TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Kate Prince on Dec 22, 2022

Nashville firefighter Joshua Lipscomb is set to receive a $450,000 settlement after he was suspended from his city job for calling Nashville Council members “white supremacists” in a social media post, the Tennessean reports. Lipscomb was suspended for 16 days after a Nashville Fire Department panel determined his post violated policy. He then filed suit against the fire department in August, claiming the suspension was an unconstitutional restriction of his right to free speech. Lipscomb was represented by Tricia Herzfeld of Branstetter, Stranch & Jennings and Nashville civil rights attorney Abby Rubenfeld of Rubenfeld Law Office. “You don’t give up your rights to free speech just because you work for the government,” Herzfeld said in a release. Per the conditions of the settlement, Lipscomb must resign from his job, and the fire department policies at issue in the suit have been changed.