Chancellor Patricia Moskal

5 Jan, 2023

Judge puts the brakes on state’s use of deliberative process privilege

By |2023-01-05T14:50:58-06:00January 5, 2023|Categories: deliberative process privilege, public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: , , , , , |0 Comments

Davidson County Chancellor Pat Moskal ruled that the state could not withhold consultant reports by McKinsey and Co. under a deliberative process privilege in the face of a public records request. She said the reports were a one-way communication with state officials and did not fall under a deliberative process privilege because they were not "deliberative" and did not consist of communications between high-level government officials. The ruling is a win for journalist Stephen Elliott, who began requesting the reports in 2020.

30 Aug, 2022

Court of Appeals: Trial audio recording a public record

By |2023-01-02T16:52:59-06:00August 30, 2022|Categories: court records, public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments

The Tennessee Court of Appeals ruled that an audio recording of a trial made by the court reporter is part of the court record and a public record subject to the state public records law. The ruling overturns a lower court decision that had upheld an East Tennessee judge's refusal to give a convicted killer the audio recording of his murder trial.

28 Jan, 2022

AG tells judge COVID-19 reports should be withheld to avoid ‘Monday-morning quarterbacking’

By |2022-01-28T19:06:29-06:00January 28, 2022|Categories: deliberative process privilege, public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: , , , , , |0 Comments

The deputy attorney general for Tennessee argued in court this week that reports by consultant McKinsey and Co. regarding the re-opening of Tennessee and other government responses during the COVID-19 pandemic are exempt from the public records law because revealing them would open up the executive branch to second-guessing by the public.

2 Nov, 2020

TN Democratic Party’s public records suit over absentee ballots misfires

By |2021-01-27T17:03:42-06:00November 2, 2020|Categories: public records lawsuits Tennessee, state records|Tags: , , , , , , |0 Comments

Davidson County Chancellor Patricia Moskal denied a request for an injunction to force the production of data that could show which Tennesseans have not yet returned absentee ballots. Her ruling was based largely on lack of proof that a public records request for the data had actually been made. In an election eve hearing today, attorney Benjamin Gastel of Branstetter, Stranch & Jennings, argued that his client, the Tennessee Democratic Party, and the other plaintiff, the Marquita Bradshaw for Senate Campaign, had requested the data from five county election commissions and the Secretary of State's office. Chancellor Patricia Moskal Gastel said they wanted to find out the names of the [...]

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