CLATA RENEE BREWER ET AL. v. METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT OF NASHVILLE AND DAVIDSON COUNTY ET AL. - Articles

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CLATA RENEE BREWER ET AL. v. METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT OF NASHVILLE AND DAVIDSON COUNTY ET AL.

Posted by: Azya Thornton on Feb 4, 2026

Court: TN Court of Appeals

Attorneys 1: John I. Harris III, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellants, James Hammond and The Tennessee Firearms Association. Paul J. Krog, Brentwood, Tennessee; and Nicholas R. Barry, Washington, DC, for the appellants, Michael Patrick Leahy and Star News Digital Media, Inc.

Attorneys 2: Richard L. Hollow, Knoxville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Todd Gardenhire.

Attorneys 3: Eric G. Osborne, Rascoe S. Dean, William L. Harbison, Christopher C. Sabis, C. Dewey Branstetter, Ryan T. Holt, Micah N. Bradley, Hunter C. Branstetter, William D. Pugh, Edward M. Yarbrough, Hal Hardin, and Mark J. Patterson, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellees, Parents of Minor Covenant Students Jane Doe and John Doe.

Attorneys 4: Lora Barkenbus Fox and Cynthia E. Gross, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellee, Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee.

Attorneys 5: Rocklan W. King III, F. Laurens Brock, and Stacia M. Daigle, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellee, Covenant Presbyterian Church.

Attorneys 6: Peter F. Klett and Autumn L. Gentry, Nashville, Tennessee; and Nader Baydoun and Stephen Knight, Brentwood, Tennessee, for the appellee, The Covenant School.

Attorneys 7: Michael B. Bressman and Jennifer Safstrom, Nashville, Tennessee, for the amici curiae, Intellectual Property and First Amendment Scholars and Advocates in support of appellants.

Attorneys 8: Samuel P. Funk, James K. Vines, and Evan S. Rothey, Nashville, Tennessee, for the amici curiae, Franklin Road Academy, Montgomery Bell Academy, Oak Hill School, and St. Paul Christian Academy in support of appellees.

Judge(s): DAVIS

In the spring of 2023, The Metro Nashville Police Department (“Metro”) received several public records requests seeking information about a school shooting that occurred in a Nashville private school on March 27, 2023. Metro denied all such requests. The various requestors filed petitions for access to the records in the Davidson County courts, which were eventually consolidated into one action. The private school at which the shooting occurred, its affiliated church, and parents of surviving children intervened in the action as parties. These intervening parties advocated that the school shooter’s personal writings and other creative works, which Metro collected in the course of its investigation, should remain confidential. The trial court ultimately denied all petitions for access to Metro’s file for numerous reasons. The requestors appeal to this Court. Following our review, we affirm in part and reverse in part. We affirm the trial court’s finding that the intervening parents have standing to raise arguments under the United States Copyright Act. We also affirm the trial court’s finding that neither Article I, section 35 of the Tennessee Constitution, nor Tennessee Code Annotated section 40-38-102, bar disclosure of any public records in this case. On all other issues, we reverse the trial court. The case is remanded to the trial court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

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