The Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury is investigating Knox County Trustee Justin Biggs office's high-end hotel expenses and questionable use of county vehicles. Knox News reports that Biggs and his staff incurred $4,716.59 in costs that exceeded the county rate for hotel rooms on 10 trips from August 2023-November 2024 totaling $17,314.58. Trustee staff also have driven county-leased trucks for personal use, according to GPS records obtained by the paper. In the five years of the lease agreement, the trustee's office will pay $397,968 for the trucks, $200,000 more than the cost of vehicles used by other county offices according to the paper. Biggs fired Director of Operations Jason Dobbins after the paper reached out with questions about the investigation, saying in a statement: "Over the past two weeks, [the Comptroller's office's] thorough examination has revealed an unfortunate breach to our policies. Due to this, we have terminated one employee at this point."

As a result of the severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes and flooding that began on April 2, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) issued a disaster declaration for the entire state of Tennessee. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) then extended various federal due dates to Nov. 3 for taxpayers located in the disaster area. Consistent with the IRS’s decision to extend federal due dates, the Tennessee Department of Revenue will approve, on a case-by-case basis, extension requests from affected taxpayers who are unable to file returns for Tennessee taxes because of the impact of the storms and flooding beginning on April 2. If the department grants the extension request, it will apply to filing and payment due dates that occur between April 2 and Nov. 3. Affected taxpayers will have until Nov. 3 to file returns and make any payments (including quarterly estimated franchise and excise tax payments) originally due during this period. Read more from the department.

In the first quarter of 2025, the Davidson County Grand Jury declined to indict 47 felony cases — including three first-degree murder cases — an unusually high number compared to the previous average of just three per quarter, according to the Nashville Banner. This increase has raised concerns among legal experts, including Nashville attorney David Raybin who tells the paper that the jury may have applied an unusually high burden of proof. Others argue that the surge in non-indictments could delay justice and reflect potential bias. The grand jury also conducted an independent investigation into whistleblower allegations against the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD). The group says it found a toxic culture marked by favoritism, retaliation, and the mishandling of sexual misconduct and racial discrimination complaints, and called for further investigation by a special prosecutor. The group also raised concerns about what it called a lack of transparency in an investigation being conducted by Memphis lawyer Ed Stanton into MNPD and a recent raid of his firm by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. Finally, it urged systemic reforms and more robust support for past victims.

West Tennessee Legal Services (WTLS) will host a virtual expungement clinic for clients in Madison County on April 22 and 23. Attorney volunteers can participate from anywhere by using WTLS automation software. Volunteers will be provided with a time to call the client to complete the petitions. WTLS will coordinate with the clients to get the documents signed. All clients will be prescreened for eligibility. Sign up to volunteer via this link.

A list of those who passed the February 2025 Tennessee bar exam is now available. Those who meet all licensing requirements will be sworn in at events across the state in early June. The Tennessee Supreme Court will meet on June 2 at 2 p.m. CDT in Nashville; on June 3 at 9 a.m. in Memphis and 1:30 p.m. CDT in Jackson; on June 4 at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. CDT for virtual ceremonies; and on June 9 at 9 a.m. EDT in Knoxville. Watch for statistics from this spring's exam coming soon. Download the list in pdf format.

Nashville attorney and former TBA president Jacqueline Dixon was recognized as the Tennessee Lawyers Assistance Program's (TLAP) Volunteer of the Year at the Annual Camp TLAP held April 4 -6 at Montgomery Bell State Park in Dickson. She currently serves as board chair of the Tennessee Bar Foundation, vice-chair of the TLAP Commission and chair of the TLAP Foundation. She is a past president of the Tennessee Lawyers Association for Women. Dixon also currently gives back to the community by serving on the boards of two non-profit organizations: A Step Ahead Foundation of Middle Tennessee, a provider of free long-acting reversible birth control, where she is a founding board member and past board president; and First Steps Inc., a provider of education and care for special needs children alongside their typically developing peers. Dixon has been instrumental in advancing TLAP as a top program and providing financial assistance via the TLAP Foundation to those in need of mental health or substance use disorder services through TLAP according to the organization.

The TBA Creditors Practice Section Executive Council will hold a section social event at Noble's Central, 2292 Rosa L Parks Blvd., Nashville 37228 on April 30 from 5:30-8 p.m. CDT. Section members are invited to join colleagues for drinks, appetizers and opportunities to network with the executive council and fellow section members. Get more information and RSVP here.

NALBANDIAN, Circuit Judge. Lucky Land Management owns property in Ohio. EOG Resources has drilling rights to the oil and gas under that property. The two couldn’t agree on whether EOG’s rights to drill included the right to drill from Lucky Land’s surface out to adjacent properties as well. So EOG sued. EOG then asked the district court to grant a preliminary injunction letting the company access the land to cut down trees and start constructing drills. The district court did so, finding that EOG would probably succeed on the merits. We disagree. Lucky Land has the better reading of oil-and-gas law; generally speaking, your leased drilling rights don’t let you use the land’s surface to drill into neighboring lands, too. What’s more, EOG wouldn’t have suffered any irreparable injury if it had to wait while the litigation progressed. And preliminary injunctions aren’t shortcuts to the merits—by preventing irreparable injuries, they simply preserve the court’s ability to issue meaningful final relief at the end of the case. So they aren’t appropriate when there’s no prospect of irreparable harm. Because neither the merits nor the equitable considerations favored EOG, we reverse.

Petitioner, Jason Steven Molthan, appeals from the trial court’s summary denial of his motion to correct an illegal sentence related to his misdemeanor convictions for stalking and harassment, for which he received consecutive sentences of eleven months and twenty- nine days. On appeal, he argues that the trial court erred by denying his motion without the appointment of counsel and a hearing; that the trial court improperly imposed consecutive sentencing by finding that his history of criminal activity was extensive; and that he received ineffective assistance of appellate counsel in his direct appeal. After a thorough review of the record, we affirm.

James Anthony Andrews, Petitioner, pleaded guilty in this case to two counts of aggravated assault. At the same hearing, Petitioner pleaded guilty to additional charges in another case. As part of his plea agreement, Petitioner agreed to concurrent eight-year sentences for the aggravated assault charges to run consecutively to a two-year sentence for the charges in the other case—for a total effective sentence of ten years—with the manner of service to be determined by the trial court. The trial court accepted Petitioner’s guilty pleas, and Petitioner applied for probation, which the State opposed. The trial court denied Petitioner’s request for probation, requiring him to serve his ten-year sentence in incarceration. Petitioner subsequently petitioned for post-conviction relief, asserting that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to adequately investigate the case and that his guilty pleas were not knowingly and voluntarily made. After a hearing, the post-conviction court denied Petitioner’s amended petition. After review, we affirm the judgment of the post-conviction court.