Bonelaw attorney Tucker Herndon was “arrested” today for the MDA Lock-Up of Music City, a fundraiser to help the organization find treatments and cures for muscle disease.

This annual event puts some of Nashville’s most prominent and community leaders behind bars, and “bail money” raised to help get them out goes back to the MDA.

Tucker’s warrant of arrest came this morning, and a sheriff arrived at the office to handcuff him and cart him off to jail.

Read more about this fundraiser—and how you can help get Tucker out—here.

 

 

Tucker Herndon Gets Locked Up for the MDA 


 

 

 

 

Bone McAllester Norton PLLC is a full-service law firm with 38 attorneys and offices in Nashville, Sumner and Williamson counties, Tennessee. Our attorneys focus on 18 distinct practice areas, providing the wide range of legal services ordinarily required by established and growing businesses and entrepreneurs. Among our practices, we represent clients in business and capital formation, mergers and acquisitions, securities matters, commercial lending and creditors’ rights, commercial real estate and development, governmental regulatory matters, commercial litigation and dispute resolution, intellectual property strategy and enforcement, entertainment and environmental matters. Our client base reflects the firm’s deep understanding and coverage of today’s leading industry and business segments. For more information, visit www.bonelaw.com.

Bone McAllester Norton has important updates and announcements to share with you, our valued clients and friends, in our latest newsletter. Click here to read how one attorney helped change the law to open the George Jones Museum, accolades that our attorneys have received and the smack down on criminal attempts by minors to purchase alcohol.

 

Bone McAllester Norton PLLC is a full-service law firm with 38 attorneys and offices in Nashville, Sumner and Williamson counties, Tennessee. Our attorneys focus on 18 distinct practice areas, providing the wide range of legal services ordinarily required by established and growing businesses and entrepreneurs. Among our practices, we represent clients in business and capital formation, mergers and acquisitions, securities matters, commercial lending and creditors’ rights, commercial real estate and development, governmental regulatory matters, commercial litigation and dispute resolution, intellectual property strategy and enforcement, entertainment and environmental matters. Our client base reflects the firm’s deep understanding and coverage of today’s leading industry and business segments. For more information, visit www.bonelaw.com.

Bonelaw attorney Tucker Herndon is quoted about liquor licensing in an article posted on NerdWallet.com, a source for financial products an advice. The article addresses how to clear legal hurdles when opening a bar. While bar owners have to work with local, state and federal regulations, knowing what to do ahead of time can save these businesses from headaches and financial stresses.

Forming a limited liability company and knowing your state’s laws are just two of the tips given in the article.

Tucker is a member of the firm’s Alcoholic Beverage Law practice and provides counsel to many of the city’s most well-known bars and restaurants. He recently helped open the George Jones Museum.

Click here to read the full article.

 

 

 

 

Bone McAllester Norton PLLC is a full-service law firm with 38 attorneys and offices in Nashville, Sumner and Williamson counties, Tennessee. Our attorneys focus on 18 distinct practice areas, providing the wide range of legal services ordinarily required by established and growing businesses and entrepreneurs. Among our practices, we represent clients in business and capital formation, mergers and acquisitions, securities matters, commercial lending and creditors’ rights, commercial real estate and development, governmental regulatory matters, commercial litigation and dispute resolution, intellectual property strategy and enforcement, entertainment and environmental matters. Our client base reflects the firm’s deep understanding and coverage of today’s leading industry and business segments. For more information, visit www.bonelaw.com.

This past weekend, The New York Times featured a story on the new George Jones Museum, a project that several Bone McAllester Norton attorneys worked to open in record time last month. “Mower Meets Moonshine at a Museum for Country Star George Jones” outlines what visitors can find in the 50,000-square-foot building that features a museum, restaurant, rooftop bar, event space and retail store. As Southeast bureau chief Richard Fausset notes, “With one boot in the old Nashville and one in the new, it reflects both a city being remade with gleaming condominium towers and an influx of newcomers, and one where country music remains a central if shifting strand of its DNA.”

