The TBA will offer two engaging webcast replays with Stuart Teicher this month, exploring legal ethics through pop culture. "The Perfect Pop Song and Attorney Ethics," streaming July 15, will reveal what makes a pop song “perfect” and connect its structure and lyrics to key ethics rules on competence, candor and communication. On July 16, "Ted Lasso and Attorney Ethics: Lessons in Life, Law, and Leadership" will highlight how the hit show’s moments of integrity and teamwork reflect the Rules of Professional Conduct and offer practical lessons for lawyers.

A judge ruled in favor of the Chattanooga Times Free Press in its lawsuit against the city of Chattanooga, council members and staff, establishing that open meetings laws were violated during non-public meetings on redrawing local voting districts, the Times Free Press reports. In an order last week granting the newspaper’s motion for summary judgment, the Chattanooga City Council must follow Tennessee’s Open Meetings Act and submit to one year of oversight, in addition to writing a semiannual report on its compliance. Every decade after federal census results are released, the council reorganizes and adjusts the map that determines how residents are represented in city government. The lawsuit, filed in 2022, claimed the redistricting process was too secretive, from closed-door redistricting committee meetings to a series of calls and emails between council members and city staff to make decisions about redistricting. According to the order, individual meetings between council members and staff resulted in map changes, so decisions were made in meetings that were not open to the public. The City Council will comply with the open meetings act, "which we believe they did," Chattanooga City Attorney Phillip Noblett said to the news outlet.

Thomas Jefferson Drake Jr., of Nashville, died July 8 at age 78. Drake graduated from the Nashville School of Law in 1988 and practiced as a solo attorney for 37 years. He believed his greatest service in life was helping others and providing the best legal advice possible. Drake was admitted to the Supreme Court of Tennessee, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court, and was a member of the Nashville Bar Association and the Tennessee Bar Association. Visitation will be held July 12, at Bellevue Presbyterian Church, 100 Cross Timbers Drive, Nashville 37221, from 9 to 11 a.m. CDT, followed by a memorial service at 11 a.m. CDT. Donations in his memory may be made to the Bellevue Exchange Club Foundation, memo: Tom Drake Memorial Scholarship, P.O. Box 210945, Nashville, TN 37221.

The NAACP Legal Defense Fund on Monday dismissed its lawsuit challenging Fayette County’s 2021 electoral map as discriminatory after county lawmakers passed a new map that complies with the Voting Rights Act and U.S. Constitution, the Tennessee Lookout reports. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee in February, claimed the map adopted by the county commission in 2021 was chosen “at least in part with the intent to racially discriminate against Black voters.” The Tennessee comptroller’s local redistricting guide requires county legislative bodies to consider minority representation when redistricting. Black voters make up more than 25% of Fayette County’s population, but the 19-member county commission is entirely white. Fayette County rejected the allegations in the federal lawsuit but opted to review and revise the map. The commission unanimously approved a new electoral map with three majority-Black, single-member districts, which will be used in the 2026 election cycle. The federal lawsuit’s status is unclear, as the last court-ordered status update was submitted June 23, one day before the commission adopted the new map.

Tennessee's U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn is pushing to reduce air traffic controller shortages. Blackburn introduced the Control Tower Continuity Act on Thursday, which would allow air traffic controllers to be exempt from the mandatory retirement age of 61 as long as they meet certain standards and provide more flexibility during shortages, WSMV reports. Blackburn’s office said staffing has been a longstanding issue for the Federal Aviation Administration, which is short about 3,000 air traffic controllers nationwide. “Healthy and skilled air traffic controllers should not be forced to retire at age 61,” Blackburn said. “As the United States faces a shortage of air traffic controllers, Americans are forced to endure delays, cancellations and safety concerns. The Control Tower Continuity Act would empower healthy and experienced air traffic controllers to work beyond the current mandatory retirement age to address air traffic controller shortages.”

The TBA Construction Law Section is excited to announce that the inaugural Joint Georgia/Tennessee Construction Conference will take place Oct. 9-10 in Chattanooga. The first day will be composed of an evening networking reception welcoming attendees with complimentary drinks and hors d'oeuvres. The second day will be packed with high quality CLE sessions for both the Georgia and Tennessee attorney, such as regional differences in construction law, a view from the bench session featuring judges and arbitrators, a case study session and more. Six to seven CLE hours are anticipated for this program. CLE credit will be submitted to both Georgia and Tennessee.

Register and find program updates here. 

