A three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals yesterday struck down a lower court ruling that dismissed two cases against Metro Nashville Public Schools. Tennessee Lookout reports that the suits were brought by two students who alleged they were sexually assaulted at Metro Nashville public schools. Their parents argued that the school system violated Title IX protections through “deliberate indifference” to thousands of prior complaints of sexual harassments and assaults in its schools, and the plight of the two girls after videos of their attacks were posted online and circulated. U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger initially ruled in favor of the school district, saying there was not enough evidence to show it knew there was a problem. The appeals court disagreed yesterday, saying there was enough evidence of “deliberate indifference” to warrant a trial.

A federal appellate court has struck down an appeal by the contractor seeking immunity in the cleanup of radioactive coal ash waste, Tennessee Lookout reports. The 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals yesterday ruled Jacobs Engineering Inc. cannot ride the coattails of Tennessee Valley Authority governmental immunity because the TVA itself would not have been immune from liability had sickened workers chosen to sue the utility. “Jacobs concedes that it is immune from suit only if the TVA is immune,” the opinion stated. “As analyzed … we conclude that the TVA would not have been immune from suit.”

The Shelby County’s Public Defender’s Office now has 21 vacant attorney positions, Tennessee Lookout reports, because it cannot offer competitive salaries. Chief Public Defender Phyllis Aluko on Wednesday told the Shelby County Budget and Finance Committee that she is struggling to hire and retain staff because experienced attorneys working as public defenders make far less than most attorneys in the state. A state public defender with 25 years of experience will make about $30,000 more than a Shelby County public defender with the same experience, she said.

A Nashville woman is the first person in Tennessee to receive a reduced sentence under a new state law that allows courts to reduce sentences for school drug offenders if the act takes place farther than 500 feet from a school zone or if counsel can prove the act did not endanger children, WATE reports. Jenica Gant previously pleaded guilty to selling drugs inside her home, which was within 1,000 feet of a school zone. “None of Ms. Gant’s offenses occurred at a time or a place where children were actually exposed. They were in the summertime. They were at night. They were on her own property,” Sunny Eaton with the Nashville District Attorney’s Office said.

The deadline is near for Tennessee lawyers to take part in a new survey from the Tennessee Bar Association. You should have received a reminder email today with login information if you haven’t yet participated. The survey focuses on the impact COVID-19 has had on the working habits of Tennessee lawyers, the state of work/life balance in the Tennessee legal community, and current practices related to hiring, developing, promoting and compensating attorneys. The TBA’s Women in the Profession Committee worked with Yacoubian Research to develop the survey, which should take about 10 minutes to complete. All attorneys are encouraged to respond to ensure an accurate measurement of responses. Some groups, such as those attorneys under 50, are still slightly underrepresented at this point. Those attorneys who have started,  but not finished, the survey can return to the survey and complete it from where they left off. 

Knoxville lawyer R. Culver Schmid will be presented with the prestigious Justice Joseph W. Henry Award for Outstanding Legal Writing on June 17 during the Tennessee Bar Association’s (TBA) annual convention in Nashville. The award was established nearly 40 years ago and is given each year to the lawyer “who writes the most outstanding article that is published in the ... Tennessee Bar Journal for the preceding year." Culver is managing shareholder in Baker Donelson’s Knoxville office, and a member of its Real Estate/Finance Group. Judges said his article, “Restoring Rights of Individuals Convicted of a Felony Crime: A Manual,” did “an excellent job laying out the statistics and statutes regarding lost voting rights in Tennessee, and then guiding the reader clearly and succinctly through the process of restoring those rights." Read the full release.

Abbie Hudgens, administrator of the Tennessee Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, has reappointed Judge Joshua Davis Baker to the Court of Workers’ Compensation Claims. Judge Baker sits in Nashville. This will be his second full term. In announcing the reappointment, Hudgens said, “Judge Baker has played a pivotal role in the Court of Workers’ Compensation Claims since his contributions to the process of converting proposals into legislation in 2012 and 2013. As one of the first judges, he played a role in the ensuring that the legislative intent was fulfilled,” Hudgens said. He will serve for six years and will be eligible for a third reappointment in 2028. 

Belmont University College of Law has announced the winner of its third annual Legal Fiction Workshop. This year’s winning entry is “An Uncomfortable Familiarity” written by Ally Hicks, a 3L student at the school. The piece follows an attorney as she navigates a complicated case that brings up traumatic memories. The winning entry was selected by an outside community reader, Nashville lawyer Wendy Harkness, through an anonymized review process. Harkness said that “from the first sentence, the imagery grabbed the reader’s attention and held it through the tale's satisfying end” and that the story “adeptly captured the very real compromising situations in which attorneys occasionally find themselves.” The writing workshop is conducted over the spring semester as an extracurricular activity for a limited number of 2L and 3L students, and is taught by Professor Kristi Arth.

The U.S. State Department yesterday announced the launch of a new program to gather and analyze evidence of war crimes and other atrocities allegedly perpetrated by Russia in Ukraine, Reuters reports. In a statement, the State Department said the Conflict Observatory will encompass documentation, verification and dissemination of open-source evidence of Russia's actions in Ukraine. Reports and analyses will be made available through the observatory's website. President Joe Biden has accused Russia of "major war crimes" while the Ukrainian government says it has identified more than 10,000 possible crimes.

U.S. District Court Judge Aleta Trauger has struck down a Tennessee law requiring businesses to post special signs if they allow transgender individuals to use a bathroom of their choice. The move comes after she issued a temporary halt to the law soon after it was signed. A challenge to the law was brought by the ACLU on behalf of Nashville business owner Bob Bernstein, who owns Nashville coffee shops Bongo Java and Fido. Trauger's decision rejected state arguments that the law does not target transgender individuals and does not prohibit anyone from using a restroom of their choice. Instead, she wrote: “Transgender Tennesseans are real. The businesses and establishments that wish to welcome them are real. And the viewpoints that those individuals and businesses hold are real, even if they differ from the view of some legislators or government officials. While those government officials have considerable power, they have no authority to wish those opposing viewpoints away.” WPLN has the story.