A “Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation” (a SLAPP-suit) filed by three City of Fayetteville, Tennessee, Aldermen against two citizens who petitioned them must be dismissed with prejudice, the Circuit Court for Lincoln County, Tennessee, has ruled. The Court also awarded the two citizens “their court
“The determination of whether an offense is eligible for expunction is an obligation entrusted to courts, not the TBI[,]” the Tennessee Supreme Court has ruled. Accordingly, “the TBI lacked authority to refuse to comply” with a final and unappealed expungement order that no statute
The Tennessee Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance, Registry of Election Finance “is in contempt of court,” a senior Chancery Court judge has found. The finding arose from the Registry’s willful collection of $64,000.00 in PAC fees in violation of a permanent injunction prohibiting
By Daniel A. Horwitz (Republished from the Tennessee Free Speech Blog): In 2019, Tennessee’s free speech law underwent a sea change. The Tennessee Public Participation Act—Tennessee’s first-ever meaningful anti-SLAPP law—took effect, ushering in a host of critical protections for people sued for defamation (libel
In an opinion issued September 28, 2021, the Tennessee Court of Appeals has ordered that Horwitz Law, PLLC appellate client Kenneth Mynatt's malicious prosecution and civil conspiracy claims be reinstated. The Court's unanimous ruling, authored by Judge Thomas R. Frierson, explains that the retirement
Earlier this year, Tennessee enacted the Reentry Success Act of 2021 into law. The Reentry Success Act overhauls Tennessee’s parole laws, and it was designed to reform several components of the parole hearing process, parole determinations, and parole eligibility. As soon as the Reentry
When Nashville woman Leah Gilliam purchased a vanity plate to celebrate her interests in astronomy and gaming, it did not occur to her that her constitutionally protected speech could land her in jail. Due to the Tennessee Department of Revenue's determination—more than a decade
In a precedent-setting, unanimous ruling, the Tennessee Court of Appeals has affirmed the first trial court judgment ever issued under the Tennessee Public Participation Act, Tennessee's recently enacted anti-SLAPP statute. The ruling establishes several critical precedents for free speech law in Tennessee, and it
In a thorough, 42-page opinion, Davidson County Chancellor Russell Perkins has ruled that the Davidson County Election Commission acted unlawfully when it set an election on a legally defective referendum opinion. "4GG's Petition . . . did not prescribe a date as required by Section 19.01;
On June 4, 2021, Horwitz Law, PLLC filed an amici curiae brief on behalf of clients the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce and Tennesseans for Sensible Election Laws in Metropolitan Government, et al. v. Davidson County Election Commission, et al., Davidson County Chancery Court