The city of Memphis Friday filed a motion to dismiss the civil suit from Tyre Nichols’ mother and estate, saying that Nichols’ death was the product of “five rogue police officers” and the city had no hand in the man’s death. According to the Daily Memphian, the city said it should not be a party to the suit because it fired the officers charged in Nichols’ death and disbanded the unit they belonged to.

Jennifer Sink is leaving her position as attorney for the city of Memphis to take a position at Memphis Light, Gas and Water. The Daily Memphian takes a look at her tenure at City Hall under Mayor Jim Strickland which included the COVID-19 pandemic and several lawsuits against the city. Sink says that much of her work — like a lot of what city government does — probably has gone unnoticed by residents. “There’s a lot of little things that we’ve done that maybe aren’t glamorous, maybe don’t make the news, but they’re important, and they have a ripple effect on people’s livelihood and their lives."

Salah Ayesh, a former board member of the Islamic Center of Tennessee (ICT), is being sued by the mosque and has been barred from entering the facility by a restraining order. The ICT board ousted Ayesh after he entered the business office without permission, sought to hire a consulting firm to complete a forensic audit and made an attempt to fire an imam. The Tennessean reports that Davidson County Chancellor I'Ashea L. Myles granted ICT's request for a restraining order on Monday, saying “employees and parishioners may face further damage, harassment, threats and interference with its legitimate business.”

The Mid-South Commercial Law Institute has elected five new directors to serve five-year terms: Justin Campbell of Thompson Burton PLLC, Michael W. Ewell of Frantz, McConnell & Seymour LLP, Laura F. Ketcham of Miller & Martin PLLC, Elizabeth Parrott of McCalla Raymer Leibert Pierce LLC and Gray Waldron of Dunham Hildebrand PLLC. Officers are President James E. Bailey III of Butler Snow LLP, Vice President/President-elect Paul G. Jennings of Bass, Berry & Sims PLC, Secretary Cynthia N. Podis of Podis & Podis, Treasurer Stephen D. Barham of Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel PC and Immediate Past President Shanna Fuller Veach, Career Law Clerk to Hon. Suzanne H. Bauknight.

The Department of Children’s Services (DCS) says that it is struggling to find a solution to avoid having abused and neglected children sleep in state offices overnight. Some of the temporary faith-based shelters and community groups that volunteered to provide short-term housing have closed or pulled back on their availability leaving caseworkers with few options for overnight housing. The Tennessee Lookout reports that there are currently 27 shelters across Tennessee's 95 counties, down from 29 in April, to temporarily house kids coming into DCS custody.

In a special called meeting Thursday, Nashville real estate developer Jimmy Granbery was elected chair of the Metro Nashville Airport Authority. The Nashville Business Journal reports that after the meeting, Airport Authority CEO Doug Kreulen issued a public letter justifying why a new board was installed; Metro Law Director Wally Dietz also circulated a letter stating that Granbery and board member Bobby Joslin (elected as vice chair) now have "an irreconcilable conflict of interest" because they also had seats on the pre-exisiting airport board. The Federal Aviation Administration has stated it will not recognize a new board until the lawsuit surrounding the airport authority takeover is resolved.

Thomson Reuters will purchase the San Francisco-based Casetext for $650 million as part of its long-term investment in generative artificial intelligence. The ABA Journal reports that the legal tech startup was founded in 2013 and has about 100 employees. Casetext launched the legal AI assistant CoCounsel in March. The product, developed in a partnership with OpenAI and trained on the latest version of its GPT large language model, uses a chatbot interface to aid in legal research, document review and contract analysis.

Memphis Law School has released two new "Show Cause" podcasts. Act Like an Adult — A Drag Show Dilemma takes a look at Tennessee's Adult Entertainment Act and the recent federal district court ruling that found it unconstitutional. Memphis Law professor Regina Hillman joins the show to discuss a wide array of LGBTQ related topics. In the Legislative Weeds with Cannabis features Stephen Galoob, a professor at the University of Tulsa College of Law, on how states are regulating the marijuana market and how the landscape is changing across the country, at both the state and federal levels.

Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy announced Thursday that his office would seek the death penalty in the criminal case against Cleotha Abston-Henderson, the man charged with the abduction and killing of Memphis teacher Eliza Fletcher, who was kidnapped while running near the University of Memphis in early September. According to the Commercial Appeal, Mulroy's office also requested investigative findings from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, which include a ballistics report, a firearm investigation, serology and DNA testing.

A new law, which took effect July 1 and was sponsored by Sen. London Lamar, D-Memphis, seeks to expand access to doula services for pregnant, low-income Tennesseans. The Daily Memphian reports that the bill creates a doula services advisory committee within TennCare. The five-member committee will advise the Tennessee Department of Health on standards for the profession and recommend reimbursement rates for TennCare coverage of doula services. It will also include the state’s commissioner of health or a designee with experience in maternal health or Medicaid policy, the director of TennCare or a designee, and three doulas, two of whom must be community-based and have experience serving Medicaid recipients in areas of the state with high maternal- and infant-mortality rates. “This is an important policy goal because Tennessee women are dying due to preventable, pregnancy-related complications at a rate 10 times higher than women in other wealthy nations,” Lamar said.