Tennessee 2025-2026 Regular Session

Tennessee Senate Bill SB1107 Compare Versions

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

Old	New	Differences
1	1
2	2	HOUSE BILL 1012
3	3	By Shaw
4	4
5	5	SENATE BILL 1107
6	6	By Kyle
7	7
8	8
9	9	SB1107
10	10	002632
11	11	- 1 -
12	12
13	13	AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 23,
14	14	Chapter 3; Title 27 and Title 39, relative to
15	15	attorneys at law.
16	16
17	17	WHEREAS, attorneys are officers of the court and have a general duty of candor to the
18	18	courts, including a duty to refrain from knowing misrepresentations; and
19	19	WHEREAS, attorneys have a duty to disclose to the court all material information; and
20	20	WHEREAS, attorneys have a duty to be honest and forthright with courts; and
21	21	WHEREAS, attorneys have a duty to refrain from deceiving or misleading courts either
22	22	through direct representations or through silence in all aspects of litigation; and
23	23	WHEREAS, an attorney who makes false statements, tells half-truths, or otherwise
24	24	misleads or harms the legal system and the legal profession; and
25	25	WHEREAS, the essential aim of our legal system is to seek truth in the pursuit of justice;
26	26	and
27	27	WHEREAS, an attorney who subordinates truth to obtaining a successful outcome for a
28	28	client undermines the rule of law and erodes public trust and confidence in the legal system;
29	29	and
30	30	WHEREAS, the law is supposed to be an honorable profession, intended for the
31	31	promotion of justice, and not a trade of trickery, for the purposes of fraud or oppression; and
32	32	WHEREAS, compliance with the Tennessee Rules of Professional Conduct is expected
33	33	of attorneys practicing before all courts; and
34	34	WHEREAS, the license to practice law is a continuing proclamation by the Court that the
35	35	holder is fit to be entrusted with professional and judicial matters and to aid in the administration
36	36	of justice as an officer of the court; and
37	37
38	38
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40	40
41	41	WHEREAS, violations of the Tennessee Rules of Professional Conduct constitute
42	42	misconduct and must be grounds for discipline; and
43	43	WHEREAS, disbarment is generally appropriate when an attorney, with intent to deceive
44	44	the court, makes a false statement, submits a false document, or improperly withholds material
45	45	information, and causes serious or potentially serious injury to a party, or causes a significant or
46	46	potentially significant adverse effect on the legal proceeding; and
47	47	WHEREAS, an attorney must not knowingly use perjured testimony or false evidence;
48	48	and
49	49	WHEREAS, an attorney must not participate in the creation or preservation of evidence
50	50	when the attorney knows or it is obvious that the evidence is false; and
51	51	WHEREAS, Tennessee courts currently recognize the litigation privilege as an absolute
52	52	privilege that applies when a statement or act is made in the course of a judicial proceeding and
53	53	is relevant to the issue involved in the judicial proceeding; and
54	54	WHEREAS, conduct involving the creation and submission of false and fraudulent
55	55	pleadings, affidavits, and subornation of false court testimony has been held by the Tennessee
56	56	Court of Appeals in Law Offices of T. Robert Hill PC v. Cobb, No. W2020-01380-COA-R3-CV
57	57	(Tenn. Ct. App. May 27, 2021) to fall within the litigation privilege; and
58	58	WHEREAS, if this conflict between the Tennessee Rules of Professional Conduct and
59	59	the common law privilege is not resolved in a manner to hold lawyers accountable for deliberate
60	60	misinformation and subornation of perjury, then the Tennessee justice system loses all
61	61	credibility; now, therefore,
62	62	BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
63	63	SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 23, Chapter 3, Part 1, is amended by
64	64	adding the following as a new section:
65	65
66	66
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68	68
69	69	An attorney who, while acting in the capacity of counsel for a client or identifiable
70	70	prospective client, engages in conduct that would constitute any of the following offenses
71	71	is not immune from prosecution:
72	72	(1) Perjury, as defined in § 39-16-702;
73	73	(2) Aggravated perjury, as defined in § 39-16-703;
74	74	(3) Subornation of perjury, as defined in § 39-16-705;
75	75	(4) Tampering with or fabricating evidence, as defined in § 39-16-503;
76	76	(5) Destruction of or tampering with governmental records, as defined in
77	77	§ 39-16-504; or
78	78	(6) Coercion or persuasion of a witness, as defined in § 39-16-507.
79	79	SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.