In this interlocutory appeal, the employer argues the trial court erred in determining the employee’s injury and subsequent need for medical treatment were primarily caused by a work accident. While working as a truck driver for the employer, the employee alleged he scratched his arm, causing a minor cut or laceration, which became infected. The employee developed necrotizing fasciitis, requiring amputation of his left arm and multiple surgeries on his right arm. The employer denied the claim, contending the employee injured his arm elsewhere, that he did not properly care for his wound, and that his underlying medical conditions were the primary cause of the infection’s worsening into necrotizing fasciitis. At the expedited hearing, both parties presented testimony from physicians specializing in infectious disease, and the employee presented proof from a psychiatrist that his preexisting depression had worsened following his amputation. The trial court found the employee suffered an injury while at work, which was the primary cause of the infection and the need for the amputation. The court awarded medical benefits, including the payment of past medical bills, treatment with an infectious disease physician, and the provision of a panel of psychiatrists. The trial court also found the employee was presumably entitled to temporary total disability benefits but reserved ruling on the amount due to the lack of proof in the record. The employer has appealed. Having carefully reviewed the record and the arguments of counsel, we affirm the trial court’s finding that the employee will likely prevail at trial in establishing he suffered an injury in the course and scope of his employment that is the primary cause of his need for medical treatment; we modify the award for medical benefits; we vacate the award of temporary total disability benefits; and we remand the case.

Tennessee Court of Appeals Judges Andy Bennett, Frank Clement Jr. and Jeffrey Usman on Thursday heard arguments over whether Gov. Bill Lee's deployment of the National Guard to Memphis is constitutional. The case stems from a lawsuit filed by a group of Democratic city, county and state officials who claim the deployment violates the Tennessee Constitution. The plaintiffs argue the National Guard can be called up only in cases of rebellion or invasion, or at the request of local governing bodies or the legislature — none of which occurred. They also warn that without a defined end date, the military presence could continue indefinitely. The state countered that Memphis, which had the nation's highest per capita crime rate in 2024 at 345% above the national average, qualifies as a "grave emergency" justifying deployment, and that the decision falls within the governor's executive authority and is not subject to judicial override. The Commercial Appeal reports that the judges pressed both sides, appearing skeptical of the plaintiffs' narrow definition of the National Guard as a militia while also challenging the state to define what conditions would end the deployment.

Tennessee election finance officials have fined former Republican operative Cade Cothren $80,000 — the maximum allowed — for using a former Vanderbilt student as a figurehead treasurer to conceal his own role running the Faith Family Freedom PAC during the 2020 election cycle. The case stems from an October 2020 whistleblower complaint and was complicated by a separate federal prosecution in which Cothren and former House Speaker Glen Casada were convicted on money laundering and fraud charges before receiving pardons from President Donald Trump in November. The Nashville Scene reports that Cothren declined to respond to a subpoena or testify in his own defense during the ethics proceedings and says he is disputing the fine.

The Tony-winning musical "Suffs," currently touring in Nashville through Sunday at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC), dramatizes the pivotal summer of 1920 when Tennessee cast the deciding vote to ratify the 19th Amendment and secure women's right to vote. Axios reports that the show highlights the Hermitage Hotel — less than a block away from TPAC — where suffrage and anti-suffrage activists camped out and pressured lawmakers in a frenzy of dealmaking so intense that the hotel lobby was dubbed the "third house" of the General Assembly. A key dramatic moment centers on Tennessee lawmaker Harry T. Burn, who broke a deadlock by switching his vote to yes after receiving a letter from his mother urging him to support the cause, making Tennessee the 36th and deciding state to ratify the amendment on Aug. 18, 1920.

The late Rev. James M. Lawson Jr. was a Memphis pastor who served as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s chief tactician and strategist during the pivotal 1968 sanitation workers strike, the events surrounding which ultimately led to King's assassination. Lawson, a lifelong advocate of nonviolent resistance, was remembered at a Feb. 20 book launch event at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis as a "tactical creator and spiritual leader" of the civil rights movement. The event marked the release of his memoir, "Nonviolent: A Memoir of Resistance, Agitation, and Love," co-written with Memphis author Emily Yellin, whose own family had deep roots in documenting the events of 1968. Lawson died in June 2024 at age 95, but his son described the memoir as an accurate reflection of his father's voice and legacy. The Commercial Appeal has more on the event.

After its IP webcast series installment on April 1, the TBA Intellectual Property Section will host its next series session on April 8 from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. CDT. This webcast will explore how LKQ Corp. v. GM Global Tech. Operations LLC changed the obviousness test for design patents and what the change means on a practical level for design patent practitioners. Attendees also will learn how examiner training post-LKQ may impact design prosecution and how to handle obviousness rejections in the current landscape. The webcast will feature speaker Elizabeth Shah, a patent attorney with the Washington, D.C.-based law firm Bookoff McAndrews. Intellectual Property Section members save on registration costs. Not a member? Join now!

A recent article from Axios summarizes some of the ways that federal courts have pushed back on key aspects of the administration's efforts to eliminate DEI programming. The news outlet compiles examples across issue areas where courts have blocked or reversed actions aimed to roll back equity practices in education, environmental justice and employment matters. Read more from the article.

The TBA Pro Bono Portal provides a centralized source for lawyers and law students to find pro bono opportunities across Tennessee, like the following case through West Tennessee Legal Services (WTLS). A client is seeking a conservatorship for their adult disabled daughter. WTLS has an updated physician affidavit on file. Get more information about the requirements associated with this opportunity or browse other pro bono needs. A free half hour CLE is available on the TBA’s website to introduce attorneys to this innovative platform. The webcast includes a live demonstration of the portal and shows attorneys how to search and sign up for pro bono opportunities in their practice areas.

KAREN NELSON MOORE, Circuit Judge. The Village of St. Bernard (“Village”), a small municipality and enclave of Cincinnati, relied on its billboard ordinance to prohibit Norton Outdoor Advertising, Inc. (“Norton”) from erecting a digital billboard. Norton sued, raising various arguments against the Village’s ordinance under the First Amendment. After the district court granted summary judgment to the Village, we reversed, holding that one portion of the Village’s ordinance governing “public service” signs was an invalid content-based restriction on speech. Norton Outdoor Advert., Inc. v. Village of St. Bernard (“Norton I”), 99 F.4th 840, 842 (6th Cir. 2024). In so doing, we remanded the case to the district court to determine in the first instance whether the unconstitutional public-service exemption was severable from the rest of the ordinance. The district court, finding that the provision was severable and that the remainder of the ordinance satisfied intermediate scrutiny, again granted judgment in favor of the Village, and Norton appealed once more. Because the public-service exemption is severable and the ordinance otherwise passes constitutional muster, we affirm.

READLER, Circuit Judge. A Michigan state jury convicted Scott Allen DeBruyn of delivering oxycodone to his friend, causing her death. Following the verdict, DeBruyn filed a motion for a new trial claiming that he received ineffective assistance of counsel. The state courts denied his claims on the merits. He then petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus in federal court, renewing the same claims. The district court denied his petition. Because DeBruyn cannot surmount the requirements in the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, we affirm.