The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Board of Directors has selected Mike Skaggs, a former chief operating officer (COO) who retired in 2022, to serve as interim chief executive officer (CEO) for one year, effective immediately, Chattanooga Times Free Press reports. Skaggs will replace CEO Don Moul, who joined TVA in 2021 and recently informed the board of his plan to retire July 1. Skaggs worked for TVA from 1994 until his retirement and oversaw the $4.7 billion completion of Watts Bar Nuclear Plant Unit 2, which in 2016, became the first nuclear unit to come online in the United States in the 21st century. According to his offer letter, the board and Skaggs may agree to extend his term beyond the initial year.

The Tennessee Supreme Court on April 22 suspended 21 attorneys for failure to pay the annual registration fee, 13 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. Lawyers reinstated in the last month include four suspended in 2026, one from 2025, one from 2025, one from 2024, one from 2023. TBA has administrative suspensions dating back to 2005. Be sure to check the Board of Professional Responsibility's website for the most up to date information on lawyers' licenses.

Crow Estate Planning & Probate, with offices in Middle Tennessee and Southern Kentucky, has announced its expansion to East Tennessee with an office in downtown Chattanooga. John Crow, founder of the firm, said opening an office in Chattanooga is a “natural extension of what we have been building across Tennessee.” And “... we simply love Chattanooga. It's a city with character, strong families, and a real sense of community. That made it an easy decision for us to invest here and build something long-term.” Attorney Scott Grant will join the firm to lead the new office, which will open May 4. Grant previously served 29 years as an attorney and senior counsel at Grant, Konvalinka & Harrison in Chattanooga. The office will be located at 736 Georgia Ave., Ste. 504, Chattanooga 37402 and can be reached at 423-456-2953. Read more in a press release from the firm.

Tennessee lawyers will gather in June for the 2026 TBA Annual Convention. This year's CLE lineup — which will offer 8.5 hours of credit — will focus on technology topics as part of TBA’s first-ever Tech Showcase. On June 11 at 1:15 p.m. EDT, join Livingston lawyers Emily and Evan Wright with Wright & Wright LLP as they dig into conscious lawyering with artificial intelligence (AI). The pair will provide a practical overview of how attorneys can use AI tools effectively while maintaining independent judgment and meeting ethical obligations. The session will cover AI’s capabilities and limitations, recent case law addressing AI use in litigation, evolving duties attorneys face when relying on these tools, tips for reviewing and verifying AI-generated work, and practical strategies for protecting client confidentiality and sensitive data. Register for the convention or purchase a day pass to attend Thursday's tech events, including this CLE.

On April 23, Davidson County lawyer Cynthia Jane Bohn received a public censure from the Tennessee Supreme Court. Bohn represented a mother in a custody dispute in which a guardian ad litem had been appointed for the children. Bohn met with the two minor children without the guardian ad litem present and discussed the pending litigation, telling the children they hypothetically could be put into foster care under some circumstances. She also grabbed the arm of one child and held it during the meeting. The court later disqualified Bohn from representing the mother. The court found her actions violated Rules of Professional Conduct 4.2, 4.4 and 8.4(d).

Rutherford County lawyer Dalen L. P. Farmer received a public censure on April 23. Farmer was hired to defend a client in a partition and promissory fraud action. A motion to compel was filed against the client for failing to provide discovery responses. The Tennessee Supreme Court found that Farmer did not provide a copy of the motion to his client, did not file a response and failed to appear in court on the motion. The plaintiff received a judgment of default and sanctions against the client. Farmer’s actions were found to violate Rules of Professional Conduct 1.1, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 3.4, 8.1 and 8.4.

Members of the newly appointed 2026-2027 Young Lawyers Division (YLD) Board met in Nashville to plan for the upcoming bar year. The group also got to know one another better with a dinner at Ole Red and a wellness walk on Saturday planned by Health & Wellness Coordinator Chris Kelley. Later that day, the board conducted a Tennessee Free Legal Answers Clinic, continuing its commitment to being the "service arm of the bar." Working together, they answered 18 questions.