Click here to read the full story.

 

 

 

 

Bone McAllester Norton PLLC is a full-service law firm with 39 attorneys and offices in Nashville, Sumner and Williamson counties, Tennessee. Our attorneys focus on 18 distinct practice areas, providing the wide range of legal services ordinarily required by established and growing businesses and entrepreneurs. Among our practices, we represent clients in business and capital formation, mergers and acquisitions, securities matters, commercial lending and creditors’ rights, commercial real estate and development, governmental regulatory matters, commercial litigation and dispute resolution, intellectual property strategy and enforcement, entertainment and environmental matters. Our client base reflects the firm’s deep understanding and coverage of today’s leading industry and business segments. For more information, visit www.bonelaw.com.

Legislature Honors George Jones with New Liquor Bill

Country music fans can now celebrate the life and legacy of George Jones, one of country music’s greatest artists, at the George Jones Museum, thanks to his wife, Nancy Jones. The newly renovated George Jones Museum opened its doors on 2^nd Avenue with a red-carpet event on April 23^rd, 2015. The grand opening date was set in stone from the time Nancy first met with attorney Tucker Herndon. Nancy wanted the Museum to open on the second anniversary of her late husband’s death. What ensued in those six short months is what Tucker calls a “helluva ride.”

For Nancy to open the newly renovated George Jones Museum, Tennessee laws had to be rewritten. She wanted to open a museum to celebrate the life and legacy of George Jones, “The Possum,” and create a stand-alone restaurant and rooftop bar, a state-of-the-art event and catering facility, and a retail package store to sell George Jones’ own White Lightning Moonshine and vodka — all of which were achieved. With the help of lobbyists at Windrow-Phillips Group, Tucker and fellow Bonelaw attorney Will Cheek worked to draft legislation, secure sponsors for the proposed bill, ran it through committees in the House and the Senate at the State Legislature, and got the bill passed and signed, all within a few weeks. Most liquor bills that aren’t favorable to wholesalers and retailers immediately die on the floor, but this particular bill received more votes than any other liquor law in the last 40 years. Tucker credits Nancy Jones’s personal involvement at the Legislature as the reason why.

“I brought Nancy to the Hill. We created an ‘office’ by a blue trashcan at the end of the hall in Legislative Plaza so she could talk to our state senators and representatives about this bill. When she began telling them stories about George, they became immediate fans,” he said.

While Tucker and the Alcoholic Beverage Team at Bonelaw were working around-the-clock drafting legislation, multiple beer and liquor license applications and proper state and local registration/compliance requirements, he and Kirk West were also going through checklists of everything else that had to be done. That included meeting with the health and fire departments, making sure the building passed codes, and guiding plumbers, electricians, and restauranteurs to carry out Nancy’s wishes. All of this took place in the middle of a total rehabilitation of the 50,000+ square-foot building.

One of the takeaways Tucker has from this experience is to do whatever it takes to get the job done for your client.  Because of a change of plans, deadlines were a moving target.  One afternoon, when the final beer permit application needed to be filed, a snag in the process could have kept that from happening, thus delaying the grand opening of the Museum. Tucker grabbed the paperwork, along with paralegal Jennifer Maxey, jumped into a cab, and arrived at the beer board two minutes before they closed for the day. The stars aligned, and the beer and dance permits were filed and accepted despite such short notice.  “These are things they don’t teach you in law school . . . but man, it has been an incredible journey,” he said.

The George Jones Museum prides itself for having the best rooftop bar, restaurant, retail store, top-notch catering, event space, and museum, which boasts thousands of artifacts ranging from musical instruments and stage outfits to rifles, awards, and the 1954 cherry red Chevy truck with a custom “Possum” paint job. And that state law that the Bonelaw team helped change? Well, it allowed the purchase of official George Jones White Lightning Moonshine and George Jones vodka to be purchased on-site.

