(a)

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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 4-5-325

  • Administrative judge: means an agency member, agency employee or employee or official of the office of the secretary of state, licensed to practice law and authorized by law to conduct contested case proceedings pursuant to §. See Tennessee Code 4-5-102
  • Agency: means each state board, commission, committee, department, officer, or any other unit of state government authorized or required by any statute or constitutional provision to make rules or to determine contested cases. See Tennessee Code 4-5-102
  • Contested case: means a proceeding, including a declaratory proceeding, in which the legal rights, duties or privileges of a party are required by any statute or constitutional provision to be determined by an agency after an opportunity for a hearing. See Tennessee Code 4-5-102
  • Hearing officer: means an agency member, agency employee or employee or official of the office of the secretary of state, not licensed to practice law, and authorized by law to conduct a contested case proceeding pursuant to §. See Tennessee Code 4-5-102
  • Order: means an agency action of particular applicability that determines the legal rights, duties, privileges, immunities or other legal interests of a specific person or persons. See Tennessee Code 4-5-102
  • Party: means each person or agency named or admitted as a party, or properly seeking and entitled as of right to be admitted as a party. See Tennessee Code 4-5-102
  • Person: means any individual, partnership, corporation, association, governmental subdivision, or public or private organization of any character, including another agency. See Tennessee Code 4-5-102
  • Rule: includes the establishment of a fee and the amendment or repeal of a prior rule. See Tennessee Code 4-5-102
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
  • written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(1) When a state agency issues a notice to a person, local governmental entity, board, or commission for the violation of a rule or statute and the notice results in a contested case hearing, at the conclusion of the contested case hearing, the hearing officer or administrative judge may order the state agency to pay to the respondent the reasonable expenses incurred because of the notice, including a reasonable attorney’s fee, if the hearing officer or administrative judge determines that:

(A)

(i) The claims contained in the notice are not warranted by existing law nor by a nonfrivolous argument for the extension or modification of existing law; and
(ii) The claims contained in the notice do not have evidentiary support; or
(B) The state agency issued the notice to harass, cause unnecessary delay, or cause needless expense to the party issued the notice.
(2) Subdivision (a)(1) is not satisfied simply by a state agency failing to prevail against the respondent.
(3) If the hearing officer or administrative judge orders the state agency to pay the respondent the reasonable expenses incurred, then the hearing officer or administrative judge shall set forth in a written order the findings of facts and conclusions of law upon which the determinations are based.
(b) If a final decision in a contested case hearing results in a respondent seeking judicial review under § 4-5-322, then the judge conducting the review may, at the conclusion of the hearing, make the same findings and enter the same order as authorized by the hearing officer or administrative judge pursuant to subsection (a).
(c) For purposes of this section:

(1) “Notice” means a document required by § 4-5-307(b); and
(2) “Respondent” means a party to whom a state agency issues a notice.
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