The City of Memphis was not asked to join a pending lawsuit against Gov. Bill Lee seeking to end the National Guard deployment to the city, The Daily Memphian reports. When asked why the city was not asked to join the lawsuit, Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris said, “That’s not a live issue. That’s not an issue that was discussed.” Activist Tikeila Rucker said the decision to exclude the city reflected Memphis Mayor Paul Young’s strategy of cooperating with state and federal law enforcement agencies participating in the Memphis Safe Task Force. Young has voiced opposition to the Guard’s deployment, and said the decision ultimately rests with the governor. Harris emphasized that the lawsuit focuses solely on the Guard’s presence, and not on the other law enforcement agencies. Harris, City Council member JB Smiley Jr. and several other activists and elected officials filed the suit in Davidson County Chancery Court last week. Chancellor Patricia Moskal denied an immediate restraining order. A hearing on a temporary injunction is scheduled for Nov. 3.

Clarksville attorney Erin Poland Nolder has announced her intention to run for Montgomery County General Sessions judge, Clarksville Now reports. Nolder currently serves as senior attorney and firm partner at Poland & Poland Attorneys at Law, where she is lead counsel for criminal and civil litigation. She earned her law degree from the Nashville School of Law. “I believe our next judge should have a deep and concentrated understanding of the unique challenges and needs of our community," Nolder said. The primary election is set for May 5, 2026, with the general election on Aug. 6, 2026.

Tennessee school districts are urging lawmakers to include special education pre-kindergarten in the state’s school funding formula, arguing that current gaps force them to pull hundreds of thousands of dollars from K–12 budgets to meet federal requirements. According to Chalkbeat Tennessee, districts such as Germantown and Lakeland say they receive little to no recurring state funding for special education preschool programs, which serve children as young as three years old with disabilities requiring specialized instruction and therapies. Lawmakers, including Rep. Mark White, D-Memphis, have pushed to amend the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement Act to cover these programs, but legislation has stalled over cost concerns. The Commercial Appeal has a reprint of the article.

Major crime in Memphis is lower than it has been since at least 2019, The Commercial Appeal reports. The data compares the first nine months of 2025 with the same period in previous years and includes Tennessee Bureau of Investigation statistics tracking crime through individual victims. Memphis has seen crime decline year over year since reaching a near-record high in 2023. According to the crime commission’s data, violent crime fell 21.5% and property crime fell 23.4% between 2024 and 2025. Compared with the same period in 2023, violent crime is down 23.1% and property crime is down 38.6%.

Michael Dunavant was sworn in Oct. 10 as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Tennessee. U.S. District Judge Mark S. Norris administered the oath of office during a brief ceremony at the Odell Horton Federal Building in Memphis, according to a press release. Dunavant was nominated by President Donald Trump in June and confirmed by the U.S. Senate earlier this month. He is serving for the second time as the president-appointed, Senate-confirmed U.S. attorney for the district. He also is the first person to hold the position twice after previously serving from 2017 to 2021 during Trump’s first administration. A native of Ripley, Dunavant earned his law degree with honors from the University of Mississippi and has practiced law in Tennessee since 1995.

Disciplinary Counsel Heather Piper with the Board of Professional Responsibility (BPR) will lead the TBA's Ethics Update 2025-2026 webcast on Nov. 17 from 11 a.m. to noon CST. The session will review recent ethics developments from the BPR and offer attorneys a convenient opportunity to earn dual CLE credit before the Dec. 31 deadline. To register, visit the TBA website.

The Tennessee Supreme Court today held that a defendant waited too long to challenge the plaintiffs’ standing to bring a lawsuit. In Houghton v. Malibu Boats, LLC, the court found that Malibu Boats waited too long to challenge the standing of plaintiffs Brett and Ceree Houghton in their lawsuit against the company. The Houghtons, owners of a now-defunct boat dealership, sued Malibu for allegedly misrepresenting whether the business relationship would continue and won compensatory damages at trial for assets that were sold when the company went out of business. After the verdict, Malibu argued the lawsuit should be dismissed because the Houghtons’ company — not the couple themselves — was the proper party to sue. In a unanimous opinion by Chief Justice Jeff Bivins, the court affirmed the Court of Appeals’ decision that Malibu forfeited the challenge by raising it after the trial concluded, holding that shareholder standing limitations cannot be raised post-trial. Read more in a press release from the Administrative Office of the Courts.

The Governor’s Council for Judicial Appointments will consider five applicants when it meets to select nominees for an upcoming vacancy on the Tennessee Supreme Court following the retirement of Justice Holly Kirby on June 30, 2026. The applicants are: Court of Appeals Judge Carma Dennis McGee, Court of Criminal Appeals Judges J. Ross Dyer and Kyle A. Hixson, Memphis lawyer Shea Sisk Wellford, and Eileen Kuo, assistant U.S. attorney for the Western District of Tennessee. Public interviews are scheduled for Nov. 25 at 9 a.m. CST in the courtroom of the Nashville Supreme Court Building located at 401 7th Ave. N., Nashville 37219. At the conclusion of the interviews, the council will vote to send three applicants to the governor. Any member of the public may attend the hearing and express, orally or in writing, objections concerning any of the applicants. Those with questions should contact Administrative Office of the Court’s Assistant General Counsel Laura Blount at 615-741-2687.

The Tennessee Judicial Conference Foundation (TJCF) set up a legacy scholarship to honor the late Judge James Curwood Witt Jr. over ths summer. The foundation will match funds up to $12,500, which will yield a $1,500 annual scholarship to the University of Tennessee Winston College of Law. Knoxville attorneys Ann Short and Eric Butler serve as scholarship chairs and are continuing to work diligently to raise funds. Donations may be made online or by check, payable to the TJCF, with a notation to fund the Judge Curwood Witt Scholarship. Checks should be mailed to the Tennessee Judicial Conference Foundation, c/o Suzanne Keith, 629 Woodland St., Nashville, TN 37206. Questions may be directed to Ann Short, 865-637-2142 or Eric Butler, 865-546-4646.

Next month's in-person TBA Health Law Forum features several sessions examining artificial intellenge (AI) in the practice of law. Keynote presenters include former New York State Department of Health Deputy Commissioner Adam Herbst; Aidoc CEO Elad Walach; and Dr. Neal Patel, MD, chief informatics officer at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. They will provide a session separating genuine innovation from AI hype and exploring what’s next for patient care. Other AI topics to be featured during the two-day forum will include ethical considerations regarding AI in health care and legal considerations when incorporating AI into health care agreements. The Health Law Forum, Tennessee's premier CLE program for health law practioners, provides up to three dual and 12 general hours of CLE credit. Learn more and register here.