University of Tennessee agrees to settle public records lawsuit, turn over documents

The University of Tennessee has turned over all the documents sought by WBIR anchor John Becker in his public records lawsuit against the university and agreed to pay $60,000 in costs and attorneys’ fees to resolve the matter.  

The two parties recently finalized the settlement agreement nearly a year after Becker sued the university with free legal support from attorneys at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Becker’s lawsuit specifically sought access to records received by high level university officials from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the U.S. Department of Energy’s largest science and technology lab, and its operating entity, UT-Battelle LLC, which is half-owned by the University of Tennessee.

“While it never should have required a lawsuit to access this information, we are glad that the University of Tennessee has now released these records,” said Paul McAdoo, the Reporters Committee’s Local Legal Initiative attorney for Tennessee, who litigated the case on behalf of Becker alongside RCFP Staff Attorney Gunita Singh. “Moving forward, we hope this settlement makes the University of Tennessee and other public entities in the state more inclined to release records instead of fighting potentially lengthy and costly legal battles to keep them secret.”

Becker first requested the records from the University of Tennessee in 2022. He asked the school for access to all records received by seven university administrators from Oak Ridge National Laboratory or UT-Battelle, as well as operating agreements concerning the formation and operation of UT-Battelle.

University officials turned over some responsive documents but withheld in full or in part many others, claiming that some were protected from disclosure because they were in draft form, contained trade secrets, or fell under purported exemptions that don’t appear in the Tennessee Public Records Act, among other things.

On behalf of Becker, McAdoo filed a lawsuit against the University of Tennessee in March, alleging that the university improperly withheld and redacted public records. The lawsuit asked the Knox County Chancery Court to hold that the requested records are public under Tennessee law and to order the university to provide copies of them to Becker. 

During a court hearing last May, Reporters Committee attorneys challenged the university’s decision to withhold and redact the requested documents, arguing, among other things, that the operating agreements should be released to Becker without redactions. 

After the hearing, the parties agreed to resolve the matter, with the university turning over all the records requested by Becker, which included almost 2,000 pages of public records, and to pay $60,000 to the Reporters Committee to cover attorneys’ fees, costs, and litigation expenses. 

“We believe the public had a right to know how the University of Tennessee is administering Oak Ridge National Labs and filed a state public records request to release unredacted records from the University of Tennessee and UT-Battelle, which operates Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the U.S. Department of Energy’s largest science and energy laboratory,” said Corey Presley, WBIR news director. “We believed the agreements between the University of Tennessee and the non-profit that runs Oak Ridge are public under Tennessee public record laws. We are pleased with this outcome.”

Check out WBIR’s story to learn more about the settlement agreement.