Tennessee 2025-2026 Regular Session

Tennessee House Bill HB1012 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
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2	2	<BillNo> <Sponsor>
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4	4	HOUSE BILL 1012
5	5	By Shaw
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7	7
8	8	HB1012
9	9	002632
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12	12	AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 23,
13	13	Chapter 3; Title 27 and Title 39, relative to
14	14	attorneys at law.
15	15
16	16	WHEREAS, attorneys are officers of the court and have a general duty of candor to the
17	17	courts, including a duty to refrain from knowing misrepresentations; and
18	18	WHEREAS, attorneys have a duty to disclose to the court all material information; and
19	19	WHEREAS, attorneys have a duty to be honest and forthright with courts; and
20	20	WHEREAS, attorneys have a duty to refrain from deceiving or misleading courts either
21	21	through direct representations or through silence in all aspects of litigation; and
22	22	WHEREAS, an attorney who makes false statements, tells half-truths, or otherwise
23	23	misleads or harms the legal system and the legal profession; and
24	24	WHEREAS, the essential aim of our legal system is to seek truth in the pursuit of justice;
25	25	and
26	26	WHEREAS, an attorney who subordinates truth to obtaining a successful outcome for a
27	27	client undermines the rule of law and erodes public trust and confidence in the legal system;
28	28	and
29	29	WHEREAS, the law is supposed to be an honorable profession, intended for the
30	30	promotion of justice, and not a trade of trickery, for the purposes of fraud or oppression; and
31	31	WHEREAS, compliance with the Tennessee Rules of Professional Conduct is expected
32	32	of attorneys practicing before all courts; and
33	33	WHEREAS, the license to practice law is a continuing proclamation by the Court that the
34	34	holder is fit to be entrusted with professional and judicial matters and to aid in the administration
35	35	of justice as an officer of the court; and
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40	40	WHEREAS, violations of the Tennessee Rules of Professional Conduct constitute
41	41	misconduct and must be grounds for discipline; and
42	42	WHEREAS, disbarment is generally appropriate when an attorney, with intent to deceive
43	43	the court, makes a false statement, submits a false document, or improperly withholds material
44	44	information, and causes serious or potentially serious injury to a party, or causes a significant or
45	45	potentially significant adverse effect on the legal proceeding; and
46	46	WHEREAS, an attorney must not knowingly use perjured testimony or false evidence;
47	47	and
48	48	WHEREAS, an attorney must not participate in the creation or preservation of evidence
49	49	when the attorney knows or it is obvious that the evidence is false; and
50	50	WHEREAS, Tennessee courts currently recognize the litigation privilege as an absolute
51	51	privilege that applies when a statement or act is made in the course of a judicial proceeding and
52	52	is relevant to the issue involved in the judicial proceeding; and
53	53	WHEREAS, conduct involving the creation and submission of false and fraudulent
54	54	pleadings, affidavits, and subornation of false court testimony has been held by the Tennessee
55	55	Court of Appeals in Law Offices of T. Robert Hill PC v. Cobb, No. W2020-01380-COA-R3-CV
56	56	(Tenn. Ct. App. May 27, 2021) to fall within the litigation privilege; and
57	57	WHEREAS, if this conflict between the Tennessee Rules of Professional Conduct and
58	58	the common law privilege is not resolved in a manner to hold lawyers accountable for deliberate
59	59	misinformation and subornation of perjury, then the Tennessee justice system loses all
60	60	credibility; now, therefore,
61	61	BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
62	62	SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 23, Chapter 3, Part 1, is amended by
63	63	adding the following as a new section:
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68	68	An attorney who, while acting in the capacity of counsel for a client or identifiable
69	69	prospective client, engages in conduct that would constitute any of the following offenses
70	70	is not immune from prosecution:
71	71	(1) Perjury, as defined in § 39-16-702;
72	72	(2) Aggravated perjury, as defined in § 39-16-703;
73	73	(3) Subornation of perjury, as defined in § 39-16-705;
74	74	(4) Tampering with or fabricating evidence, as defined in § 39-16-503;
75	75	(5) Destruction of or tampering with governmental records, as defined in
76	76	§ 39-16-504; or
77	77	(6) Coercion or persuasion of a witness, as defined in § 39-16-507.
78	78	SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.