News - Friday, July 4, 2025

On a brisk and biting January morning in 2018, a woman walked through the doors of Michel & Ward’s downtown Chattanooga office wearing a surgical mask. This was more than two years before COVID-19 made face coverings common. When she sat down across from Alix Michel and David Ward – the firm’s only two attorneys – she removed the mask.

Doug Hamill knew the case would be a fight.

BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee had a team of seasoned attorneys, led by one of the most respected litigators in the state. Bob Boston of Holland & Knight was at the helm for BlueCross, bringing his deep experience as the company’s longtime employment counsel. Hamill, a Chattanooga-based attorney, was joined only by his paralegal, Krista Guinn.

For generations, civil litigation has occasionally carried the cadence of an old Bible story: David, with his sling and stone, defying the might of Goliath. But attorney Marcus Chatterton, a tech-minded litigator with Balch & Bingham in Birmingham, Alabama, says that parable no longer fits the modern courtroom, where technology, litigation funding, and shifting legal strategies are rendering the underdog’s triumph a relic of the past.

By David Laprad

In the age of cybercrime, even the most powerful law firms can find themselves in an impossible position: fighting a battle against an enemy who might not even have a name.

“I come from a relatively large law firm,” says Marcus Chatterton, an intellectual property litigator based in Birmingham, Alabama. “We typically represent businesses, many of them well-resourced. But sometimes, we find ourselves pursuing someone who’s more or less anonymous – a hacker, a scammer – and it feels insurmountable. We might never find out who they are.”

David Laprad of the Hamilton County Herald won first place in the Tennessee Press Association statewide contest for Best Single Feature for his article on Christy Howard, a 50-year-old Chattanooga woman who suffers from epilepsy, and her quest to climb Mount Kilimanjaro.

Buying a home isn’t just about finding the right property – it’s also about being financially and mentally ready for the journey. From credit scores and down payments to timing and budgeting, there’s a lot to consider before you begin the search.

Celebrating Independence Day might remind you of the many freedoms you enjoy. But have you thought of what you might need to do to attain financial freedom?  

Your first step is to define what financial independence signifies to you. For many people, it means being able to retire when they want and to enjoy a comfortable retirement lifestyle. So, if this is your vision as well, consider taking these steps:

Joe Rogers is spending a little time celebrating the independence of not having to write a column this week…or next. He’ll be back in two weeks, but meanwhile, enjoy this set of musings from July 2022.

I don’t think of myself as a rebel, college alma mater (Hotty toddy!) notwithstanding. But I staged a mini-protest the other night at a Sounds game by refusing to stand and take off my hat as requested.

Transferring to the University of Tennessee for his fifth year of college basketball helped boost Chaz Lanier’s draft stock. Lanier showed professional organizations he was capable of making the jump to a high-level Division I program and improving his all-around game.

Most electric vehicles are five-passenger sedans or SUVs. But automakers are increasingly expanding their lineups to cater to shoppers wanting a three-row EV that can serve as a family hauler. 

These EVs can seat six or seven passengers, haul lots of cargo and potentially have more than 300 miles of driving range. They also come standard with many advanced safety features. 

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans propelled President Donald Trump's $4.5 trillion tax breaks and spending cuts bill to final congressional passage Thursday, overcoming multiple setbacks to approve his signature second-term policy package before a Fourth of July deadline.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans muscled President Donald Trump's tax and spending cut bill through the House on Thursday, the final step necessary to get the bill to his desk by the GOP's self-imposed deadline of July 4th.

At nearly 900 pages, the legislation is a sprawling collection of tax breaks, spending cuts and other Republican priorities, including new money for national defense and deportations.