“It’s been great working with Nancy on this project,” Tucker said. “We are excited the restaurant, bar, and museum are open to the public and that we had a hand in helping Nancy achieve a few of George’s dreams, including the ability to sell White Lightning Moonshine. Most importantly, the facility combines all aspects and gives others the chance to get a glimpse into a life that shaped so much of country music.”

 

Bone McAllester Norton attorneys have been working around the clock to help with the opening of the George Jones Museum in downtown Nashville, Tenn. C. Tucker Herndon is lead counsel on the opening of the world-class museum for Nancy Jones, widow of the country legend. William T. Cheek III and Paul W. Kruse have provided liquor licensing and trademark registration services. The museum opens this weekend to coincide with the two-year anniversary of his death.

Visitors will have the chance to see exhibits of “The Possum” in every stage of his life—from singing as a teenager on the streets of Galveston, Texas and his time in the U.S. Marines to his gig as a radio announcer before he hit stardom as a country performer.

The George Jones Museum opens with a red carpet private event tonight and opens to the public tomorrow.

Also launching this weekend is White Lightning Moonshine, which pays tribute to the song that became his first Billboard hit in 1959.

"It’s been great working with Nancy Jones on this project,” Herndon said. “We are so excited for the grand opening of the George Jones Museum and allowing others to have a glimpse into a life that helped shape so much of country music.”

 

 

 

 

Bone McAllester Norton PLLC is a full-service law firm with 39 attorneys and offices in Nashville, Sumner and Williamson counties, Tennessee. Our attorneys focus on 18 distinct practice areas, providing the wide range of legal services ordinarily required by established and growing businesses and entrepreneurs. Among our practices, we represent clients in business and capital formation, mergers and acquisitions, securities matters, commercial lending and creditors’ rights, commercial real estate and development, governmental regulatory matters, commercial litigation and dispute resolution, intellectual property strategy and enforcement, entertainment and environmental matters. Our client base reflects the firm’s deep understanding and coverage of today’s leading industry and business segments. For more information, visit www.bonelaw.com.

Today’s Tennessean features Family Wash and 12^th & Porter, two Bonelaw clients, in a cover story about Nashville music venues adapting and changing in order to stay afloat. While most of Music City is under construction with additions and renovations, a growing concern exists among residents that the city’s legacy and character will be lost with the new changes. These venue owners, though, believe growth is a good thing, if done correctly.

Family Wash, which opened in 2002 in a former laundromat in East Nashville, closed Feb. 21. It will reopen in late spring/early summer in a space three times bigger that includes more seating, standing room space and new audio/visual recording and streaming capabilities. Read more about the plans here.

12^th & Porter, a venue known for hosting showcases of superstars like Keith Urban and Kings of Leon, closed Feb. 28 and will reopen under new ownership May 1. Infinity Restaurant Group has a renewed focus on the food they will serve and plans to create a spot where people can regularly go to be entertained. Read more about the plans here.

Bone McAllester Norton’s Alcoholic Beverage Law practice provides licensing and regulatory compliance to both venues.

 

 

 

Bone McAllester Norton PLLC is a full-service law firm with 39 attorneys and offices in Nashville, Sumner and Williamson counties, Tennessee. Our attorneys focus on 18 distinct practice areas, providing the wide range of legal services ordinarily required by established and growing businesses and entrepreneurs. Among our practices, we represent clients in business and capital formation, mergers and acquisitions, securities matters, commercial lending and creditors’ rights, commercial real estate and development, governmental regulatory matters, commercial litigation and dispute resolution, intellectual property strategy and enforcement, entertainment and environmental matters. Our client base reflects the firm’s deep understanding and coverage of today’s leading industry and business segments. For more information, visit www.bonelaw.com.

Bone McAllester Norton attorneys William T. Cheek and C. Tucker Herndon will participate in a panel discussion for Vanderbilt Law School on Thursday, March 12. The Vanderbilt University Law School Cork & Tap Society is hosting a panel discussion on the legal issues facing the alcoholic beverage industry in the state. It will be co-sponsored by the Vanderbilt Intellectual Property Society as well as the Vanderbilt Law and Business Society.

