Tennessee Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III today announced Samantha Fisher as Communications Director. Previously she was a 5 and 10pm anchor on WKRN. “We have been looking forward to this day. You can’t help but be impressed with Samantha’s skills and experience. We are delighted to have her join our team,” said Attorney General Slatery.
“The death penalty is constitutional and it is the law of the State of Tennessee. It has taken decades and multiple court hearings, but justice was finally served for the murder and aggravated rape of 7-year-old Paula Dyer. Justice was delayed too long for this little girl and her family. I hope tonight’s lawful execution in some way eases the heartache Paula’s family has lived with and brings a degree of closure to a chapter of their lives that has been indescribably difficult.”
The Attorney General’s statutory duty is to defend the constitutionality of a statute of statewide effect. Accordingly, this Office recently filed a Notice of Appeal in the U.S. District Court. Today, this Office filed a Motion for Partial Stay Pending Appeal.
“We are pleased Purdue Pharma decided to withdraw its motion for a protective order, and the State’s complaint is now available to the public on our website or from the Knox County Clerk’s Office. As outlined in our response to the motion, we believe the public has the right to know what is going on in this important lawsuit. We will now concentrate on moving the litigation forward.” General Slatery said.
“Today’s U.S. Supreme Court decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, holding that States may collect sales tax from online retailers, is welcome news. Tennessee joined a multi-state amicus brief in support of South Dakota that highlighted the importance of this source of revenue for the States and the unfairness of the previous rule to our local retailers. We will continue to review the decision and its impact on the pending case filed against the TN Department of Revenue by the American Catalog Association,” General Slatery said.
“Thanks to Gerald McCormick for serving our state for about fourteen years. He was always Leader McCormick to me and I appreciated his candor and willingness to sponsor, lead, vote for and pass legislation that was the best for Tennessee, whether politically expedient or not. We will miss that statesmanship and wish him the best in his future endeavors.”
“I am deeply saddened by the loss of my friend Claude Ramsey. I had the privilege of serving with him in the Haslam Administration and he always offered wise and insightful advice. He was a motivator who brought out the good in everyone. No one was better with people than Claude. My sympathies to Jan and the Ramsey family.”
Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III is seeking to make the State of Tennessee’s Complaint filed against Purdue Pharma on May 15, 2018 in Knox County Circuit Court available to the public. Under a court order, Purdue had ten days from the date the company was served with the lawsuit to ask the Court to keep the Complaint under seal. Purdue has now asked the Court to redact most of the State’s Complaint.
Investigations of Other Opioid Manufacturers and Distributors Continue: Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III, along with a bipartisan group of Attorneys General, sued Purdue Pharma today for its unlawful marketing and promotion of OxyContin and other drugs and its role in causing and prolonging the opioid epidemic in Tennessee.
Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III filed motions to intervene in three lawsuits brought by district attorneys general against several opioid manufacturers and health care providers. This Office moved to intervene to protect the interests of the entire state and its citizens while fulfilling our statutory duty to direct the opioid litigation in the state.
Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III has joined a bi-partisan coalition of attorneys general urging Congress not to preempt state data breach and data security laws, including laws that require notice to consumers and state attorneys general of data breaches.
In January, a three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati unanimously ruled against the plaintiffs and in favor of the State in George v. Hargett, the case in which the plaintiffs claimed the State had counted the votes on the Amendment 1 abortion measure in 2014 in a way that violated their constitutional rights. Today, the Sixth Circuit rejected the plaintiffs’ petition for a rehearing, stating that the original three-judge panel had fully considered all the issues raised in the petition for rehearing and that no judge of the full court had requested further review by the entire (en banc) court.
Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III has joined a coalition of 20 States asking a federal district court in Texas to hold the Affordable Care (ACA) unconstitutional and to enjoin the entire law.
Today, on behalf of the Tennessee Department of Correction, Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III requested the Tennessee Supreme Court set execution dates in eight capital cases.
Sumerford departs for communications position with HCA Healthcare: Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III today announced Harlow Sumerford, Director of Communications, will leave the Attorney General’s Office to join the communications team at HCA Healthcare as Manager of Media Relations..