Catherine Callaway LaForce v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County et al.

This is an action for access to records from a homicide investigation assigned to the “cold case” section of the Metropolitan Police Department of Nashville and Davidson County (“MNPD”). The petitioner sought, among other things, all reports in the case file, all E-911 recordings in the file, and the personnel records of any employee who authored a report or memo in the file. MNPD denied the request in full because the investigation was still open. Petitioner then commenced this action against MNPD and the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County (“Metro”) to compel them to comply with the records request. Petitioner argued that the records she requested were not related to a “pending or contemplated” criminal action because MNPD had no active leads and had transferred the investigation to the Cold Case Section. After conducting an evidentiary hearing based on declarations, the trial court ordered Metro to disclose the E-911 records, but it held that MNPD had no duty to produce the personnel records because the request was not sufficiently detailed. Relying on the decision in Tennessean v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville & Davidson County, 485 S.W.3d 857 (Tenn. 2016), the trial court concluded that the remaining records were exempt from disclosure under the state law exception to the Tennessee Public Records Act and under Tennessee Rule of Criminal Procedure 16. The court also denied the petitioner’s request for an award of attorney’s fees and costs. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.