Yesterday, the United States Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion holding that exhaustion of administrative remedies under the IDEA is not required when the substance of a Plaintiff’s complaint seeks relief for something other than the denial of FAPE.  The holding represents a dramatic departure from the previous standard endorsed by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes Tennessee.  … Read More

Our very own Sarah Sheppeard was elected to become the Tennessee Bar Association President in 2019. Sarah will assume the role of vice president this summer at the convention in Kingsport. She will serve as president elect during Lewis Thomason’s Jason Pannu’s year as Tennessee Bar Association President. Sarah will be the fifth Lewis Thomason lawyer to serve as Tennessee … Read More

A periodic Q & A session with a Lewis Thomason (LT) lawyer  Lewis Thomason: What is something that is popular now that annoys you? Justin Joy: If you want to know what is popular or cool, you are asking the wrong person. There is one thing that comes to mind: I don’t know how popular it is but I don’t … Read More

Robyn Jarvis Askew is on ThinkTennessee’s founding Board of Directors. Is there an appetite in the conservative GOP-controlled Tennessee state legislature for a policy think tank that wants to occupy the “moderate, practical middle”” Former Tennessee Attorney General Bob Cooper insists there is. Cooper, former legal counsel and later AG under former Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen, helped launch this week a … Read More

The Metropolitan Planning Commission on Thursday approved a rezoning request for a recovery home for women with substance abuse issues, after residents had raised concerns about the issue but did not show to oppose the rezoning. By a unanimous vote, MPC approved a request by Joyce Webb to rezone 2.35 acres at 725 Ebenezer Road from transition zoning to office zoning … Read More

Imagine the following scenario: your company enters into a lucrative contract with a foreign manufacturer to distribute and sell their “widgets” throughout the United States. Things are going very well, profits are skyrocketing and the company is set to go public when suddenly a design flaw in the widget is exposed by young children and household pets, resulting in fires … Read More

The expansion of the global economy has resulted in products being designed, manufactured, distributed and operated across numerous borders. The articles featured below, authored by ALFA International attorneys, provide valuable insights for organizations based in both the U.S. and abroad when tackling the subsequent challenges on a global scale. Please click here to read the articles.

It’s a challenge to win a jury trial in a medical malpractice case, but it’s even a bigger challenge to win it not just once, but twice! On Wednesday afternoon, the defense team of Marcy Magee, Natalie Bursi and Bill Haltom won a jury verdict in the defense of a physician for the second time in three years. In 2015, … Read More

Last week, Chris Vescovo served as defense counsel in a premises liability suit in Dyersburg, Tennessee. The plaintiff alleged that a fixed ladder on the roof of a commercial building suddenly came off the wall as he was climbing it. The plaintiff further alleged the defendant shopping center owned breached its duty by failing to inspect the ladder and make … Read More

A periodic Q & A session with a Lewis Thomason (LT) lawyer Lewis Thomason: What was your first job and what did you learn from that experience? Kevin Baskette: Taking care of my high school’s athletic complex the summer before my freshman year in high school. I can’t offer any inspirational lessons I learned from that job but I did … Read More