A Knoxville lawyer who this month won election to be the next Lenoir City judge prevailed Friday in a lawsuit challenging his eligibility filed by the judicial incumbent.
Robin McNabb, an attorney and city judge for Lenoir City since 2016, sued Gregg Harrison in Loudon County Chancery Court after losing by 37 votes in the Aug. 4 election.
McNabb argued Harrison didn't live in Lenoir City itself and thus couldn't serve as city judge.
Harrison has a Lenoir City mailing address; his home sits in Loudon County, his attorney T. Scott Jones said.
The case was heard Friday by Loudon County Circuit Court Judge Michael Pemberton by special sitting. The judge declined to grant McNabb's request for injunctive relief to prevent Harrison from taking office next month.
Harrison prevailed after Jones showed the state Constitution in this case didn't require that a municipal judge must live within the city limit. Harrison lives in Loudon County, which is sufficient under the state Constitution for him to become city judge, he argued.
An October 2020 opinion about residency, cited by Jones, from Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery declared:
"In sum, when a municipal court is vested with concurrent jurisdiction with an inferior court, the judge of the municipal court must comply with the same Article VI, section 4 requirements with which the inferior court judge must comply.
"He or she must therefore have resided within Tennessee for five consecutive years and within the judicial district in which the municipal court is located for one year immediately before being elected. Article VI, section 4 does not require residency within the municipality for a judge exercising concurrent jurisdiction with an 'inferior court,' such as an general sessions court."
Harrison is a former Knox County prosecutor and a past Alcoholic Beverage Commission chief. He practices in Knoxville and has been the Lenoir City attorney.
A third municipal judge candidate, Amanda Smith, got 296 votes in the Aug. 4 contest.
The city judge handles traffic cases and can address misdemeanor cases.
