has renamed a stretch of road from 8th Avenue South to Music Square West in the Edgehill neighborhood for civil rights activist King Hollands. It will now be known as King Hollands Avenue, the Nashville Banner reports. In 1954, after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education, Hollands was one of the first 14 African American students to attend the previously all-white Father Ryan High School. Six years later, he took part in Nashville's lunch counter sit-ins, helping to draw attention to the racial segregation of downtown businesses, enduring insults, threats and physical violence. At a ceremony unveiling the new street sign, Hollands’ fellow sit-in participant Gloria McKissack was on hand to share her memories. "King Hollands was a dear friend and a colleague. He stood by me and helped me in so many ways." Hollands died in 2023.

This week is Civic Learning Week and the American Bar Association and iCivics are celebrating by making resources available to help lawyers promote civics education. The designation of the week is designed to highlight the important role civics education plays in sustaining and strengthening constitutional democracy in the United States. To learn more, visit civiclearningweek.org. In related news, the theme for this year’s Law Day celebration has been announced. “The Rule of Law and the American Dream” embodies the idea that no person is above the law — a founding principle that ensures the rights of people to live their lives as freely as possible and to pursue their dreams. Learn more in the recent Law Day Launch program, which can be streamed online.

In a filing Thursday, the U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee laid out the government’s justification for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s detention of Nashville journalist Estefany Rodríguez. The brief was submitted in response to a show-cause order from District Court Judge Eli Richardson. In it, the prosecutor argues that Rodríguez has not exhausted all administrative remedies because she has not had a bond hearing yet, that agents did not arrest Rodríguez without a warrant, and that the arrest was not in retaliation for her work as a journalist. Read more from the Nashville Banner. 

Birmingham-based law firm Bradley, with offices in Knoxville and Nashville, has launched an Outside General Counsel Services team to provide businesses with day-to-day legal and compliance support. Dallas-based Corporate & Securities partner Jeffrey M. Harvey will lead the team. In a news release announcing the move, Harvey says the team will bring “right-sized resources to emerging or mid-size businesses with limited or no in-house legal resources” and strengthen existing legal teams to “ensure continuity and scalability.” The team will draw on the expertise of the firm’s more than 750 lawyers to offer a range of services including entity formation, corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, risk mitigation, trade compliance, securities obligations, employment matters, intellectual property protection, and litigation management.

The Tennessee Department of Treasury is encouraging Tennesseans to check ClaimItTN.gov for missing money after businesses and organizations across the state turned over an additional $248.6 million in unclaimed property since July 1, 2025. Each year, the Unclaimed Property Division mails tens of thousands of letters to individuals at the last-known addresses provided when businesses and organizations — unable to locate the rightful owners — report unclaimed funds to the state. Funds can be from utility or healthcare refunds, uncashed paychecks, credit balances for overpayments, rental deposit refunds, gift certificates, securities and abandoned bank accounts. “I encourage all Tennesseans to search their names each year, even if you’ve checked before,” said State Treasurer David H. Lillard Jr. Read more in a news release from the department.