TBA's annual Hot Topics in Real Estate seminar, presented in partnership with the Tennessee Land Title Association, will be held virtually on Nov. 8 from 9 a.m to 4:15 p.m. CST. Topics will include powers of attorney, the new FINCEN rules, AI and the annual case law and legislative updates. Participants include Al Frazier with Fidelity National Financial Title Group, Ryan Martinez with Alliant National Title Insurance, Dr. Susan Tanner with the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law, and Charles Welch Jr. with Phelps Dunbar. Real Estate Section members enjoy discounted registration fees. Not a member of the section? Join here.

SUTTON, Chief Judge. Nicholas and Stacy Boerson submitted crop insurance claims to Great American Insurance Company after a disappointing corn and soybean harvest. When the insurer declined to cover the claims until the resolution of a federal fraud investigation, they sued for breach of contract, bad faith adjustment, and violations of Michigan and federal insurance laws. We affirm the district court’s dismissal of all of the claims, some of them due to lack of subject matter jurisdiction, others due to a binding arbitration clause.

MATHIS, Circuit Judge. On a Friday night, Lamonte Jackson-Gibson celebrated his birthday with several friends, including his girlfriend, Toriel Dixon. After midnight, the group took the celebration to Detroit’s Greektown neighborhood. There, they stopped on the sidewalk to listen to street musicians. Sergeant Reginald Beasley, accompanied by several other police officers, engaged the group and asked them to move along. Jackson-Gibson questioned Sgt. Beasley as to why he needed to leave, and the situation escalated. After a series of mostly nonviolent verbal exchanges, with some pushing and pulling thrown into the mix, Sgt. Beasley tased Jackson-Gibson in his back while he embraced Dixon. Jackson-Gibson and Dixon were then arrested.

In this interlocutory appeal, Sgt. Beasley asserts that he is entitled to qualified immunity from liability for Jackson-Gibson’s and Dixon’s wrongful-arrest claims and for Jackson-Gibson’s excessive-force claim. We dismiss Sgt. Beasley’s challenge to the wrongful-arrest claims for lack of jurisdiction. And we affirm the district court’s denial of qualified immunity to Sgt. Beasley on Jackson-Gibson’s excessive-force claim.

Petitioner, Danielle Wright, appeals the Knox County Criminal Court’s summary dismissal of her petition for post-conviction relief. Following our review of the entire record, briefs of the parties, and the applicable law, we conclude that Petitioner filed an untimely notice of appeal and the interest of justice does not warrant a waiver of the notice requirement because Petitioner’s post-conviction petition was not timely filed, there is no basis for tolling the statute of limitations, and the petition fails to state a colorable claim for relief. Therefore, we dismiss this appeal as untimely.

The Defendant, John Houston-Polk, III, was convicted in a Rutherford County Circuit Court bench trial of simple possession of methamphetamine, a Class A misdemeanor; resisting arrest, a Class B misdemeanor; and possession of drug paraphernalia, a Class A misdemeanor, and sentenced to six months in the county jail with the first 30 days to be served at 100% and the sentence to be served consecutively to the Defendant’s sentences in two general sessions court cases. The sole issue the Defendant raises on appeal is whether the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence found during the search of his vehicle parked in the driveway of his parents’ home. Based on our review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.

The Defendant, Jarmie Alonzo Hill, whose first trial with a codefendant before a Davidson County Criminal Court jury ended in a mistrial, was convicted in a second Davidson County Criminal Court bench trial of aggravated assault with serious bodily injury. The Defendant raises three issues on appeal: (1) whether the trial court erred by not sua sponte recusing itself based on a prejudicial finding it made against the Defendant in the codefendant’s unrelated drug case; (2) whether the State committed a Brady violation by not providing the Defendant with the transcript of an unavailable witness’s jury trial testimony until the first day of the retrial; and (3) whether the evidence was sufficient to sustain the conviction. Based on our review, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

West Tennessee Legal Services (WTLS) has opened an office in Memphis at 1407 Union to begin serving clients there, the Daily Memphian reports. In the three months since the group inherited the caseload of the federally funded legal aid office in Memphis, WTLS Executive Director Ashley Holliday has hired 10 lawyers, found temporary office space, blazed trails to connect with the legal community and moved twice. Memphis Area Legal Services, now headed by CEO Nicole Grida, will continue to provide legal services through private funding and grants. “The scope of our work remains unchanged,” Grida told the paper. “We still serve clients in our priority areas, housing, family and children, elder, consumer … services that we have offered for a number of years.”

TBA’s member benefit partner SoFi is offering a webinar on Thursday to help those with student loans make a plan to manage their debt. The company reports that the student loan repayment on–ramp period ended on Sept. 30, meaning borrowers will have to start repaying their loans. The webinar will air at 3 p.m. CDT and feature Brian Walsh, SoFi's head of advice and planning. He will talk about the latest student debt news and how to start paying loans with confidence. Register here. Two previous sessions on the basics of student loans also are available to watch on demand.

After being closed for more than five months for asbestos, mold and lead remediation, Shelby County Juvenile Court was scheduled to resume in-person hearings on Monday. However, due to staffing and budget issues, all 150 cases scheduled for Monday — including for dependency and neglect, custody and visitation and child support — were held virtually, a change communicated on Sunday. The Shelby County Sheriff's Office transported juveniles to court last year, but communicated to the court that they would not continue to do so this year, due to staffing and budget issues. The Daily Memphian has more.

The current law school admission cycle kicked off with an 18% surge in people registering to take the LSAT entrance exam. According to Reuters, this increase likely suggests increased interest from young people in careers focused on U.S. legal affairs. The LSAT administration in the latest cycles — which includes August, September, October and November posted increases in either test takers or those registered to take the test compared to last year. The article reports, this year's increase in LSAT takers comes as the U.S. legal sector has begun to add jobs after a four-month slump. Law school applications have also increased with applicants up 6% nationwide over the previous year.