Save the date for the TBA's 2026 Business Law Forum! The full-day program will take place on May 5 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. CDT at the new TBA office in Nashville. This year’s program will focus on artificial intelligence and its impact on business law, offering sessions on AI fundamentals, legal and cybersecurity considerations, contract drafting and ethics. Designed for attorneys at all experience levels, the forum will provide practical insights and strategies for integrating AI into legal practice. For featured speakers and registration information, visit the TBA website.

Legislation to limit lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of new state laws has passed both the House and Senate and was signed into law by Gov. Bill Lee yesterday. HB1971 passed the House on March 31. The Senate passed the House bill on April 2. The bill repeals a provision the legislature passed eight years ago that allowed Tennesseans to challenge the constitutionality of new state laws before they suffer any harm. The Tennessean reports that Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti — whose office defends new laws in court — requested lawmakers repeal the measure and reinstate barriers removed in 2018. If signed into law, the measure would require challengers to prove actual damage had been done to have standing to sue. The Tennessean has more on the legislation.

Tipton County General Sessions Court Judge M. O. Eckel III on April 1 swore in the three founding members — Dondi O. Albritton, David Bitzer and J. Houston Gordon — of the county Veterans Court Board, a first-of-its-kind advisory body dedicated to serving veteran defendants in the community. According to a press release, rather than establishing a resource-intensive formal treatment court, Eckel designed an independent advisory board modeled after the Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) framework. The board will review cases and provide fact-based advisory reports to the court, the district attorney and defense counsel, ensuring transparency and due process at every step. "Every veteran who stands before us deserves more than a one-size-fits-all approach to justice," Eckel says. This Board ensures that we will always have the expert, veteran-centered insight needed to reach the most informed decision possible for each of them." See photos from the event.

In March 2026, President Donald Trump issued an executive order concerning diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices among federal contractors, prohibiting what the order defines as "racially discriminatory DEI activities." An article from JD Supra focuses on the order's practical impacts, including requiring new contract clauses, expanded reporting and compliance obligations and potential penalties (like contract termination or debarment) for noncompliance. Read more in the article.

Jones Day said hackers breached the law firm and accessed the files of 10 clients, Bloomberg Law reports. A prolific cybercriminal group known as Silent took credit for the attack, listing Jones Day among its victims on an extortion website. “Jones Day recently experienced a cyber ‘phishing’ incident in which an unauthorized third party accessed a limited number of dated files for 10 clients,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “All impacted clients have been notified.” The identities of the affected clients were not immediately clear. Silent specifically targets U.S. law firms, taking advantage of the “the highly sensitive nature of legal industry data,” according to a 2025 FBI alert. Jones Day was also hit by a cyberattack in 2021.

The state Department of Revenue on Monday extended the deadlines for franchise and excise tax filing to May 22 for businesses located in counties that were designated federal disaster areas as a result of January’s winter storm Fern. Those include Davidson, Williamson, Wilson, Cheatham and more. Those affected will have additional time to file returns and make payments that were due beginning with Jan. 22. Due dates after May 22 will not be altered or extended. Read more in a press release or official notice from the department.

THAPAR, Circuit Judge. Juan Luis Gamas-Vicente illegally entered the United States in 2014. He conceded that he was removable but has spent the last decade seeking asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture. An immigration judge rejected his application, and the Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed. They concluded that Gamas-Vicente didn’t establish that he is a member of a particular social group facing persecution. We agree, so we deny his petition for review.

DAVIS, Circuit Judge. Pharmacy benefit managers—referred to in the industry as PBMs—play a pivotal role in American healthcare. They oversee prescription-drug benefits for health plans, perform administrative services, help negotiate drug rebates, and set up pharmacy networks, working with health plans, drug manufacturers, and pharmacies along the way. But the rise of PBMs has been met with state-level regulation efforts. PBMs often own pharmacies to which they steer significant business, and in the process build a significant market share of the prescription-drug benefit field in a given geographic area. Some policymakers have raised concerns that such practices can lead to the closure of small, rural pharmacies. Citing this policy concern, Tennessee enacted laws to tamp down the PBM practice of steering patients to PBM-managed pharmacies. These laws ban interference with a patient’s choice of pharmacy and restrict the provision of incentives for patients to choose certain pharmacies over others. These restrictions sweep in self-funded health plans that are governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”), 29 U.S.C. § 1001 et seq., running headlong into that Act’s preemption provision and the Supreme Court’s decision in Rutledge v. PCMA, 592 U.S. 80 (2020). All this led to the present suit and the question we confront today: Does ERISA preempt Tennessee’s PBM-focused laws? The district court thought so, and we agree. Hence, for the reasons that follow, we AFFIRM.

Defendant, Jerome Nchiyako Dooley, pled guilty to one count of sexual battery and received an agreed sentence of five years as a Range III offender, to be served on probation. Following a hearing on a warrant for violation of his probation, the trial court revoked Defendant’s probation and ordered him to serve his original sentence incarcerated. Defendant appeals, arguing that the trial court erred in revoking probation based on a video Defendant posted to TikTok and that the court erred in failing to recuse itself sua sponte. Following a review of the entire record, the briefs and arguments of the parties, and the applicable law, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.