open records

2 Apr, 2015

Judge denies open records lawsuit against Haslam

By |2015-04-02T07:00:09-05:00April 2, 2015|Categories: economic development, public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: , , , , , |0 Comments

By ERIK SCHELZIG, Associated Press A tax attorney who sued for the release of records from Gov. Bill Haslam's administration related to a $350,000 analysis of business tax collections in Tennessee said Tuesday that he likely will appeal a judge's denial of his open records lawsuit. Attorney Brett Carter had filed the lawsuit in chancery court alleging a "willful" violation of the Tennessee Open Records Act over the state finance and revenue departments' refusal to disclose details about how they decided to draft the Revenue Modernization Act that Haslam has proposed to lawmakers this year. But Chancellor Carol McCoy on Monday denied Carter's lawsuit after reviewing some of the requested materials [...]

20 Jun, 2014

Cleveland newspaper wins release of superintendent evaluations after Open Records dispute

By |2019-09-11T18:49:44-05:00June 20, 2014|Categories: schools|Tags: , , , , , |0 Comments

The Bradley County Board of Education released individual evaluation forms of its superintendent to the Cleveland Daily Banner late yesterday but continued to contend the public documents were exempt from the Tennessee Public Records Act. After the board initially refused to disclose the superintendent evaluations, the newspaper contacted Office of Open Records Counsel Elisha Hodge who wrote that it was her opinion that the documents should be released and she was "unaware of any provision within the law that makes these particular records confidential." "In Tennessee, in order for the public to be denied access to a records that exists, the record has to be confidential pursuant to a provision within the [...]

4 Jun, 2014

Update: Chattanooga judges release job applications after AG’s advice

By |2017-01-06T15:26:27-06:00June 4, 2014|Categories: Attorney General Opinions, state records|Tags: , , , , , |0 Comments

Hamilton County Chancellor Jeffery Atherton Hamilton County Chancellor Frank Brown In a story being followed by the Chattanooga Times Free Press, two judges who had denied the newspaper access to job applications for the county's Clerk and Master position reversed course and released the documents. The judges had originally told the Times Free Press that even if the applications were public records, they thought the privacy of the applicants "outweigh the public's right to know." They then sealed the records by issuing a court order in a highly unusual move considering there was no current litigation before them in which they had jurisdiction to issue an [...]

23 May, 2014

Hamilton County judges say privacy of job applicants outweighs Public Records Act

By |2014-05-23T15:10:53-05:00May 23, 2014|Categories: state records|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments

The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports today about an unusual move by two Hamilton County judges to seal information about applicants to that county's Clerk and Master position, issuing an order without any pending litigation before their courts. The newspaper had requested a list of applicants to the $103,795 job, which is appointed by the judges as one of their administrative duties. At first, one of the judges, Chancellor W. Frank Brown, responded to the request saying the court does not believe the public has a right to names, and media should offer the same confidentiality to candidates for the clerk and master post that it gives to victims of [...]

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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