Gibson County lawyer Jeffery Alan "Jeff " Smith died March 29 at the age of 61. After earning a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Memphis and a law degree from the university’s Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, Smith began practicing law in Trenton. He later served as the city attorney for Dyersburg and Rutherford and owned a number of H&R Block franchises with locations in Dyersburg, Humboldt, Martin, Ripley, South Fulton and Union City.

University of Tennessee (UT) Mock Trial is hosting its annual Mocky Top Invitational tournament Oct. 4-5. The organization will welcome 20 teams from across the country and is in need of volunteer judges. There will be two trial rounds on Saturday and two on Sunday, but volunteers can sign up for as many or as few spots as they would like. Organizers say they have a shortage of judges because the event falls during Knox County Schools' fall break. Any attorney, law student or mock trial alum is eligible to judge. Sign up to volunteer here.

TBA Young Lawyers Division wrapped up its September law school visits with the students at the Nashville School of Law (NSL). YLD leaders  continued the conversation about the advantages of getting involved with the TBA while still in law school and the many benefits of the free law student membership. YLD Board member and DLI Co-Chair Morgan Hanna was on hand to encourage the students to volunteer at pro bono clinics, attend CLE programs and apply for DLI and the Rural Judicial Fellowship programs. The YLD will complete this year's law school visits at the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law in October. See photos from the event.

An upcoming item in yesterday's issue of TBA Today included a broken link to register for the Lincoln Memorial University Duncan School of Law's (LMU Law) AI event on Oct. 7. The correct link to register is here. For questions about the event, contact Associate Director of the Law Library and Assistant Professor of Law Bianca White at bianca.white@lmunet.edu.

The Tennessee Supreme Court on Sept. 24 suspended 15 attorneys for failure to pay the annual registration fee, five of whom also failed to file proof that client funds are held in an IOLTA-compliant account. View the fee suspension order and IOLTA suspension order. Ten lawyers suspended for fee and/or IOLTA violations this year have been reinstated to either active or inactive status. Two lawyers suspended in 2024 for fee and/or IOLTA violations also have been reinstated. Access all administrative suspensions dating back to 2005.

In this interlocutory appeal, the employer questions the trial court’s decision to partially deny the employer’s motion to compel discovery. The employer sought discovery related to the employee’s children, employment, and income, as well as various financial documents, and the employee objected on multiple bases. In a decision on the record, the trial court granted the employer’s motion as it pertained to production of the employee’s W-2 and tax information, but it denied the motion in all other respects. The employer has appealed. Having carefully reviewed the record, we affirm the trial court’s decision and remand the case.

JANE B. STRANCH, Circuit Judge. Plaintiffs Thomas Michael Smith and Monaleto Sneed bring this action against their former employer, P.A.M. Transport, Inc. (“P.A.M. Transport”), under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq.; 42 U.S.C. § 1981; and the Tennessee Human Rights Act (THRA). Plaintiffs assert that their supervisors at P.A.M. Transport created a racially hostile work environment. The district court granted summary judgment to P.A.M. Transport on the ground that Plaintiffs failed to adduce evidence of racial harassment sufficient to sustain a viable hostile work environment claim. For the reasons set forth below, we REVERSE the judgment of the district court.

JULIA SMITH GIBBONS, Circuit Judge. This appeal concerns the allocation among different parties of an insurance payout resulting from a 2018 trial in the Western District of Tennessee. In that first case, the jury verdict included a $2.5 million award to John Falls, a Memphis musician and music businessman, under an insurance policy issued by Hanover American Insurance Company. Hanover moved under Rule 50(b) to set aside the verdict, and the district court granted its motion. On appeal, this court reversed and ordered the district court to reinstate the jury verdict. We held in that case that because Hanover had failed to make an initial 50(a) motion, it was therefore barred from making its Rule 50(b) motion. The $2.5 million payout then became the subject of an interpleader action (and a parallel state action between two of the three parties in this appeal). The district court initially enjoined the state action, but this court reversed. Then, the district court, on summary judgment, held that, applying principles of res judicata, the first trial and decision by this court precluded Hanover from making certain arguments against Falls as to the distribution of funds. After a bench trial, the district court found facts as to the value of the interests at stake and divided the funds, with the majority going to John Falls and the remainder to Christopher C. Brown, who owned the equipment insured by the policy. Hanover and Tattooed Millionaire Entertainment appeal. We affirm the district court’s decision. First, Hanover may not challenge Falls’s recovery, directly or indirectly, based on grounds and arguments it could have brought in the first case. Although the district court erred by interpreting the wrong lease for the purposes of its later analysis, we find this error harmless, because in the circumstances of this case it was correct to allocate the funds based on the value of the leasehold. Finally, the district court’s determination of the value of the leasehold and its resulting allocation was not clearly erroneous. We affirm the district court’s judgment.

BUSH, Circuit Judge. Defendant-Appellant Cody Ballinger pleaded guilty to a single count of being a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). The district court sentenced Ballinger to 180 months’ imprisonment based on an enhancement under the mandatory minimum of the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA). Ballinger now appeals his sentence. We AFFIRM.

Defendant, Brian Lee Fisk, appeals his Dyer County Circuit Court jury conviction of the sale of .5 grams or more of cocaine within a Drug-Free Zone, see Tenn. Code Ann. § 39- 17-432 (2014), challenging the sufficiency of the convicting evidence and the sentencing decision of the trial court. Because the evidence was sufficient to support his conviction and because the trial court did not commit plain error by sentencing Defendant under the terms of the Drug-Free Zone Act in effect at the time of the offense, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.