The Tennessee Supreme Court in a unanimous ruling today found that a $50 cap imposed by the Division of TennCare on reimbursements to certain health providers is a “rule” within the meaning of the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act. Because of that, the cap should have been handled through the agency’s notice-and-comment rulemaking process and, because it was not, it was found to be void. The decision reversed the Court of Appeals, which had found the cap qualified for an “internal-management exception.” TennCare had relied on that exemption to promulgate the change. Read more about the case from the Administrative Office of the Courts or access the opinion.

In an open letter to Gov. Bill Lee posted to the social media site Twitter yesterday, three Republican legislators urged Lee to abandon a special session on state gun laws and public safety scheduled for Aug. 21. In the letter, freshman Rep. Bryan Richey, R-Maryville, called Lee’s session an "expensive, disruptive, futile and counter-productive publicity stunt” that would invite “a national woke mob” to the capitol. Lee called the session after the 113th General Assembly adjourned for the summer without addressing Lee’s proposed Order of Protection Law which would have allowed a judge to remove weapons from those deemed dangerous to themselves or others.

Two Tennessee women are suing the state over its public employee health insurance plans that exclude coverage for gender-affirming care, claiming they are discriminatory and unconstitutional. Gerda Zinner and Story VanNess had scheduled surgeries to address their gender dysphoria and were denied insurance coverage. The University of Tennessee and Knox County Board of Education, as well as several Tennessee insurance committees, are named as defendants, reports the Commercial Appeal. VanNess worked as a special education teacher for Knox County public schools from 2016 until 2022. Zinner is currently an adviser at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.  

The YWCA’s Stand Against Injustice program will host its 2023 Tennessee General Assembly Wrap-up virtual lunch on May 31 from noon–1 p.m. CDT. Panelists will discuss bills they advocated for and fought against as well as larger issues in the state and nation. Click here for more information and to register.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 9-0 today in favor of a 94-year-old woman who claimed that a Minnesota county violated the U.S. Constitution's Takings Clause by taking her $25,000 equity as profit when it sold her home in a tax foreclosure sale, reports Reuters. Writing for the court, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. noted, "A taxpayer who loses her $40,000 house to the state to fulfill a $15,000 tax debt has made a far greater contribution to the public fisc than she owed.” Roberts added: “The taxpayer must render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, but no more."

Nashville filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking to strike down a new state law lowering the approval threshold needed for the Metro Council to approve renovations to the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway. The new law, which overrides a provision in Nashville’s charter that requires 27 votes to approve demolition on the fairgrounds premises, would now only require 21 votes. The law was signed by Gov. Bill Lee on May 5, reports the Tennessean. Metro argues the new statute violates the Home Rule Amendment of the Tennessee Constitution, which bars the state from passing laws that impact only a particular county or city in its governmental capacity without local voter approval. The 27-vote supermajority rule for fairgrounds demolition was approved by voters in August 2011 by a two-to-one margin.

The Clarksville-Montgomery County School System (CMCSS) filed a lawsuit today against social media companies seeking "actionable accountability, tools and resources" to address the negative impact of social media on children, reports the Tennessean. Social media companies included in the suit include Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. CMCSS is the seventh-largest school district in Tennessee with 43 schools and more than 38,000 students. The Leaf Chronicle reports that the county school system is being represented by Tennessee law firm Lewis Thomason and California-based firm Frantz Law Group.

The Tennessee Supreme Court announced Tuesday that the trial court had appropriately declined to require a defendant physician to opine on the defendant nurse-midwife’s performance outside of the physician’s presence. In 2014, a child was born via cesarean section and suffered permanent brain damage. Through her mother, Brittany Borngne, the child sued the doctor who delivered her and the certified nurse midwife who was initially in charge of the birthing process. The doctor, in a pre-trial deposition, refused to opine on the nurse midwife’s performance outside of his presence, and the trial court declined to require him to do so. Read the full decision.

This year, the TBA Convention will offer two blocks of concurrent CLE programs. On June 15 from 2-3:30 p.m. EDT, attendees will choose between "Mediator Ethics: Where Do We Draw the Line?" with retired Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Janice Holder and Nashville lawyer Gail Ashworth, and "Top 10 Employment Law Updates All Tennessee Lawyers Should Know About" with Casey Duhart of Acadia Healthcare Inc. and Jeb Gerth of Epstein Becker & Green. Then from 4-5:30 p.m., TBA will offer "Embracing ChaptGPT for Lawyers" and "Policing in America" with the Tennessee Alliance of Black Lawyers (TABL). Visit the TBA Convention page for more details on these and other CLE programs.

The U.S. Supreme Court in a 9-0 decision announced today agreed to reverse a lower court's decision that had prevented an Idaho couple from building a home on property the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had deemed protected under the Clean Water Act of 1972, Reuters reports. The court held the law covers only wetlands “with a continuous surface connection” to those waters, wrote Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. for five justices. Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, in a concurring opinion with the court’s more liberal justices, said the decision would harm the EPA’s ability to combat pollution. The Clean Water Act bars discharging pollutants into the "waters of the United States," which regulators have said covers navigable waters as well as adjacent wetlands like swamps and marshes. Both courts and regulators have issued conflicting rulings on how much of a connection to a waterway is legal to allow for a building permit.