This case involves a petition for criminal contempt filed by the petitioner, Nikki Sixx, against the respondent, Vanessa Clark, concerning Ms. Clark’s alleged violations of multiple orders of protection. The trial court found Ms. Clark guilty of 100 counts of contempt, sentencing her to 300 days in jail and imposing $5,000 in fines. Ms. Clark has appealed. As a threshold matter, we determine that this Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction to consider Ms. Clark’s challenges to the validity and scope of the underlying orders of protection from which no appeal was timely filed. In addition, we conclude that Ms. Clark has waived any challenges to her bond conditions by failing to comply with the requirements of Tennessee Rule of Appellate Procedure 8. Regarding the trial court’s contempt findings, upon our thorough review of the record, we modify the trial court’s judgment in part, vacating the contempt finding regarding count 7 and subtracting count 43, which was found not to constitute a violation of the order of protection, from the trial court’s total. We also reduce Ms. Clark’s sentence by one day, awarding her the appropriate pretrial jail credit. Accordingly, the judgment is modified to reflect a total of 98 counts of contempt. These modifications also require that the judgment reflect total fines of $4,900 and a sentence of 293 days. We affirm the trial court’s judgment in all other respects.

This appeal arises from a dispute between two municipalities and the district attorney general responsible for prosecuting cases in the jurisdiction in which the municipalities lie. The district attorney general threatened to cease the prosecution of cases in the courts of the municipalities and stated that he would only continue to do so if the municipalities provided an additional assistant attorney general position for his office or funding for such a position. The district attorney general justifies his threat by citing Tennessee Code Annotated section 8-7-103(1), which he asserts requires municipalities to fund additional prosecutorial personnel in order for his duty to prosecute cases in municipal court to be triggered. The municipalities filed a complaint for writ of mandamus and later amended their claims to include a request for declaratory judgment. The trial court ordered that the municipalities were entitled to a declaratory judgment “that they ha[d] provided ‘sufficient personnel’” to the district attorney general and that he could not avoid the responsibility of prosecuting cases “by invoking Tenn. Code Ann. § 8-7-103(6).” The trial court also determined that the district attorney general had a “clear statutory mandate” and issued a “peremptory writ of mandamus” compelling the district attorney general to comply with the statute. The district attorney general appeals. Finding that Tennessee Code Annotated section 8-7-103(1)’s “personnel requirement” does not refer to prosecutorial personnel, we affirm in part and reverse in part.

Gov. Bill Lee will preside over the investiture of Judge Valerie L. Smith to the Tennessee Court of Appeals on May 19 at 2 p.m. CDT at the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, located at 1 North Front Street in Memphis. A reception will follow the ceremony. Guests are asked to RSVP to emily.rhea@tncourts.gov.

In addition to compelling CLE, social events and networking opportunities, the 2025 TBA Annual Convention will include meetings of TBA's governing bodies. On June 11, the House of Delegates will meet in the afternoon, while new section chairs will meet to make plans for the 2025-2026 bar year. On June 13, the TBA Board of Governors and its Executive Committee will meet after the Lawyers Luncheon. Later that afternoon, the Tennessee Legal Community Foundation (TLCF) and TBA Member Insurance Solutions (TBAMS) will hold their respective board meetings. Wrapping up the day, the Young Lawyers Division (YLD) will hold a Long Range Planning session and its annual membership meeting, capped off by past YLD presidents participating in a gavel pass and champagne toast to honor incoming president Judge Alex McVeagh. On June 14, the YLD Board's Executive Committee will meet, while all board members will participate in committee breakouts and the summer board meeting. Check out the full convention schedule.

A federal judge in California on Wednesday ruled that Apple violated a U.S. court order requiring the company to allow greater competition for app downloads and payment methods in its App Store and will be referred to federal prosecutors. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said in an 80-page ruling that Apple failed to comply with her prior injunction, which was issued in an antitrust lawsuit filed by video game maker Epic Games, Reuters reports. In her ruling, Rogers said Apple is immediately barred from impeding developers' ability to communicate with users and must stop levying its new commission on off-app purchases. Apple has denied any wrongdoing.

In Grace Benitone Burnett's piece, "The Best Jobs in the World: Balancing Motherhood and the Legal Profession," she urges everyone to find a balance with life at work and at home that gives you joy. Burnett is an associate attorney for Rainey, Kizer, Reviere & Bell. She earned her law degree, with a certificate in Health Law, from Belmont University College of Law, and her bachelor of science at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Burnett serves on the YLD Board as the District 8 (Sumner County) representative. When she is not practicing or serving on the Board, she is with her three-year-old daughter, Lucy. She and her husband, Aaron, are expecting another daughter at the end of July 2025.

The Trump administration has restored federal family planning funding to Tennessee and Oklahoma. The Biden administration cut off the funding in 2023, citing violations of federal rules requiring providers to offer abortion counseling. The Department of Health and Human Services reinstated the funds while simultaneously withholding nearly $66 million from other clinics in the Title X program, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reports. For more than 50 years, Title X has provided sexual and reproductive health services nationwide.

The General Sessions Court Clerk’s Office will host an expungement clinic from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. CDT on May 24 at the Levi Branch of the Memphis Public Libraries, 3676 S 3rd St., Memphis 38109. The event aims to help eligible individuals navigate the process of having certain criminal records sealed or erased from public view. Expunged records are generally inaccessible to the public, including employers, landlords and educational institutions, FOX13 reports. Participants will receive assistance determining eligibility, completing paperwork, understanding the legal process and connecting with legal resources.  

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday directing the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) to launch a program to use free legal assistance from law firms to help police officers accused of wrongdoing. According to the order, the program will “provide legal resources and indemnification to law enforcement officers who unjustly incur expenses and liabilities for actions taken during the performance of their official duties to enforce the law.” Bloomberg Law notes that major law firms have committed $940 million in legal services in a series of deals with Trump, seeking to avoid punitive executive orders. The firms pledged to take up a range of issues, including supporting military veterans and law enforcement officers, as well as “ensuring fairness” in the justice system. Bloomberg has more on the order.

President Donald Trump has nominated Whitney Hermandorfer, director of the Strategic Litigation Unit in the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office, to serve as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit. The vacancy was created when Judge Jane Branstetter Stranch announced she would take senior status following confirmation of a successor. It is Trump’s first judicial nomination since returning to the Oval Office and is expected to be one of more than 100 federal court appointments he could make over the next four years, according to Reuters. Trump praised Hermandorfer’s background, noting that she has clerked for three current members of the U.S. Supreme Court: Justices Samuel Alito, Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh. Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti called Hermandorfer “an outstanding nominee,” adding in a statement, “Whitney Hermandorfer's unwavering commitment to the rule of law, her exacting analytical rigor and her unshakeable optimism will serve our country well.”