CITY PRESS COMMUNICATIONS, LLC ET AL. V. TENNESSEE SECONDARY SCHOOL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION - Articles

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CITY PRESS COMMUNICATIONS, LLC ET AL. V. TENNESSEE SECONDARY SCHOOL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION

Posted by: Tanja Trezise on May 1, 2014

Court: TN Court of Appeals

Attorneys 1:

Richard L. Colbert and Courtney L. Wilbert, Franklin, Tennessee, for the appellant, Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association.

Attorneys 2:

John P. Williams, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellees, City Press Communications, LLC, Steve Cavendish, and Ken Whitehouse.

Judge(s): CLEMENT

The principal issue is whether an association that governs and coordinates interscholastic athletic competition of substantially all public and private secondary schools in Tennessee is the functional equivalent of a government agency for purposes of the Tennessee Public Records Act. Two reporters and their newspaper filed this action pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann. § 10-7-505 to obtain records from the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association regarding the enforcement of its bylaws on member schools. The chancery court held that the association was the functional equivalent of a government agency; therefore, it was subject to the Tennessee Public Records Act, codified at Tenn. Code Ann. § 10-7-503 et seq. The court also ordered it to produce the records at issue, subject to the redaction of students’ names. We affirm.

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