Redefining Summary Judgment by Statute: The Legislative History of Tennessee Code Annotated Section 20-16-101

In its 2011 session, the Tennessee General Assembly purported to overrule a landmark decision of the Tennessee Supreme Court that had clarified the burden of production on summary judgment motions. The stage was set for this legislation by the November 2010 election, in which Republicans won majorities of twenty to thirteen in the State Senate and sixty-four to thirty-four (plus one GOP-leaning independent) in the House of Representatives. In addition, Bill Haslam, the Republican Mayor of Knoxville, won the election for Governor handily, leaving Republicans large and in charge and in control of the executive branch and both houses of the legislature in Tennessee for the first time since 1869. Republicans took control of power in Nashville vowing that they would govern responsibly, despite hard feelings resulting from years of Democratic control, not to mention the surprise, last-minute denial of the Speaker of the House position to the Republican leader in the 106th General Assembly. The Republican leadership stated at the outset that its top priority at the beginning of the legislative session was job creation, and this goal translated into the passage of a slew of legislative proposals friendly to the business community, many of which had stalled under the previous Democratic regime. The most notable of these was a tort reform package that limited non-economic damages to $750,000, and capped punitive damages at two times the amount of compensatory damages awarded or$500,000, whichever is greater. While this initiative and others, such as the abolition of collective bargaining for teachers, received greater public attention, the new legislative majority also set its sights on overruling certain Tennessee Supreme Court decisions that the business community had interpreted as unfriendly to its interests

The Ethics of Blawging: A Genre Analysis

Lawyers are blogging. As of October 16, 2009, the website Blawg.com tracked 2,788 legal blogs ( blawgs ). Another blawg directory compiled 4,622 blawgs in 69 substantive categories. When lawyers communicate, by whatever medium, ethical dilemmas arise; when lawyers blog, ethical dilemmas arise that are unique to blogging. The most visible ethical debate inspired by this new genre is the issue of whether to treat a lawyer\u27s blog as advertising. Surprisingly, given the popularity of blawging, there are few resources addressing the full range of its ethical ramifications. This Article applies genre theory to blawging in order to highlight certain characteristics of the genre that can pose ethical temptations. This Article then discusses the potential ethical problems in terms of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct in order to determine whether certain blawg behavior could violate the Rules. This Article draws upon empirical analysis of the ABA Journal Blawg 100

Sound and Sense: a Text on Law and Literature

This law school textbook is designed for use in a course on law and literature. The authors have included leading speeches, essays, stories, plays, and poems to present a broad spectrum of materials that focus on effective understanding and use of language. The book emphasizes classic works from Shakespeare, Milton, and The King James Bible, as well as works by African-American and Native American authors.https://ir.law.utk.edu/utk_lawfacbooks/1021/thumbnail.jp

Good-Bye Significant Contacts: General Personal Jurisdiction After Daimler AG v. Bauman

This article shows that the Supreme Court\u27s opinion in Daimler AG v. Bauman (2014) marks a significant departure from settled practice. It argues that the decision\u27s restriction of general jurisdiction will prevent reasonable access to courts in some cases, eroding the power of state courts for the sake of achieving policy goals that are more appropriate for the political branches