NAFUSA board member Hal Hardin, won the latest battle on behalf of the former governor of Tennessee and the former deputy to the governor. On October 29, 2013, the Court of Appeals of Tennessee, dismissed for the second time an appeal in a civil case against the governor and his deputy for actions alleged to have occurred during a 77 day and night protest in 2005 inside the Tennessee Capitol over changes to the state health care program.

Contrary to State Capitol rules, plaintiff and other protestors entered the Capitol and were allowed to stay. The governor and the deputy took no action to evict the protestors, even though they could have lawfully done so. Plaintiff claimed the governor and the deputy retaliated against him for the exercise of his First Amendment rights during the protest. The Court of Appeals affirmed the grant of summary judgment against him and the lower court’s ruling that certain documents created by the governor’s legal counsel were protected from discovery by the attorney-client and deliberative process privileges.

Click here to read the full opinion of the Tennessee Court of Appeals