A challenge to Nashville's laws restricting home-based businesses was today sent back to the trial court by the Tennessee Supreme Court. A Nashville music producer and a licensed cosmetologist, both running businesses out of their homes, sued Metro in 2017 after their businesses were found to be in violation of Nashville’s “client prohibition” law, which states that “No clients or patrons may be served on the property.” A trial court ruled in Metro’s favor. While the appeal was pending, Metro Council repealed the client prohibition law, replacing it with a new law allowing home businesses up to six customer visits per day. The Court of Appeals ruled the case moot due to Metro's repeal of the law. On appeal before the Supreme Court, the plaintiffs argued their case was not moot because they were still being harmed by the new law. The high court found the new law did not completely cure the harm claimed by the plaintiffs and that the appellate court could not be sure whether the plaintiffs will suffer ongoing harm. The justices unanimously decided to vacate the previous decisions and send the case back to trial court. Read more from the Administrative Office of the Courts.

From an initial client interview, to completing a representation, a lawyer’s duty of communication with a client creates ongoing potential for ethics missteps and legal malpractice liability. TBA CLE will present the “Lawyer’s Duty of Communication” webcast on Oct. 3 from noon until 3 p.m. CDT where attendees will learn what they can do to effectively meet this important attorney-client duty. Learn more and register here.

Knox County Chancellors John F. Weaver and Christopher D. Heagerty and Chancellor-elect Richard B. Armstrong have appointed J. Scott Griswold as the court’s clerk and master. He will be sworn in on Aug. 31, and he will succeed Howard G. Hogan, who is retiring after 24 years of service. Griswold is currently a shareholder with Long, Ragsdale & Waters. He previously was a law clerk for then Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice William M. Barker. Read more in a release from the firm.

Davidson County lawyer C. LeAnn Smith was suspended from the practice of law today for two years and six months. As a condition of reinstatement, Smith would have to enter into a Tennessee Lawyers Assistance Program monitoring agreement that includes reporting to the Tennessee Supreme Court’s Board of Professional Responsibility. The court took the action after receiving one complaint that Smith testified falsely under oath as a party to a lawsuit. Her conduct was found to violate Rule of Professional Conduct 8.4(c) and (d).

Tennessee's next state attorney general, Jonathan Skrmetti, is coming under criticism from Democratic legislators unhappy with recent comments that he might create a new special unit to handle suits against the federal government. Tennessee Senate Minority Leader Jeff Yarbro, a Nashville Democrat, said the "barrage of partisan, multistate litigation by attorneys general is a new phenomenon," and noted that the state had sued the federal government “17 times in the last 18 months.” Skrmetti has said the purpose of the unit would be to protect the agency's "nonpartisan" attorneys who do not want to work on ideological cases. Chattanooga Times Free Press has the story.

Saying the public has a “strong interest” in seeing the actions of federal agents during a 2018 raid on a slaughterhouse in Grainger County, U.S. Magistrate Chris Steger rejected an attempt by the agents to keep a video of the raid from being released. He has ordered it be released by Friday. Tennessee Lookout and Paul McAdoo with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press had filed for the video to be unsealed. According to news source, the video shows the U.S. government engaged in excessive force during the raid, including a segment where one agent placed his boot on the neck of a worker who was facedown with his hands behind his back.

A three-judge panel of the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals ruled yesterday that Confederate memorabilia in a Giles County courthouse is not “inherently prejudicial” for jurors who deliberate cases there. The jury room, which was decorated by the United Daughters of Confederacy, features a Confederate flag, portraits of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Gen. John C. Brown, and other memorabilia. The case was brought by Barry Jamal Martin, who challenged his conviction on drug charges based on the memorabilia. According to Tennessee Lookout, the ruling directly contradicts a prior decision by another panel of the court that did vacate a conviction based on the jury’s exposure to the memorabilia. This panel said in a footnote that it was not bound by the previous decision. Giles County leaders previously voted to move the memorabilia to a museum but had not completed that task before Martin was tried.

A coalition of attorneys general has reached an agreement in principle with opioid maker Endo International that will provide up to $450 million to participating states and local governments, ban promotion of opioids and require the company to turn over millions of documents for a public online archive, Tennessee Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III announced today. Endo, which filed for bankruptcy earlier this week, was accused by the group of boosting its opioid sales by using deceptive marketing that downplayed the risk of addiction and overstated the benefits. Slatery said that Endo’s tactics in Tennessee, “were especially profitable for them and devasting for us.” The settlement is contingent on final documentation and Bankruptcy Court approval.

Knoxville lawyer Stephen Ross Johnson recently was sworn in for a two-year term as treasurer of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Johnson is a criminal defense trial and appellate attorney with Ritchie, Davies, Johnson & Stovall. He is a past chair of the TBA’s Criminal Justice Section and served as the associate general counsel for the association. He is also a past president of the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Hamilton Burnett American Inn of Court and the Tennessee Innocence Project. For many years, he was an adjunct professor and director of the Innocence and Wrongful Convictions Clinic at the University of Tennessee College of Law. Read more in a release from his firm.

The pandemic and other recent stressful events have made empathetic communications even more necessary. Most business consultants — and certainly most workers — agree that empathy is a critical leadership skill that can forge a stronger, more cohesive and more motivated workforce. Joel Schwartzberg writes in the Harvard Business Journal about four elements that are critical for empathetic communications: listening, acknowledging distress, demonstrating care and taking appropriate action to mitigate the situation or provide comfort. Schwartzberg provides examples of how each of these elements can be employed and ends with a list of do’s and don’ts to demonstrate greater empathy.