Tennessee Attorney General (AG) Jonathan Skrmetti today announced a $45 million multistate settlement with Block Inc., the company behind the popular peer-to-peer payments app Cash App. The settlement resolves allegations that Block misled consumers about the safety of Cash App, failed to protect users from fraud on the platform and did not provide the fraud protection or resolution promised or required by law. Oregon and Texas led the investigation, securing relief for all 46 participating states. Tennessee will receive $737,136.95 in settlement funds. Also today, Skrmetti joined a bipartisan coalition of 49 attorneys general in urging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to adopt stronger safeguards to make it harder for scammers to obtain legitimate telephone numbers and use them to target consumers. The coalition filed comments supporting proposed FCC rules that would help prevent criminals from exploiting legitimate phone numbers to carry out robocall and text message scams. The request builds on recommendations first made by the Anti-Robocall Multistate Litigation Task Force in 2021. According to Skrmetti, Americans received an estimated 29.6 billion scam robocalls and text messages last year and lost nearly $2 billion to these schemes.

Homer L. Deakins, a founding member of Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart PC (now Ogletree Deakins) died earlier this week at age 90. From an initial team of 16 attorneys in Greenville, South Carolina, and Atlanta, Georgia, the firm has grown to more than 1,100 lawyers across 60 offices globally, with offices in Memphis and Nashville. Deakins served as the firm's managing shareholder from 1985 to 2001. Ogletree Deakins in 2014 established the Homer Deakins Service Award, which recognizes individuals who exemplify selfless service and inspire others through courageous action. Since its inception, the firm has donated over $300,000 to charitable organizations on behalf of award recipients.

The TBA this week welcomed Jenny Dorsten to the staff! Dorsten joins the association in the new position of education and professional development coordinator of online learning. In this role, she executes and promotes the organization's digital learning programs, focusing on expanding the visibility of these offerings and fostering meaningful engagement among TBA members. Her background is in nonprofit and membership association programming and operations. Dorsten holds a master's degree in public administration from Arizona State University, a bachelor's of science degree from the University of Kansas and a certificate in nonprofit management from Duke University. She thrives on creating learning experiences that help members connect, grow and succeed throughout their careers. In her personal life, she enjoys local arts and regional theatre productions and travel with family. Dorsten's contact information is available on the TBA staff webpage.

Tune in July 15 at noon CDT for a webcast with Heather Piper, disciplinary counsel with the Board of Professional Responsibility (BPR) as she reviews the latest ethics updates from the BPR. A previous attendee said, "I gained information on the reasons attorneys may be subject to ethics violations, new rulings on ethical behavior and how to access information to support me if I have a question about a situation in which I am involved." Earn one dual credit hour with this program as part of TBA's Christmas in July series. Need more ethics credits? TBA has more than 40 courses to choose from. Select the "Ethics" category to display courses.

In a July 1 ruling, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals remanded a civil rights lawsuit over Tyre Nichols' 2023 beating death back to U.S. District Judge Sheryl Lipman without ruling on whether Memphis Police Department (MPD) Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis is protected from the suit under qualified immunity. Davis had sought to have herself removed from the suit. The Daily Memphian reports that the decision now rests with Lipman, who previously stated she would remove Davis from the suit. Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, had filed a motion to dismiss Davis and five former officers to get the case moving again. The civil rights suit from Wells, filed in April 2023, has dragged on for more than three years and currently is awaiting a new trial date.

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, Democrat from Memphis, recently announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will reimburse Memphis Light, Gas and Water (MLGW) for repairs made to the power grid after flooding and storms in April 2025. The Commercial Appeal reports that FEMA will reimburse MLGW for 75% of its cost to repair infrastructure, nearly $2 million, for removal and replacement of utility poles, transformers, wire and other materials and the labor required to restore power. “The storms and tornadoes that ripped through our region in April of 2025 did serious damage to our power grid," Cohen said in a statement. "I am pleased to see FEMA’s reimbursement for most of the costs MLGW had to incur to restore power.”

The Tennessee Court of Appeals is reviewing a challenge to two state gun laws — the "intent-to-go-armed" statute and a park-carry restriction — but the Tennessee Journal reports that recent oral arguments focused more on whether the state's three-judge chancery panel had authority to hear the cases than on the Second Amendment merits. A trial panel ruled in August 2025 that both laws were unconstitutional, though it did not enjoin enforcement, and the appeals court has stayed that decision pending review. The state argued that such challenges belong in circuit court or should be raised as a defense in criminal proceedings, while plaintiffs' counsel maintained the panel was designed to handle exactly this kind of case. A lawsuit challenging the new laws was filed in 2023 by Gun Owners of America and individual plaintiffs.

North Carolina has become the first U.S. state to ban third-party litigation financing, with Gov. Josh Stein signing House Bill 315 (the Prohibit Litigation Investments Act) into law. Reuters reports that the measure outlaws providing "litigation investment" to parties or counsel in civil cases, lets the attorney general pursue violators and allows injured parties to recover triple damages. It passed with near-unanimous bipartisan support and drew praise from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has pushed unsuccessfully for federal disclosure rules on litigation funding. The law comes as California, Colorado and Illinois consider their own limits on outside investors' influence over legal practice, part of a broader push to regulate the industry.

The Tennessee Supreme Court on July 8 referred Williamson County lawyer Rodney Douglas Hanson II to the Board of Professional Responsibility for such action as it may deem warranted. Hanson was found guilty of one count of harassment and one count of theft on May 29. He was sentenced to 11 months and 29 days in the Williamson County Jail with a requirement that he serve at least 30% of his sentence for the harassment count followed by 11 months and 29 days of supervised probation for the theft. He also must make restitution to the victim of the theft in the amount of $768.24.

The TBA Young Lawyers Division, in collaboration with the Memphis Bar Association and Memphis Area Legal Services, will be conducting a free legal clinic on July 11 in Memphis from 10 a.m. to noon CDT at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library, 3030 Poplar Ave., Memphis 38111. See a flyer for dates and times throughout 2026. To volunteer contact Nicole Grida or show up on the day of the event.