Will and Tucker are members of the firm’s Alcoholic Beverage Law team, which provides federal, state and local licensing and regulatory compliance advice to clients in the restaurant, hotel, bar, club and resort industries.

 

 

 

 

 

Bone McAllester Norton PLLC is a full-service law firm with 38 attorneys and offices in Nashville, Sumner and Williamson counties, Tennessee. Our attorneys focus on 18 distinct practice areas, providing the wide range of legal services ordinarily required by established and growing businesses and entrepreneurs. Among our practices, we represent clients in business and capital formation, mergers and acquisitions, securities matters, commercial lending and creditors’ rights, commercial real estate and development, governmental regulatory matters, commercial litigation and dispute resolution, intellectual property strategy and enforcement, entertainment and environmental matters. Our client base reflects the firm’s deep understanding and coverage of today’s leading industry and business segments. For more information, visit www.bonelaw.com.

Dallas-based investment manager Lone Star Funds has purchased 38 select-service hotels across 22 states, and two midstate hotels are part of that portfolio. The 123-room Hyatt Place Nashville/Opryland and the 124-room Hyatt Place Nashville/Brentwood are included in the nearly $590 million agreement. Bone McAllester Norton attorneys are assisting with the closing of financing on the deal and are providing the liquor licensing for both hotels. The acquisition is expected to close in November.

Read more from the Tennessean here.

 

 

 

 

 

Bone McAllester Norton PLLC is a full-service law firm with 38 attorneys and offices in Nashville and Sumner County, Tennessee. Our attorneys focus on 17 distinct practice areas, providing the wide range of legal services ordinarily required by established and growing businesses and entrepreneurs. Among our practices, we represent clients in business and capital formation, mergers and acquisitions, securities matters, commercial lending and creditors’ rights, commercial real estate and development, governmental regulatory matters, commercial litigation and dispute resolution, intellectual property strategy and enforcement, entertainment and environmental matters. Our client base reflects the firm’s deep understanding and coverage of today’s leading industry and business segments. For more information, visit www.bonelaw.com.

Bone McAllester Norton client Claire Meneely announced to the Tennessean that she is opening her first brick-and-mortar shop in the Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood of South Nashville. Located at 516 Hagan St., her Dozen Bakery will continue to serve the handmade sweet treats fans have loved for many years, as well as fresh breads, breakfast items, salads and sandwiches.

Read more about her plans here.

 

 

Bone McAllester Norton PLLC is a full-service law firm with 38 attorneys and offices in Nashville and Sumner County, Tennessee. Our attorneys focus on 17 distinct practice areas, providing the wide range of legal services ordinarily required by established and growing businesses and entrepreneurs. Among our practices, we represent clients in business and capital formation, mergers and acquisitions, securities matters, commercial lending and creditors’ rights, commercial real estate and development, governmental regulatory matters, commercial litigation and dispute resolution, intellectual property strategy and enforcement, entertainment and environmental matters. Our client base reflects the firm’s deep understanding and coverage of today’s leading industry and business segments. For more information, visit www.bonelaw.com.

Bone McAllester Norton's alcoholic beverage law team helped in a multimillion dollar transaction of the DoubleTree hotel in downtown Nashville. Chicago-based Walton Street Capital, a private-equity real estate investment firm, paid nearly $70 million dollars for the 337-room property at 315 Fourth Avenue N.  Attorneys C. Tucker Herndon and William T. Cheek III, along with paralegal Vicki Schmidt, helped to secure the beer permit for the bar in the hotel's lobby yesterday, so service will not be interrupted during the transition of ownership.

Read more about this deal from the Nashville Business Journal here.

