If you are a public official or employee in Tennessee and you are emailing, texting or otherwise communicating about public business, then those digital data–even if sent from or stored on personal devices–are considered “public records” and are open to inspection upon request. The Tennessee Public Records Act defines “public record or records” as “all
The Tennessee Court of Appeals recently upheld the Davidson County Chancellor Carol McCoy’s ruling that the plaintiff was not entitled to recover attorneys’ fees and costs associated with filing a lawsuit to obtain public records from the Metro-Nashville Police Department (MNPD). In Custis v. Metro. Nashville Police Department, the plaintiff (through her attorney) had submitted an