The Tennessee Supreme Court today agreed to take up an appeal of Gov. Bill Lee’s school voucher program, the Tennessean reports. A three-member panel of the Court of Appeals in September upheld Davidson County Chancery Court Judge Anne Martin’s ruling that the bill was unconstitutional, prompting the state to appeal to the high court. The program would allow students from school districts in Davidson and Shelby counties to attend private schools and pay for it, in part, with public funds. The bill, one of Gov. Bill Lee’s signature initiatives, was passed by the General Assembly in 2019. The case has not yet been set for oral arguments.

The Tennessee Supreme Court has ruled that Tennessee’s Health Care Liability Act (HCLA) requires defendants to provide plaintiffs with written notice when plaintiffs sue the wrong defendant but does not provide a penalty or a remedy when defendants fail to comply with the statute. Read the Supreme Court’s majority opinion in Bidwell ex rel. Bidwell et al. v. Strait et al., authored by Justice Cornelia A. Clark, as well as the separate concurring opinion authored by Justice Holly Kirby and separate concurring in part and dissenting in part opinion authored by Justice Sharon G. Lee.

The Tennessee Supreme Court held for the first time today that lawyers who make unethical statements may receive harsher discipline if they choose to post those statements publicly on social media. In the case In Re: Winston Bradshaw Sitton, BPR#018440, the court found that Nashville attorney Winston B. Sitton posted comments on Facebook with instructions on how to shoot someone and make it look like self-defense. The comments were made in response to a question about state firearms law. The Board of Professional Responsibility recommended that Sitton’s law license be suspended for 60 days. The court rejected that recommendation saying it was too lenient. It instead imposed a suspension of four years, with one year to be served on active suspension and the rest on probation. Justice Sharon Lee filed a separate opinion saying she agreed with the sanction but did not believe the court had authority to review the hearing panel’s record. Read more about the court's action or download the BPR release.

The Tennessee Supreme Court granted review to five new cases this past Monday. Issues to be considered include the statutory damages cap, loss of consortium, prosecutorial misconduct, insurance payments to general contractors and gang evidence. Read more about these cases in the latest Raybin Supreme Court Hot List.

The Tennessee Supreme Court today issued an order extending the judicial state of emergency and suspension of jury trials and in-person court proceedings through March 31. The court said the move was being taken “in light of the continued record number of COVID-19 cases and related hospitalizations and deaths in Tennessee and the governor’s issuance of Executive Order 73." Exceptions to the suspension of jury trials may be granted by the chief justice on a case-by-case basis. Suspension of in-person proceedings is subject to exceptions enumerated in the paragraph 3 of the court’s Dec. 22, 2020, order. Today’s order applies to all state and local courts, including municipal, juvenile, general sessions, trial and appellate courts, as well as court clerk offices. It does not apply to administrative courts within the executive branch or federal courts in the state.

In the case of a Davidson County man convicted on two counts of “promotional” money laundering, the Tennessee Supreme Court today upheld one conviction, but reversed the second. The defendant sold marijuana to a confidential informant twice in 2009, each time accepting payment for a portion of the drugs, but also “fronting” additional product to the informant, expecting payment after the informant sold the drugs to others. The high court unanimously held that the evidence supported one conviction of money laundering, but for the second conviction, the evidence showed that the defendant had not bought additional drugs with the informant’s payment with the intent to promote future sales. Read more from the Administrative Office of the Courts.  

The Tennessee Supreme Court yesterday dismissed a wrongful termination lawsuit brought by a Williamson County tenured teacher, holding that the teacher cannot claim wrongful discharge under Tennessee’s Teacher Tenure Act because she quit her job. The court also dismissed the teacher’s claim of infliction of emotional distress, holding that the conduct of school administrators was not egregious enough to support a legal claim. Read more from about the case from the Administrative Office of the Courts.

The Tennessee Supreme Court will hear two cases tomorrow via livestream videoconferencing. Regions Bank v. Nathan I. Prager will be heard at 9 a.m. CST and Cynthia E. Yebuah et al. v. Center for Urological Treatment, PLC will be heard at 10:30 a.m. CST. Both cases can be seen on the TNCourts YouTube page. For summaries of both cases, visit the Administrative Office of the Court’s webpage.  

The Tennessee Supreme Court yesterday determined that, per the Tennessee Products Liability Act, a manufacturer is not liable for injuries resulting from products it did not make or sell. The opinion stems from a case in which a plaintiff filed suit against several industrial equipment manufacturers, claiming they were liable under the Tennessee Products Liability Act for failing to warn him that the materials needed to repair and maintain their products contained asbestos, ultimately causing him to develop mesothelioma. The high court held that the Products Liability Act does not impose upon the equipment defendants a duty to warn about products that did not contain asbestos when they left the defendants’ control. Read more on the case from the Administrative Office of the Courts.  

Many court services that were impacted by the explosion in Nashville last week have been brought back online, but several outages remain. The following is an update from Tuesday afternoon:

• Phone lines into the Nashville Supreme Court Building, Administrative Office of the Courts, and Board of Law Examiners have not yet been restored, but email is working. The AOC physical office will be closed for the week, with staff working remotely. All methods of filing will still be available, including the drop box located outside of the building, e-filing, fax filing, U.S. mail and commercial delivery services. Questions can be directed to the Appellate Court Clerk offices in Jackson at 731-423-5840, or Knoxville at 865-594-6700
   
• The Davidson County District Attorney’s office is without phone service
   
• The Tennessee Lawyers Assistance Program offices received heavy damage. The physical office is closed. The website and email are functioning and staff was able to gain access to their computer network on Monday.  All case files and other information on the network are accessible and secure. The phone lines are not currently working. If you have an emergency or need to talk to staff, please call this cell number: 615-393-2985
   
• The Davidson County court clerk offices are open and functioning, but phone lines are not working. Elevators in the buildings also may not be accessible. Email is functioning with no issues reported