 

Bone McAllester Norton PLLC is a full-service law firm with 39 attorneys and offices in Nashville and Sumner County, Tennessee. Our attorneys focus on 17 distinct practice areas, providing the wide range of legal services ordinarily required by established and growing businesses and entrepreneurs. Among our practices, we represent clients in business and capital formation, mergers and acquisitions, securities matters, commercial lending and creditors’ rights, commercial real estate and development, governmental regulatory matters, commercial litigation and dispute resolution, intellectual property strategy and enforcement, entertainment and environmental matters. Our client base reflects the firm’s deep understanding and coverage of today’s leading industry and business segments. For more information, visit www.bonelaw.com.

Bone McAllester Norton has important updates and announcements to share with you, our valued clients and friends, in our latest newsletter. Click here to read about the impact a recent lawsuit could have on common severance agreement language, how our Alcoholic Beverage Law group opened two high-end restaurants in Memphis, awards and accolades our attorneys have been given and our involvement with Habitat for Humanity.

Congratulations to Bone McAllester Norton client Hops and Crafts, named one of America’s best beer bars by Draft Magazine. The bar, located in the Gulch, opened this past summer and offers nearly 40 craft beers from across the country. The bars named to the list were chosen for their selection of beers, atmosphere and staff knowledge.

 

Bone McAllester Norton PLLC is a full-service law firm with 37 attorneys and offices in Nashville and Sumner County, Tennessee. Our attorneys focus on 17 distinct practice areas, providing the wide range of legal services ordinarily required by established and growing businesses and entrepreneurs. Among our practices, we represent clients in business and capital formation, mergers and acquisitions, securities matters, commercial lending and creditors’ rights, commercial real estate and development, governmental regulatory matters, commercial litigation and dispute resolution, intellectual property strategy and enforcement, entertainment, environmental matters, criminal defense and government investigations and labor and employment. Our client base reflects the firm’s deep understanding and coverage of today’s leading industry and business segments. For more information, call 615-238-6300 or visit www.bonelaw.com.

Tennessee Court of Appeals Issues First Opinion Examining Tennessee Deficiency Judgment Statute
Background:  In the wake of the real estate market collapse, the Tennessee legislature passed, effective September 1, 2010, a statute dealing with deficiency judgment on real property after a trustee’s or foreclosure sale. The statute created a rebuttable presumption that the amount bid at a foreclosure sale equal the fair market value of the property. Debtors could overcome this presumption by showing that the bid was “materially less” than the fair market value.

Case:  Bone McAllester Norton PLLC attorneys David Anthony, Sean Kirk and Tucker Herndon represented the Lender who filed suit to obtain a judgment for the deficiency against the Borrower and Guarantors ( the “Defendants”) after completion of foreclosure against the real property collateral. The Defendants contested the foreclosure sale price as being materially less than fair market value. On a motion for summary judgment filed by the Lender,  the Trial Court and Tennessee Court of Appeals examined the deficiency statute and decided what “materially less” means.  The phrase “materially less” had never been used in any other Tennessee statute or court opinion.

The Lender purchased its own collateral at foreclosure for a mid-range bid based upon a current appraisal. Based upon an Affidavit, the debtor asserted that the fair market value of the property was greater. On Motion for Summary Judgment, the Trial Court held in favor of the Lender that a sales price of 89% - 91% of the recent appraisal was not “materially less.”

On appeal, the Tennessee Court of Appeals agreed with the Bone McAllester Norton PLLC attorneys, affirming the Trial Court decision on summary judgment, finding that the foreclosure bid price of 89% of the highest appraisal was not “materially less” and finding that the debtor had failed to raise sufficient facts to present a defense to summary judgment and the deficiency lawsuit.  The Court did not set a bright line percentage above or below which the statutory presumption is rebutted.

Lenders are well advised to continue the practice of obtaining current appraisals prior to foreclosure and base the foreclosure bid price on the current appraisals, taking into account costs of foreclosure and costs of owning the property.

Bone McAllester Norton congratulates our own Tucker Herndon for being selected as one of Nashville’s Top Thirty Under 30. The award recognizes the city’s most active young professionals and philanthropists, and honorees were nominated by co-workers, friends and family for their charitable and professional endeavors. He will officially receive his award at an event benefiting the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation later in the year.

