Chancellor Russell Perkins

3 Jan, 2024

Judge rules expenses related to legislative intern harassment exempt from public records law

By |2024-01-03T17:02:01-06:00January 3, 2024|Categories: Legislature, public records lawsuits Tennessee, state records|Tags: , , , , , , , |0 Comments

A Nashville judge said the expenses related to harassment of a 19-year-old legislative intern by then-state lawmaker Scotty Campbell are exempt from the public records law based on a House rule and a policy on workplace harassment. But Chancellor Russell Perkins refused to buy the state's broad argument that the General Assembly is exempt from the public records law.

6 Jun, 2022

Judge: State Republican party violated open meetings law when it removed Starbuck from ballot

By |2022-06-07T07:35:40-05:00June 6, 2022|Categories: open meetings lawsuits|Tags: , , , |1 Comment

A judge ruled that the Tennessee Republican Party's executive committee violated open meetings law when it met and decided to remove Robby Starbuck from the ballot. Starbuck wants to run in the newly redrawn 5th Congressional District race.

6 Aug, 2018

NewsChannel 5 files suit after denied access to Jason Locke travel reimbursement records

By |2018-08-06T08:46:08-05:00August 6, 2018|Categories: investigative exemption, public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |0 Comments

NewsChannel 5 has filed a public records lawsuit after it was denied access to travel reimbursement and phone records related to former acting TBI director Jason Locke's alleged affair with another state official. Jason Locke, former acting director of the TBI. A public records request for his travel reimbursements was denied on the basis that Locke was under criminal investigation. Locke is being investigated for misuse of state funds during an affair with another state official. The Nashville news station's chief investigative reporter Phil Williams also was denied access to email communications between Locke and the official, Sejal West, who was the deputy commission of the Tennessee Department of [...]

13 Mar, 2014

Read Judge Russell Perkins’ ruling in Vanderbilt rape case

By |2018-08-06T08:52:38-05:00March 13, 2014|Categories: crime records, public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: , , , , |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 |2018-08-06T08:56:31-05:00March 13, 2014|Categories: crime records, public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: , , , , |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 [...]

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