A citizen who won a public records lawsuit against the Knox County Sheriff has asked an appeals court for a rehearing on a ruling that vacated the trial court's award of about $58,000 in attorney's fees and expenses.
The Knox County Sheriff's Office has filed notice to appeal its loss in a public records case in which the judge found it violated the law in denying access to records requested by a University of Tennessee professor. Chancellor John Weaver in April ordered the sheriff's office to comply with provisions of the public records act governing responses to public records requests and to implement a system to allow public inspection of arrest records. Weaver in December also awarded $78,007 in attorney's fees to the professor who had to bring the lawsuit to force the sheriff's office to turn over records. Knox County Law Director David Buuck's office has filed [...]
A Knox County judge last week awarded $78,007 in attorney's fees and expenses to a citizen who took the Knox County Sheriff to court for violating the public records law. Meghan Conley was awarded $78K for attorney's fees and expenses. The decision is another blow to the Knox County Sheriff's Office in a case replete with remarkable claims about the office's inability to locate public records or produce even the most basic records, such as arrest records, for inspection. Chancellor John Weaver had earlier found that the Knox County sheriff had violated the public records law by denying University of Tennessee sociology professor Meghan Conley access to arrest records and [...]
Memphis and Nashville have both lost public records lawsuits over the past two years in which they were found to willfully violate the public records law in not releasing traffic accident report information or delaying release. Combined, the cities had to pay more than $234,690 in attorney's fees and court costs to Bradley Jetmore, who brought the litigation. (Photo, public domain via Wikimedia) The City of Memphis in March was ordered to pay $107,687 in attorney's fees in a public records case in which it was found to willfully violate the law in redacting public information from traffic accident reports. It was the second case won by Bradley Jetmore involving [...]
Are address and phone numbers in accident reports confidential? A Memphis judge on June 6 said no in Bradley Jetmore v. City of Memphis, affirming that such information is public record and should be accessible to the public. The case originated after the City of Memphis in November 2017 stopped allowing public access to the reports and specifically to the driver information in the report. Doug Pierce with King & Ballow Memphis, like other cities, have for years provided public access to accident reports. But in October 2017, it was sued in federal court (Price v. City of Memphis), alleging that it was violating the federal Driver Privacy Protection [...]
