The deadline for applying to be part of the Tennessee Bar Association’s Leadership Law 2024 class has been extended to Nov. 10. Contact Paul Burch if you have questions about the program or the application process.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in a new court filing released yesterday, accused Amazon.com of using illegal strategies to boost profits, including an algorithm, “Project Nessie,” that earned the online retailer more than $1 billion, reports Reuters. Details of the lawsuit, filed in September, were withheld until yesterday when a version with fewer redactions was made public in U.S. District Court in Seattle. The FTC said the algorithm allowed the retailer “to extract more than a billion dollars directly from Americans' pocketbooks,” calling it an "unfair method of competition" because it manipulates other online stores into raising prices, allowing Amazon to do the same. The complaint also accuses Amazon of hiding operations from antitrust enforcers and destroying office communications. In a section of the lawsuit which remains heavily redacted, Amazon allegedly deterred Walmart from offering discounts to online shoppers who picked up their purchases from stores.

Shelby County Criminal Court Judge James Jones Jr. ordered the release of additional records in the Tyre Nichols state criminal case, the Commercial Appeal reports. The records were initially to be released by the city of Memphis in March, but Jones agreed to a motion to block the release until the defense attorneys had reviewed them. The records have been the subject of litigation from a coalition of news media outlets that asked for the records to be released quickly. According to the city of Memphis and the Shelby County District Attorney's Office, the records include more than 20 hours of additional audio and video footage from the night Nichols was beaten by now-former officers with the Memphis Police Department, as well as over 2,000 documents including personnel files and statements made during internal investigations.

The TBA Law Tech Lunch & Learn Series will hit the road this winter across Tennessee with a kick off session in Knoxville on Dec. 15 from noon to 2:15 p.m. EST at Lewis Thomason, 620 Market St., 5th Floor, Knoxville 37902. The program will feature discussions and presentations on the various types of cybersecurity attacks and how to respond to ransomware and data breaches. Registration will begin at 11:30 a.m. Make plans now to join us as the Lunch & Learn Series travels to Nashville in February and Memphis in March. Find out more about the Knoxville session and register.

The TBA’s 35th Annual Health Law Forum took place in downtown Nashville yesterday and today. Close to 300 attendees heard updates on regulatory fraud and abuse, antitrust, False Claims Act, the future of telehealth and privacy issues. The program also included a legislative update and ethics update. The keynote address was delivered by Dr. C. Buddy Creech with Vanderbilt University Medical Center, who spoke about preparing for the next pandemic. Section Chair Mark Ison with Sherrard Roe Voigt & Harbison in Nashville moderated the event, and at a luncheon today, passed the Section Cup to incoming chair Ian Hennessey, general counsel for Alliance for Multispecialty Research in Knoxville. See photos from the event.

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti on Wednesday sent a letter joined by 19 other state attorneys general commenting on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) “Proposed Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace.” The letter claims that the proposal "threatens the First Amendment rights of millions of Americans," according to a press release from the AG's office. The EEOC has suggested new guidance that would broaden Title VII's prohibition of "sex-based harassment" to include “intentional and repeated use of a name or pronoun inconsistent with the individual’s gender identity (misgendering)” and “the denial of access to a bathroom or other sex-segregated facility consistent with the individual’s gender identity.” Read the letter.

The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday heard oral arguments in a pair of cases that test whether the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment bars government officials from blocking their critics on social media platforms. The question is whether social media activity should be deemed official action that is subject to limits on the government’s ability to restrict speech. One case involves parents in California who were blocked from the personal Twitter accounts of school board members, while another looks at a suit against a Michigan city official who blocked a state resident on Facebook. SCOTUSblog reports on the cases.

This year's Hot Topics in Real Estate will take place virtually on Nov. 10, allowing you to learn from the comfort of your home or office. The program, produced in cooperation with the Tennessee Land Title Association, is a staple for Tennessee dirt lawyers, designed to keep you on the cutting edge of developments in your practice. This year's program starts at 9 a.m. CST and provides 1 hour of dual credit and 4.75 hours of general credit.

Rep. Aftyn Behn, D-Nashville, says she plans to propose a law that would eliminate a tax on groceries and replace it with taxes on corporations. Tennessee's grocery tax holiday ended Oct. 31. WSMV reports that Behn says she is “calling on corporations to pay their fair share of taxes in order to abolish the grocery tax. I would challenge the Republicans across the aisle to join me in fighting to abolish it because it hurts their working-class families as well.” Tennessee is one of 13 states that has a tax on groceries.

The mother of Eric Allen, who died in a November 2022 encounter with Mt. Juliet police, has filed a lawsuit against the department, alleging that the officer who shot Allen used “unnecessary, unreasonable and excessive force” in violation of Allen’s constitutional rights. The Associated Press reports that the suit seeks $50 million, in addition to federal monitoring of Mt. Juliet Police Department’s use of force practices and procedures and changes to its patrol techniques.