Dear Mr. Noblett, it is has been 66 days waiting for response to my open records request regarding your employer’s authority to enforce the driver license statute at Title 55, chapter 50.
State law says only the department of safety shall enforce that chapter, and I asked you in an open records request for the city’s authorization by agreement, covenant, contract, assignment etc for indication your office has authority to allow CPD to enforce anything in that chapter.
Please inform me that no such document exists, and that you cannot fulfill my request for such evidence of authority. You appear to be in violation of your duty under the open records statute, sir.
City of Chattanooga is under Tennessee transportation administrative notice since Feb. 20, 2018, highlighting this very point. That is 877 days ago that you have been notified of the limited scope of Title 55 and Title 65 under federal law. You have made no response to this notice, and accept it as correct. It would appear the city is estopped on the point of the driver license, at the very least, from denying it doesn’t know it cannot enforce this law, and that if attempts to do so it does so wilfully, intentionally, knowingly and in violation of the Tennessee oppression statute at Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-16-403, official oppression.
Could you please inform me of your good faith efforts, as an attorney in good standing under your Tennessee ethics rules, to inform the principal of the limits in the law? What reforms are ahead for CPD in regards to my notice?
What is being done to cease and desist acting without authority to enforce the driver license law by use of CPD? Respectfully yours, etc.
David Tulis is live on the air weekdays 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. on NoogaRadio 96.9 FM and other NoogaRadio Network stations, covering local economy and free markets in Chattanooga and beyond. Nothing here is legal advice; if you want legal advice, find a law firm downtown or on another planet — where the law actually matters.