The nonprofit Beacon Center of Tennessee has filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of those who have paid Metro Nashville's stormwater capacity fee. The suit, filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, centers on a fee established in 2023, which charges $0.71 per square foot of "post-development impervious surface project area" exceeding 800 square feet. This includes surfaces like paved concrete, asphalt or roofs, through which water cannot penetrate or penetrates with difficulty. The fee is in addition to other stormwater user fees, and is assessed only against those who seek permits to perform development work. The suit argues the fee is unconstitutional and seeks full refunds for anyone who paid the fees. Read more in The Tennessean.

Hundreds of Clarksville area high school students recently had the chance to watch the Tennessee Supreme Court in action at Austin Peay State University (APSU) through the Supreme Court Advancing Legal Education for Students (SCALES) program. A nationally recognized model for judicial outreach, SCALES brings court cases to college campuses, where participants hear oral arguments and meet with attorneys and justices to ask questions about the legal process. According to Main Street Clarksville, cases are selected based on their relevance and interest to students and typically include both civil and criminal proceedings. “We think this is important because so many students today don’t get the civics education that they used to, and there are particularly few ways to learn about the judiciary,” said Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Jeff Bivins.

Memphis ended 2024 with significantly fewer homicides than the previous year. According to the Daily Memphian, 297 people were killed in Memphis last year, a 25% decrease from 2023, when 398 people were killed. Most of the homicides, which also included justifiable killings and instances of vehicular manslaughter, were murders. Last year also marked the lowest number of homicides in the city since 2019, when there were 224. A spokesperson for the Memphis Police Department (MPD) told the paper that a sharper focus on gangs, the hiring of more homicide investigators and the creation of a fugitive task force aimed at arresting those with active warrants helped reduce the homicide count. "While we are encouraged by the reduction in the homicide rate in 2024, we still have work to do in 2025," the department said in an email response.

Gov. Bill Lee last month pardoned 43 individuals who had served their sentences and been out of prison for at least five years. Lee said the individuals had demonstrated "exemplary citizenship" since their release. Among the group were seven individuals represented by Nashville criminal defense lawyer Ben Raybin with Raybin & Weissman PC. According to an email sent by Ben’s father David Raybin, this accomplishment marks the “most pardons any lawyer has ever acquired in a single year, except of course Gov. Ray Blanton's legal counsel, who took a cut of the bribes in the 1975 clemency-for-cash scandal.” According to the elder Raybin, less than 10% of applicants get pardons, making Ben’s work extraordinary. He also notes that the individuals now should be able to get their rights restored, and in most cases, a full expungement of their criminal record.

President Joe Biden today presented the nation’s highest award for valor by a public safety officer to five Metro Nashville police officers for their actions during the 2023 shooting at The Covenant School. Sergeant Jeffrey Mathes, Officer Rex Englebert, and detectives Ryan Cagle, Michael Collazo and Zachary Plese received the Medal of Valor during a ceremony at the White House. On March 27, 2023, law enforcement arrived at the school following reports of an active shooting. The five officers entered the building, cleared classrooms and "ran toward the sound of gunfire where they encountered the shooter," Tennessee Lookout reports. Nominees for the award are recommended by the U.S. attorney general and the Medal of Valor Review Board.

Shelby County Juvenile Court Judge Tarik Sugarmon has filed two lawsuits against Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr. to force the sheriff’s office to continue operating the youth detention center and transport youth to court hearings. The suits, filed in Shelby County Chancery Court on Dec. 23 and Dec. 31, 2024, are the latest developments in a yearlong debate about management of the detention center, the Daily Memphian reports. Sugarmon argues that Bonner should continue all operations related to the detention facility through the end of the fiscal year in June. On Dec. 30, Bonner sent Sugarmon a “notice of termination and relinquishment” of the center to the Juvenile Court effective Dec. 31, at 11:59 p.m. CST. On Dec. 31, Chancellor James R. Newsom III issued an order requiring Bonner to maintain the Youth Justice and Education Center’s operations until the matters can be argued in court, but he did not require continued transportation of juveniles to court, according to the Commercial Appeal.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee has welcomed Michael J. Dumitru as its newest magistrate judge. Dumitru took the oath of office during a private ceremony in the Joel W. Solomon U.S. Courthouse. A public investiture will take place in the coming months, according to a news release from the court. Dumitru succeeds Susan K. Lee, who is retiring after serving the court since 2004. Dumitru previously worked as a Hamilton County circuit court judge and a litigator in private practice. He earned his law degree from Vanderbilt University Law School in 2011. See a photo from the event.

The Tennessee Worker’s Comp Appeals Board has announced it will hold winter oral arguments in four appeals on Jan. 21. Two cases, White v. Federal Express Corp. and Markin v. Memphis Light, Gas & Water Division, will be argued in person beginning at 9 a.m. CST in the Supreme Court Building, 402 S. Shannon St., Jackson 38301. Virtual arguments in two other cases, Torres v. Allvan Corp. and Pritchard v. GSP Transportation, will follow at 11:30 a.m. and 12:40 p.m., respectively. Read more about the cases.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) did not have legal authority to reinstate so-called “net neutrality” rules, which had been in place during the Barack Obama presidency but repealed in 2017 during the first Donald Trump administration. Generally, net-neutrality rules require internet service providers to treat internet data and users equally rather than restricting access, slowing speeds or blocking content for certain users. The rules also forbid special arrangements in which providers give improved network speeds or access to favored users. The Biden administration had made restoring the rules a priority, Reuters reports. The panel cited the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in a Loper Bright, which overturned a precedent giving deference to government agencies in interpreting laws they administer. Read the opinion.

LaFollette City Judge Kathy Parrott tendered her resignation in a letter dated Dec. 30, 2024, the same day the city council was to discuss whether to fire her or not, the Mountain Press reports. Parrott wrote to council members that her resignation would be effective at the end of the day Tuesday “due to reasons I have discussed with you and interested council members.” Parrott was appointed to the position in 2016. At that time she was serving as Caryville city attorney and a partner in the law firm of Pryor Parrott.