In this appeal, the employer challenges the trial court’s order requiring it to authorize a second opinion examination on the issue of surgery. The employee was injured when she was attacked in the employer’s parking lot in 2019. In 2023, the parties entered into a settlement agreement that, among other provisions, left open the employee’s entitlement to reasonable and necessary future medical expenses as provided in Tennessee Code Annotated section 50-6-204. That settlement agreement was approved by the trial court. In 2024, one of the authorized treating physicians recommended additional surgery, which the employer’s insurer authorized. However, prior to agreeing to undergo this surgery, the employee asked for a second opinion as to the surgery recommendation, which the employer declined to provide. The employee then filed a new petition asking the court to order the employer to authorize a second opinion examination and seeking an award of attorneys’ fees. Following unsuccessful mediation and a hearing, the trial court entered an order compelling the employer to authorize the second opinion examination and determined the employee was entitled to attorneys’ fees. In the order, the court instructed the employee’s attorney to file a motion presenting additional evidence with respect to the attorneys’ fee claim, which the employee’s attorney did. Sixteen days after the court’s order was issued, the employer filed a notice of appeal. Because we conclude the trial court’s compensation order is incomplete at this point, we hold this appeal in abeyance and remand the case for additional findings.

ROGERS, Circuit Judge. This case involves alleged physical abuse of Plaintiff James King by United States officials. King sued the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), 28 U.S.C. §§ 1346(b), 2671–2680, and in the same lawsuit sued the individual government employees under the private cause of action recognized in Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388 (1971). The district court granted summary judgment to the defendants on both claims, but King appealed only the Bivens claim, so the FTCA judgment became final. In the Bivens litigation on appeal, King v. United States (King I), 917 F.3d 409 (6th Cir. 2019), rev’d, Brownback v. King, 592 U.S. 209 (2021), the individual defendants relied in part on the “judgment bar” of 28 U.S.C. § 2676, which provides that a judgment under FTCA § 1346(b) “shall constitute a complete bar to any action by the claimant, by reason of the same subject matter, against the employee of the government whose act or omission gave rise to the claim,” 28 U.S.C. § 2676. The question arose whether the bar applies when an adverse FTCA judgment (like the one in this case) was based on failure to meet the requirements of 28 U.S.C. § 1346, which sets forth the requirements for recovery under the FTCA, as contrasted to an adverse FTCA judgment based on an exception in 28 U.S.C. § 2680 to the overall scope of the FTCA. The issue was ultimately resolved squarely in favor of the Defendants by a unanimous decision of the Supreme Court, reversing a split decision by our court in favor of King on that issue. Brownback, 592 U.S. at 211. Having lost on the judgment-bar issue, King then filed a Rule 60(b) motion in the district court to reopen the FTCA judgment, so that he could retroactively withdraw his FTCA claim, and thereby avoid the judgment bar after all. The district court denied this relief, and King appeals. The district court properly denied the motion, however, because King’s asserted basis for reopening amounted to “a straightforward claim of either attorney error or strategic miscalculation,” neither of which, the district court correctly reasoned, is a valid basis for a reopening under Rule 60. King v. United States, 2024 WL 4609079, at *6 (W.D. Mich. Sept. 16, 2024).

ALICE M. BATCHELDER, Circuit Judge. In this multi-district products liability suit, Plaintiffs allege that they purchased defective Chrysler Pacifica minivans from FCA. Several months after the case progressed into discovery, FCA learned that some plaintiffs had agreed to arbitration clauses when they purchased their minivans and moved to compel those plaintiffs to arbitration. The district court denied FCA’s motion to compel, however, after it found sua sponte that FCA had waived its right to arbitrate. FCA now challenges that decision in this interlocutory appeal, and, for the reasons below, we reverse.

In this dependency and neglect action, the juvenile court adjudicated the child dependent and neglected in 2015 and found that the child was the victim of severe child abuse perpetrated by one or both of his parents. The parents appealed that decision to the circuit court. Because a termination petition was filed shortly thereafter, the circuit court stayed the dependency and neglect appeal pending the outcome of the termination action. Both parents’ parental rights were terminated pursuant to the severe child abuse ground in Tenn. Code Ann. § 36-1-113(g)(4), but the Tennessee Supreme Court reversed that determination. The dependency and neglect appeal then resumed in the circuit court, and the Department of Children’s Services filed an amended dependency and neglect petition alleging new facts. The mother filed a motion to dismiss the amended petition on the basis that the court lacked jurisdiction to consider the petition, and she filed a motion to dismiss the case, arguing that the Supreme Court’s decision in the termination case barred all claims in the dependency and neglect case under the doctrine of res judicata. The circuit court denied both motions but permitted the parties to pursue an interlocutory appeal. We reverse the circuit court’s determination that the severe child abuse claim was not precluded, but we affirm the court in all other respects.