President-elect Jennifer Sneed-Perry, who will be sworn in as YLD president at the TBA Convention in June, provided an overview of the upcoming bar year as well as the expectations for all board members. She also introduced two initiatives for her year in office: increased law school engagement with the addition of six law student liaisons to the YLD Board and a focus on increasing education for attorneys and the public about estate planning, guardianships and conservatorships. The board also elected Andrea Morgan Hancock of Clinton as the District 2 representative. Mock Trial Chair Bridget Pyman was presented with the disco gavel for being the most enthusiastic participant at the meeting. Judge Zack Walden also was recognized with a disco gavel for his lively game of Traitors. See photos from the event.

The YLD has district representative openings in Districts 10 and 12. YLD members interested in serving in these roles should send a letter of interest and resume to llabenberg@tnbar.org.

DraftKings and FanDuel are the latest apps to be sued by consumers who say the platforms are deliberately designed to addict users, Bloomberg Law reports. Like the landmark social media addiction verdict against Meta and Google, three recent lawsuits against the sports betting apps point to features like push notifications, personalized algorithms and targeted advertising. The apps are accused of making sports betting more dangerous because they do not have the same barriers that inherently restrict in-person wagers.

MURPHY, Circuit Judge. Class-action suits brought against automobile insurers in many courts from around the country have asked the same question. Suppose an insurer promises to pay the “actual cash value” of an insured’s vehicle if the vehicle gets destroyed in an accident. Suppose further that the insurer uses the same formula to calculate actual cash value. If car owners believe that this general formula includes an improper reduction, may they pursue a class action? Five circuit courts have now said “no” because individual issues about the unique value of each used car will dominate all other matters. See Ambrosio v. Progressive Preferred Ins. Co., 154 F.4th 1107, 1110–13 (9th Cir. 2025); Freeman v. Progressive Direct Ins. Co., 149 F.4th 461, 468–71 (4th Cir. 2025); Schroeder v. Progressive Paloverde Ins. Co., 146 F.4th 567, 576–78 (7th Cir. 2025); Drummond v. Progressive Specialty Ins. Co., 142 F.4th 149, 158–61 (3d Cir. 2025); Sampson v. United Servs. Auto. Ass’n, 83 F.4th 414, 417, 421–23 (5th Cir. 2023). This case asks the same question. When calculating the “actual cash value” of destroyed vehicles, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company often relies on the advertised prices of comparable used vehicles. It then imposes a “typical negotiation” adjustment that reduces the estimated value of these comparators to account for negotiations that lower their final sales prices. Jessica Clippinger brought a class-action challenge to this typical-negotiation adjustment, claiming that it generally undervalues the comparator vehicles. Even if Clippinger were correct, though, we agree with the other circuit courts that she cannot pursue this theory on a class-wide basis. To determine whether State Farm paid “actual cash value” for the 90,000 used vehicles in the class, a jury would have to consider unique evidence about each vehicle’s value. And this individual valuation will “predominate” over all other questions under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(3). To be sure, the district court tried to avoid the need for case-by-case evidence by holding that it could estimate every class member’s damages using a simple calculation that would refund the amount of the typical-negotiation adjustment. But this proposed solution would wrongly read Rule 23 to eliminate State Farm’s “substantive right” to present unique evidence that it paid fair market value to a specific class member despite its use of the adjustment. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, 564 U.S. 338, 367 (2011) (quoting 28 U.S.C. § 2072(b)). We thus reverse the district court’s class-certification order and remand for proceedings consistent with this opinion.

Wesley Allen Lacey, Defendant, was charged in a presentment by the Knox County Grand Jury with one count of second degree murder and one count of delivery of fentanyl in an amount less than fifteen grams. A jury found Defendant guilty of second degree murder and casual exchange. As a result, he was sentenced to fifteen years to be served at 100% for the second degree murder conviction and eleven months and twenty-nine days for the casual exchange conviction, to be served concurrently, for a total effective sentence of fifteen years in incarceration. After the denial of a motion for new trial, Defendant appealed challenging the sufficiency of the evidence to support the conviction for second degree murder and the admission of testimony from a medical examiner who did not perform the autopsy of the victim. Following a thorough review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.