The 2025 TBA Animal Law Forum will take place Friday, Oct. 3, at the Nashville Zoo. This unique opportunity provides updates on trends and advancements in animal law while allowing participants to network and enjoy the fun and activities the zoo offers. Topics at this year’s forum include practicing animal law, development in sensitive habitats, equine concerns, conservation, a case law update, ethics and more. Zoo admission, breakfast and lunch are included with the program. Do not miss this event; you never know who is going to show up! Register now.

The U.S. Senate voted 46-42 on Monday to confirm Whitney Hermandorfer to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, Bloomberg Law reports. Hermandorfer will replace Judge Jane Branstetter Stranch, who announced plans last year to assume senior status upon confirmation of a successor. Hermandorfer directs the strategic litigation unit for the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office. She has been on the forefront of a number of high-profile state cases including a near total ban on abortion, prohibition on certain medical treatments for transgender minors, and a challenge to the Biden administration’s rule extending anti-sex discrimination language to transgender students. She also signed Tennessee’s amicus brief in support of President Donald Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order and against universal injunctions. Prior to joining the attorney general’s office, Hermandorfer worked at Williams & Connolly and clerked for Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Amy Coney Barrett, and now-justice Brett Kavanaugh when he was on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Three more Tennessee counties are now authorized to receive public assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as they recover from severe storms in April. FEMA announced Monday that Carroll, Houston and Wayne counties are now eligible for public assistance funding, which helps reimburse some local government costs for debris removal and repairs to public infrastructure or facilities. They join 19 other counties that previously were announced. Tennessee Lookout reports the news. The paper also notes that FEMA has approved $3.4 million in individual assistance for the storms.

Davidson County Chancellor Russell Perkins heard testimony this week from a medical expert on just how excruciating Byron Black’s execution could be. Black is scheduled to die on Aug. 5, an event made more complicated by the fact that he has a cardioverter-defibrillator that was implanted in his chest last year due to congestive heart failure, the Nashville Banner reports. The doctor testified that as pentobarbital works its way through Black’s system, there is a high likelihood that the device would repeatedly shock him. Black’s legal team is seeking a court order to have the device reprogramed to turn off that function. Read more from the Banner’s July 15 newsletter.

Movant, Antonio K. Champion, appeals from the trial court’s denial of his motion to correct an illegal sentence related to his guilty-pleaded convictions in Madison County Circuit Court case numbers 22-488 and 22-489.1 On appeal, he argues that the trial court erred by denying his motion because he was improperly sentenced as a Range II offender based upon several prior convictions, which he asserts also involved “illegal” sentences. After a thorough review of the record, we affirm.

In this divorce case, Appellant/Wife appeals the trial court’s denial of her Tennessee Rule of Civil Procedure 59.04 motion to alter or amend the final decree of divorce. Although Wife and Appellee/Husband tendered proposed final decrees and orally announced their consent to be divorced and to divide the marital estate, they did not file a written property- settlement agreement. In her Rule 59.04 motion, Wife asserts, inter alia, that the parties did not come to an agreement concerning the division of two marital assets, i.e. stock in Husband’s company, and funds held by the trial court Clerk. In the absence of such agreement, Wife contends that the trial court erred in entering its final decree and in the division of the disputed assets. Discerning no error, we affirm.

This appeal arises from a probate matter in which the trial court, inter alia, granted by default a motion for substitution of the original personal representative. The original personal representative filed a motion to vacate the default order and later filed a “Verified Petition for Temporary Restraining Order without Notice” to prevent the disbursement of funds received from a related wrongful death suit. While the motion and petition were pending, the successor personal representative petitioned to close the estate and discharge personal representative, which the trial court granted. The original personal representative appeals, contending that it was error to grant the substitution of personal representative by default due to a lack of proper notice and hearing. After a review of the record, we find that there has been no adjudication of the motion to vacate the order removing the original personal representative or the petition for temporary restraining order. Therefore, the judgment of the trial court is not final, and we must dismiss the appeal for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

July 7, 2025 - July 11, 2025.

In this interlocutory appeal, the alleged employer questions the trial court’s order compelling it to provide the claimant a panel of orthopedic physicians. Specifically, the alleged employer avers that the court erred in finding that the claimant was likely to prevail at trial in proving she was an employee rather than an independent contractor. Upon careful consideration of the record, we affirm the trial court’s order and remand the case.

Three candidates are seeking to replace Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Paula Skahan, who stepped down from the bench. Jahari M. Dowdy, Raymond "Ray" J. Lepone and Kenya N. Smith will make a case for why they should be appointed to the role during a public hearing this week. Dowdy, a criminal defense attorney and owner of her own law firm, has focused on criminal defense for 20 years and is applying for a judgeship for the first time. Lepone, former deputy district attorney and juvenile court magistrate, brings years of prosecutorial experience. He recently joined the Tennessee attorney general’s office. Smith is a Shelby County judicial commissioner and longtime prosecutor. Read more about each of the candidates in the Commercial Appeal.