Three Tennessee women and two doctors have filed a lawsuit in Davidson County Chancery Court claiming the state's abortion law is too restrictive and vague about when doctors can legally terminate a pregnancy with serious complications, reports the Tennessean. The Center for Reproductive Rights, a New York-based legal firm, is representing the women. The firm has made similar legal filings in Oklahoma and Idaho and is looking to build on a recent decision in a Texas lawsuit that temporarily ruled the state's abortion law is too restrictive.

The U.S. Justice Department has filed criminal charges against five former Memphis police officers for violating the civil rights of Tyre Nichols in addition to conspiracy and obstruction charges, reports the Commercial Appeal. Nichols was pulled over by the officers for reckless driving on Jan. 7 and was subsequently tased and beaten. He died three days later due to blunt-force trauma. The former officers face one count of excessive force and failure to intervene under the color of law, one count of deliberate indifference under the color of law, one count of conspiracy to witness tamper and obstruction of justice through witness tampering in federal court. The officers already face murder charges. Read the full indictment and press release. A civil lawsuit filed on behalf of the Nichols family's attorneys is seeking $550 million in damages.

OpenAI and partner Microsoft are facing a new round of class action lawsuits in federal court for allegedly breaking privacy laws in developing OpenAI's popular ChatGPT and other generative artificial intelligence systems, reports Reuters. The complaint, filed last week on behalf of two unnamed software engineers, accuses the companies of using stolen personal information from hundreds of millions of internet users to train their fast-growing AI technology. The two engineers who brought the lawsuit are concerned that the companies have incorporated their "skills and expertise" into products that could "someday result in [their] professional obsolescence."

The Tennessee Opioid Abatement Council is now accepting applications for community grants, reports the Nashville Post. Proposed projects must fit into approved remediation strategies organized into six categories: research/evaluation of abatement strategy efficacy, primary prevention, education, treatment, harm reduction and recovery support. Applications close Oct. 9. The council is set to receive more than $600 million over the next 18 years to distribute from various lawsuits against companies that made, distributed, or sold opioid painkillers, including Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson and Walmart. Learn more about the community grants.

A Tennessee appeals court recently ruled that a Jewish couple’s lawsuit challenging a 2020 law that allowed private adoption agencies to reject placement on religious beliefs can continue, reports Associated Press. The ruling overturns a lower court’s decision that the couple had no legal standing. The law has been criticized for shielding adoption agencies that refuse to serve prospective LGBTQ parents. 

A new report released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the U.S. legal services sector lost 4,200 jobs in August, reaching its lowest level so far this year, Reuters reports. Legal sector jobs totaled 1,175,700 last month, according to preliminary seasonally adjusted data. Though the count includes a range of legal workers such as paralegals and assistants, the majority of jobs lost were lawyers. The report also adjusted downward initial projections for legal sector employment in June and July.

Knox County lawyer Keith Allen Pope was temporarily suspended from the practice of law today in Tennessee. The court took the action upon finding that Pope is substantially non-compliant with a Tennessee Lawyers Assistance Program and poses a threat of substantial harm to the public. Pope is immediately precluded from accepting any new cases and must cease representing existing clients by Oct. 12. After that date, Pope shall not use any indicia of lawyer, legal assistant or law clerk nor maintain a presence wherein the practice of law is conducted. The court allowed the Board of Professional Responsibility to file exhibits in the case under seal. The court said the documents contained personal healthcare information, which is confidential and not public record.

The Tennessee Supreme Court today suspended Shelby County lawyer Brian Chadwick Rickman from the practice of law for five years, with two years to be served on active suspension and three years on probation. The court took the action based on six disciplinary complaints, including that Rickman failed to ensure the safekeeping of client funds, protect clients against misconduct by his supervising employer, and report supervisors’ misconduct to the court or the Board of Professional Responsibility. He also failed to comply with court orders directing the disbursement of client funds, comply with requests for information from the board and notify the court and opposing counsel of his suspension. Rickman agreed to a conditional guilty plea acknowledging his conduct violated Rules of Professional Conduct 1.2, 1.15, 3.4, 5.1, 8.1(b), 8.3 and 8.4(d) and (g).

The Tennessee Supreme Court reinstated two lawyers on Friday and one lawyer today who had been suspended for failing to complete annual continuing legal education requirements. View the Sept. 8 order and the Sept. 11 order to see two reinstated after meeting requirements for 2022, and the Sept. 8 order for one meeting requirements for 2021.

The Biden administration formally asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to overturn a ruling from a federal appeals court that would limit the availability of the abortion pill mifepristone, The Hill reports. The manufacturer of the brand name pill, Danco Laboratories, also filed an appeal with the court. In August, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that the drug could stay on the market in states where abortion is legal, but struck down changes made in 2016 to expand access. The appeals court said those changes did not follow proper procedure. Its decision, however, remains on hold while the Supreme Court decides whether to take up the case.