Officer William Orange arrests radio journalist in Franklin, Tenn., covering the illegally secretive judicial conference, which event he crashed. He was charged with criminal trespass, and his arrest was without probable cause, according to a court ruling. (Photo Franklin police department)
From left, Jeff Long, commissioner of safety; David Tulis of NoogaRadio Network; and David Gerregano, commissioner of revenue. (Photos state government)
IMMEDIATE RELEASE — David Tulis (423) 544-22285 davidtuliseditor@gmail.com
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn., Monday, May 18, 2026 – A radio journalist suing two state commissioners plans Tuesday to tell the Tennessee Court of Appeals in Nashville that its four judges would be unhappy if their law degrees were evidenced by an e-mail from a law school registrar and not a certificate.
“This case is about whether a state certificate of auto insurance means anything and whether ordinary paperwork is the same as a certification,” David Tulis says in a public interest lawsuit naming Jeff Long, Tennessee’s commissioner of safety, and David Gerregano, commission of revenue.
Police, deputies and troopers enforce a program under section 139 of the Tennessee financial responsibility law of 1977, towing cars out from under drivers who do not buy ordinary owner’s or operator’s policies. More than 1 million people are targeted as insurance industry non-customers.
“The commissioner of revenue says that the purpose of the law is to ban the poor from the roads,” says the investigative radio journalist who owns NoogaRadio Network in Chattanooga and blogs on law.
Judge Anne Martin in Davidson County Chancery Court dismissed the suit on grounds of sovereign immunity, failure to exhaust administrative remedies and lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
Tulis is suing Gerregano in U.S. District Court in Nashville in a case temporarily on hold. Oral arguments in a third lawsuit over his suspended 2000 Honda Odyssey minivan is June 25 in Hamilton County Chancery Court.
“I am trying to convince the court that I have a right to be heard and that my contested case in revenue is a sham. Not only is the locomotive off the tracks, but the entire train is off the rails.”
Tulis alleges 29 abrogations of law and seven violations of the constitution.
“With Gov. Lee’s blessings, this gang runs a mass corporate-capture fraud against the people of Tennessee enriching insurance company CEOs and stockholders with $2 billion in free premiums a year. They force people to buy insurance they cannot afford to obtain policies that are legally insufficient.
“It’s an extortion racket. These two are the bagmen. They net 40,832 convictions a year for ‘no insurance.’ That’s the poor. They have as much right to earn a living or go to church using the roads as do the rich,” Tulis says.
LIVE ON INTERNET 1 p.m. docket CST, 3 p.m. argument, Supreme Court building, 401 7th Avenue N. Nashville, 37219. Live feed https://www.tncourts.gov/courts/court-appeals/arguments/2026/05/19/state-tennessee-ex-rel-david-jonathan-tulis-v-david
