TNInvestco court ruling supports State over VC

In the TNInvestco decision handed down by Chancellor Russell Perkins this afternoon, State Commissioners Reagan Farr (Revenue) and Matt Kisber (ECD) bested petitioner Larry Coleman, a venture capitalist who sought to obtain records used in picking TNInvestco winners, in the state's new capital formation program. VNC's story is here. The State's records will stay confidential.

TNInvestco records decision deferred

Davidson County Chancery Court Chancellor Russell Perkins will not issue his opinion in the lawsuit initiated by VC Larry Coleman versus State officials today; rather, the ruling is now anticipated as early as Monday afternoon, March 1, according to Chancery staff. As reported earlier by VNC, Coleman sued Revenue Commissioner Reagan Farr and Economic and Development Commissioner Matt Kisber, in their official capacities, seeking public-records access to certain TNInvestco competition documentation the commissioners have thus far held is confidential, a judgment they say they have made within the bounds of State statutes and rules governing handling of certain tax, tax administration, proprietary corporate information and economic-development competitive information. Our earlier post here.

TNInvestco documents decision won't come today

The much-anticipated ruling on Larry Coleman's petition in Chancery Court, through which he seeks access to TNInvestco documents, will come by Friday afternoon, but not today, according to a member of the staff of Chancellor Russell Perkins, in a brief interview with VNC today.

Chancellor will study TNInvestco litigation before ruling

Following about two hours of oral arguments by counsel to the parties this afternoon, Davidson County Chancery Court Chancellor Russell Perkins said he would issue his opinion in the Coleman v. Farr-Kisber TNInvestco public-records access lawsuit in about a week, targeting February 23. Although no new major themes seemed to arise during the hearing and Chancellor Perkins acknowledged the need for expedited handling of access requests, the judge said the weighty issues embedded in the case call for ample consideration. Among other things, points of interrelated state and federal laws and common law were raised. At one point in his limited give and take with lawyers, Chancellor Perkins noted the fact that Attorney General Robert Cooper has weighed-in with an affirmation of the need for State confidentiality for certain TNInvestco information. Such an affirmation is required by law. Franklin-based VC Larry Coleman demands access to TNInvestco documents, arguing that disclosure of scoring forms and other data -- with some sensitive information redacted, as necessary -- would serve to illuminate the process of picking TNInvestco winners sufficiently to determine whether or not the commissioners followed state law in executing the program. Much of the discussion today centered around whether TNInvestco scoring matrices, once redacted, would still be confidential tax documents; and, whether by mentioning their use of the matrices in selecting TNInvestco winners the commissioners had somehow waived any privileges they might enjoy related to non-release of the scoring documents. Today's hearing was in Metro Nashville's historic courthouse (pictured above). Our preliminary report on this, earlier today.

State officials ask Court to toss TNInvestco lawsuit

State Commissioners Reagan Farr and Matt Kisber filed a request with Chancery Court in Nashville Friday, asking Chancellor Russell Perkins to toss a public-records request by VC Larry Coleman. The story's here. There's a hearing on this at Chancery this afternoon, at 2:30 p.m.