Well done, Tucker!

We are proud of you and the work you do both professionally and personally.

Bone McAllester Norton congratulates our own Tucker Herndon for being selected as one of Nashville’s Top Thirty Under 30. The award recognizes the city’s most active young professionals and philanthropists, and honorees were nominated by co-workers, friends and family for their charitable and professional endeavors. He will officially receive his award at an event benefiting the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation later in the year.

Well done, Tucker!

We are proud of you and the work you do both professionally and personally.

Bone McAllester Norton attorney David Anthony shed some light on what constitutes “materially less” in foreclosure auctions in a December 14 Nashville Post article. This clarification gives banks the backing they might need in court.

Read more about this explanation here.

Bone McAllester Norton attorney David Anthony shed some light on what constitutes “materially less” in foreclosure auctions in a December 14 Nashville Post article. This clarification gives banks the backing they might need in court.

Read more about this explanation here.

By Kevin Walters, Tennessean

FRANKLIN - A foreclosure auction of the Longview Commercial Park previously set for Friday on the steps of the Williamson County Judicial Building will be on hold until September.

Last month, Capital Bank officials foreclosed on 45.26 acres of the Longview property seeking money the bank says it is owed on the mortgage for the property.

Attorney Tucker Herndon said the bank and the Longview Franklin Partnership are presently in discussions about the foreclosure and the auction will be put off until September.

 

Law Leaders Rising

A strong group of young attorneys is making its mark on Nashville’s legal scene.

Published January 10, 2012

by Philip Nannie

Nashville has long been respected for its legal community, a business sector often defined by seasoned law professionals with stellar resumes and, in some cases, national notoriety. And for years, that community was defined in large part by men who earned their JDs at the Nashville School of Law, the University of Tennessee or Vanderbilt University.

However, Nashville’s impressive array of attorneys would not be as noteworthy without a cadre of young guns, often 20- and 30-somethings making major names for themselves. They have attended law schools throughout the nation, they have interesting legal specialties and they are — like the city in which they practice — far more diverse than their peers of a generation or even a mere 10 years ago.

In an attempt to highlight the best of this strong crop of fast-rising legal stars, Nashville Post interviewed dozens of local attorneys to solicit feedback. Based on the pros’ recommendations and our own research, we whittled down an impressive pool of dozens of candidates to the arbitrary number of 21. We did not include partners unless they started their own firms and we sought out a mix of industry specialists and emerging all-rounders. Together, they make up Nashville Post’s first Law Leaders Rising list.

Congratulations to Tucker Herndon and James Mackler:

Tucker HerndonMember
Bone McAllester Norton

Comments like “outstanding young lawyer,” “amazing worth ethic” and “effective leader” are a mere sampling of what folks around here think of the 2008 graduate of the Nashville School of Law. And, despite Herndon’s relative few years in the legal trenches, we consistently heard people say they were surprised to learn how young he was upon meeting him. Nevertheless, Herndon has impressed. His law practice centers on commercial lending, creditors’ rights, foreclosure and general real estate law. And, he has earned a unique reputation as the local “go to” attorney for expertise in alcohol beverage licensing and the regulatory and compliance aspects of that area of the law.

James MacklerMember
Bone McAllester Norton

Mackler, a New York City native, Duke University graduate and alumnus of the University of Washington School of Law, was contentedly practicing law in Denver before Sept. 11, 2001, changed his world — and a little more than most. Inspired by those events, Mackler walked away from the Denver law practice he’d spent seven years building and, by an amazingly circuitous route, found himself in the cockpit of a Blackhawk helicopter with the 101st Airborne serving missions in Iraq.

After an intense one-year deployment, Mackler returned to the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General Corps office, serving as legal advisor there, before relocating to Nashville in 2011 and affiliating with the Bone McAllester firm.

Click here for the entire article (subscription required)