public records lawsuits Tennessee Archives - Page 19 of 20 - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

31 Mar, 2014

News Sentinel: Ruling affirms broad definition of public records

By Deborah Fisher|2015-08-18T08:11:54-05:00March 31, 2014|Categories: email, public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: emails, Knox County, Knoxville News Sentinel, litigation|0 Comments

This editorial was published in the Knoxville News Sentinel on March 31. It is reprinted here with permission: Blount County Circuit Court Judge David Duggan struck a blow for open government this year by ordering Knox County to turn over nine emails that Law Director Bud Armstrong had deemed private. The News Sentinel had requested to see the emails, which were sent to or from county accounts, under the state’s Public Records Act. After Armstrong refused, the News Sentinel filed suit in October 2012, with attorney Richard Hollow handling the case on behalf of the newspaper and in the name of managing editor Tom Chester. Judge David Duggan [...]

28 Mar, 2014

Fox 17 Nashville interviews orthodontist who won open records lawsuit
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Fox 17 Nashville interviews orthodontist who won open records lawsuit

public records lawsuits Tennessee

Fox 17 Nashville interviews orthodontist who won open records lawsuit

By Deborah Fisher|2014-04-18T08:33:00-05:00March 28, 2014|Categories: public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: litigation, Rutherford County|0 Comments

Stacy Case with Fox 17 WZTV Nashville interviewed the Rutherford County orthodontist who recently was awarded $31,000 in attorney's fees after suing the Rutherford County Board of Education for withholding records. The story on the open records lawsuit is part of the station's "Waste Watch" series. Fox 17 reports that Tracy Pack was trying to find out how a school principal was spending fund-raising money meant for students. A Murfreesboro judge recently ruled that the response of the school district to the citizen's request for public records was such that Pack was forced to hire an attorney and sue to gain access. Under the Open Records Act, a citizen can file a [...]

18 Mar, 2014

Judge awards $31K to Murfreesboro citizen in open records lawsuit

By Deborah Fisher|2020-11-19T12:17:38-06:00March 18, 2014|Categories: public records lawsuits Tennessee, schools|Tags: attorney's fees, litigation, Murfreesboro, Rutherford County|0 Comments

Tracy Pack filed an open records lawsuit more than three years ago after he had requested records under the Tennessee Public Records Act and received what he suspected was an incomplete response. He told The Murfreesboro Post that he "just wanted to know whether county funds were being spent properly." Pack had requested copies of checks written by former principal Chontel Bridgeman on a Homer Pittard Campus School checking account. Fox 17 WZTV Nashville interviewed orthodontist Tracy Pack who sued the Rutherford County school board. Click on the photo to hear what Pack had to say. The award is the second time in recent months in which the [...]

13 Mar, 2014

Read Judge Russell Perkins’ ruling in Vanderbilt rape case

By Deborah Fisher|2018-08-06T08:52:38-05:00March 13, 2014|Categories: crime records, public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: Chancellor Russell Perkins, crime records, law enforcement privilege, The Tennessean, Vanderbilt rape case|1 Comment

Davidson County Chancellor Russell T. Perkins ruled Wednesday that some records in the police file in the Vanderbilt rape case are subject to the Tennessee Public Records Act, including text messages and emails recovered from witnesses or criminal defendants. The ruling rejected an adoption of a law enforcement privilege for pending criminal cases, and said in a footnote that "The Court concludes these text messages are not witness statements that can be shielded from disclosure. Instead, these text messages are memorializations of conduct related to the alleged crime and the alleged cover up." Excerpt: "Taking a case-by-case view as a trial court, the Court concludes that exempting all the records [...]

13 Mar, 2014

The Tennessean: Judge rules some Vanderbilt rape case records are open

By Deborah Fisher|2018-08-06T08:56:31-05:00March 13, 2014|Categories: crime records, public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: Chancellor Russell Perkins, crime records, open records, The Tennessean, Vanderbilt rape case|0 Comments

This story about the Vanderbilt rape case, written by Tony Gonzalez, was published by The Tennessean on March 12, 2014 and reprinted here with permission. Some records in a high-profile Vanderbilt University rape case should be made available under the Public Records Act, a Davidson County Chancery Court judge ruled Wednesday in response to The Tennessean’s lawsuit against Metro government over access to information. In an 18-page order, Chancellor Russell Perkins ruled that some text messages, emails by witnesses and defendants, and other records given to police by the university were public documents and should be given to a media coalition that sued for access. But those records won’t immediately be provided to [...]