Registration is now open for the Knoxville Bar Association's Law & Culture Journey to Panama, April 1-4, 2024. The four-night program based in Panama City includes visits to the Panama Canal and Gamboa Rainforest. Optional extended excursions on April 6-7 can be arranged uon request. Click here for more information. Early bird deadline is tomorrow.

The Tennessee Supreme Court issued several rulings this week. First, it clarified that the economic loss doctrine, which limits the recovery of economic losses under tort law, applies only to products liability cases, not to contracts for services, and should not be expanded. This decision allowed a construction subcontractor to recover damages on its tort claims against a general contractor. Second, the court addressed the concept of personal jurisdiction, ruling that for a Tennessee court to have authority over a case, there must be a sufficient connection between the defendant and the state. Lastly, the court held that defendants convicted of vehicular homicide by intoxication cannot receive probation as specified in the 2017 amendment to the probation eligibility statute.

It's time for #TeamTBA! Meet the people behind the scenes and learn more about the moving parts, projects and staffers of the Tennessee Bar Association. Sheree Wright is the TBA’s new executive director! She leads the team in daily operations and works with the Board of Governors and other TBA leaders to carry out the mission of the bar. Before joining the TBA, she served as a senior associate general counsel at Vanderbilt University and was active in the Nashville, Tennessee and national legal communities. Wright says that her favorite part of the job is meeting TBA members and hearing about the wonderful things they are doing for the community and the profession. Her hobbies include cooking, reading and going to the gym, and says that if she could bring back a fashion trend, she’d pick 1950s clothes a la the first season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. That’s a wrap on this installment of #TeamTBA! Contact information for all staff is available here.

The Nashville School of Law will host a reception to welcome the newest member of the Tennessee Supreme Court, Justice Dwight E. Tarwater on Oct. 5 from 4:30-6 p.m. CDT at 4013 Armory Oaks Dr., Nashville 37204. The event is sponsored by the Tennessee Bar Association, the Lawyers' Association for Women, the Nashville Bar Association and Nashville School of Law. Refreshments and hors d’oeuvres will be served. RSVP at this link.

Don't forget, nominations are due Monday for the 21st annual TBA Leadership Law (TBALL) program for 2024. Nominees should have from five to 15 years of experience in practice. Last year, 33 lawyers from across the state were accepted into the program. TBALL programming will kick off in January 2024 with an opening retreat at Henry Horton State Park and end in June with class commencement during the TBA Annual Convention in Memphis. Read more about the program or contact program coordinator Paul Burch for more information.

Gov. Bill Lee announced three judicial appointments for newly created state courts, appointing Shawn Fry to the 13th Judicial District Criminal Court, Ashleigh Travis to the 19th Judicial District Circuit Court and Julie Heffington to the 22nd Judicial District Circuit Court. Fry currently serves as an attorney at Fry, Fry, Knight & Looper. The 13th Judicial District includes Clay, Cumberland, Dekalb, Overton, Pickett, Putnam and White counties. Travis currently serves as a magistrate judge in the 19th Judicial District, which covers Montgomery and Robertson counties. Heffington currently serves as an attorney at Middle Tennessee Law Group. The 22nd Judicial District includes Giles, Lawrence, Maury and Wayne counties. Read the full announcement from the Administrative Office of the Courts.

FEMA announced the availability of federal disaster assistance to Tennessee to supplement recovery efforts in the areas affected by severe storms, straight-line winds and tornadoes on Aug. 7. The action makes public assistance federal funding available to affected state and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of disaster-damaged facilities in Bledsoe, Coffee, Cumberland, Jefferson, Knox, Loudon, Meigs, Rhea, Roane and Van Buren counties. Federal funding is also available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures statewide. Yolanda J. Jackson has been named the federal coordinating officer for federal recovery operations in the affected areas. Additional designations may be made at a later date if warranted by the results of further damage assessments.

Michigan has become the first state to require judges to refer to attorneys by their preferred pronouns, reports Reuters. The Michigan Supreme Court approved 5-2 yesterday a rule that allows attorneys to include their preferred forms of address or pronouns in the captions of court documents and requires judges to use those terms “or other respectful means” when referring to those attorneys either in court or in documents. The rule goes into effect Jan. 1, 2024. Justice Kyra Bolden wrote in her concurrence that the new rule sends a message that Michigan courts are welcoming and inclusive.

Yelp Inc., the online business review site, filed a complaint yesterday in federal court seeking to stop Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton from suing the site over informing its users that crisis pregnancy centers do not provide abortions or referrals for abortions, reports Reuters. Paxton told the company last week that he intended to bring a lawsuit under Texas's unfair business practices law. The company said in the complaint that it posted the notices to prevent users from being misled by crisis pregnancy centers that deliberately targeted women seeking abortions. Yelp said in its filing that its notices are true, not misleading and are protected free speech under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment. 

The American Bar Association (ABA) Section of Science & Technology Law will hold its 2023 Artificial Intelligence and Robotics National Institute at the Santa Clara University School of Law in Santa Clara, California, Oct. 9-10. The two-day institute will apprise those in the fields of law, technology, government, academics and business about the legal issues surrounding artificial intelligence and robotics. Programming includes sessions on the effects of AI/ChatGPT in regulation and standards, privacy and security in the workplace, climate solutions, entertainment, disinformation, health care and the practice of law. The event is free and open to the public. Visit the website for more information and read the conference agenda.