open meetings lawsuits Archives - Page 4 of 6 - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

27 Jun, 2019

Chancellor refuses to find Nashville school board’s closed-door meeting with attorney allowed under law

By Deborah Fisher|2019-06-27T13:19:30-05:00June 27, 2019|Categories: Open Meetings, open meetings lawsuits, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: Anne Martin, Knowledge Academies, Metro Nashville school board, open meetings violation|0 Comments

Davidson County Chancellor Anne Martin on Wednesday allowed a claim of an Open Meetings violation against the Metro Nashville School Board to go forward, including depositions of school board members and other attendees of the closed meeting. Davidson County Chancellor Anne Martin: "... the public interest is best served by enforcing the Open Meetings Act, the purpose of which is to ensure that the public’s business is conducted in the public. " Martin, in her order in Knowledge Academies v. Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools and the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools Board of Education, granted a temporary injunction to the charter school operator who claimed that the school board's closed-door meeting [...]

29 Sep, 2017

Appeals court rules economic development organization subject to public records, open meetings law

By Deborah Fisher|2020-02-23T10:09:55-06:00September 29, 2017|Categories: economic development, functional equivalent, open meetings lawsuits, public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: Dandridge, economic development records, functional equivalent, Jefferson County, Judge Charles Susano Jr., Judge D. Michael Swiney, Judge Steven Stafford, public records lawsuit|0 Comments

In a win for a group of citizens in East Tennessee, the Court of Appeals in Knoxville ruled this week that a nonprofit economic development organization in Jefferson County is subject to the state's public records and open meetings laws. The court held in Oliver Wood et al. v. Jefferson County Economic Development Oversight Committee, Inc., that the nonprofit organization, which has received between 60 percent to 68 percent of its budget from local governments each year, is the functional equivalent of a government entity and subject to the Tennessee Public Records Act. The court also ruled that because EDOC has a significant role in making decisions and recommendations to local government [...]

5 Apr, 2016

Residents file open meetings lawsuit against Memphis City Council over parking vote

By Deborah Fisher|2016-04-05T19:43:19-05:00April 5, 2016|Categories: open meetings lawsuits|Tags: Bryce Ashby, Memphis City Council, open meetings violation, Stephen Humbert, Susan Lacy|0 Comments

The Commercial Appeal reports today that two residents have filed an open meetings lawsuit against the Memphis City Council, alleging that a vote on a resolution that allowed Memphis Zoo overflow parking in Overton Park was orchestrated in advance through deliberations outside the public eye. See Commerical Appeal story: Lawsuit alleges Memphis City Council violated Open Meetings Act regarding March 1 greensward vote Bryce Ashby, attorney for the plaintiffs, told the Commercial Appeal: “It’s important to understand that this lawsuit, while involving Overton Park, is about a bigger issue. This is about transparency in government and the right of the public to have notice of the actions that are to be taken by [...]

15 Jan, 2015

TCOG files motion to intervene in Greene County open meetings case

By Deborah Fisher|2015-08-18T07:34:54-05:00January 15, 2015|Categories: Open Meetings, open meetings lawsuits|Tags: Greene County Industrial Development Board, Richard Hollow, TCOG news, US Nitrogen|0 Comments

The Tennessee Coalition for Open Government has filed a motion to intervene in an open meetings lawsuit in Greene County. One of the claims in the case is that the Industrial Development Board of Greeneville and Greene County violated the Tennessee Open Meetings Act by holding a meeting in which some members of the audience could not hear deliberations. The meeting occurred in July 2014. Members of the audience told the board it could not hear the deliberations, and when one audience member spoke out about it, he was removed from the meeting, charged with disrupting a public meeting, and put in jail. (The charges were later dropped.) The industrial [...]

22 Nov, 2014

Greene County IDB argues citizens don’t have a right to hear deliberations at public meetings

By Deborah Fisher|2015-08-18T07:36:53-05:00November 22, 2014|Categories: Open Meetings, open meetings lawsuits|Tags: Alan Broyles, audibility of public meeting, Eddie Overholt, Greene County, Greene County Industrial Development Board, litigation, open meetings violation, US Nitrogen|0 Comments

The County Industrial Development Board of Greeneville and Greene County is arguing in a lawsuit that the Open Meetings Act does not require that citizens be able to hear deliberations of a governing body at public meetings, only that they be given the opportunity to be present. The arguments are found in filings to try to dismiss a complaint made by 47 people, many who live or own property along the Nolichucky River, who say that the Industrial Development Board violated the law when it held a July 18 meeting, but “purposefully or negligently prevented (citizens in attendance) from hearing deliberations…” The citizens note that board members “conducted deliberations while sitting [...]