TENNESSEE DEMOCRATIC PARTY v. HAMILTON COUNTY ELECTION COMMISSION; MARK GOINS IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS STATE ELECTION COORDINATOR; AND ROBIN SMITH - Articles

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TENNESSEE DEMOCRATIC PARTY v. HAMILTON COUNTY ELECTION COMMISSION; MARK GOINS IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS STATE ELECTION COORDINATOR; AND ROBIN SMITH

Posted by: Karen Belcher on Feb 24, 2020

Head Comment: CORRECTION: The name of the attorney for Robin Smith was inadvertently omitted in Friday’s issue of TBAToday by the TBA. There should have been a fourth attorney listed: Ben M. Rose, Brentwood, Tennessee, for the appellee, Robin Smith.

Court: TN Court of Appeals

Attorneys 1: J. Gerard Stranch, IV; Benjamin A. Gastel; and Seamus T. Kelly, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Tennessee Democratic Party.

Attorneys 2: Stephen S. Duggins, Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the appellee, Hamilton County Election Commission.

Attorneys 3: Herbert H. Slatery, III, Attorney General and Reporter; Andrée S. Blumstein, Solicitor General; and Janet M. Kleinfelter, Deputy Attorney General, for the appellee, Mark Goins, State Election Coordinator.

Attorneys 4: Ben M. Rose, Brentwood, Tennessee, for the appellee, Robin Smith.

Judge(s): DINKINS

Political party filed suit against the county election commission and the State election coordinator requesting injunctive relief to prevent a county election commission from allowing a replacement for a candidate in another party’s primary election for the office of state representative who had withdrawn from the race after the qualifying deadline; the plaintiff party also sought a declaration that the withdrawal of the original candidate did not allow for a replacement under the circumstances presented. The primary election ensued, and the replacement candidate advanced to the general election; thereafter, the trial court denied the injunction and granted the defendants’ motions to dismiss the action. After the appeal was filed but before argument, the general election was held and the other party’s candidate was elected. We have determined that this case is moot and, accordingly, dismiss the appeal; we deny the request for damages for a frivolous appeal.

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