Tennessee § 16-3-502 - Supervisory procedures.

§ 16-3-502. Supervisory procedures.

In addition to other constitutional, statutory and inherent power, but not restrictive thereof, the supreme court may: Designate the administrative director of the courts as the chief administrative officer of the courts of the state; Direct the administrative director of the courts to take all action or to perform duties that are necessary for the orderly administration of justice within the state, whether or not herein or elsewhere enumerated; Direct the administrative director of the courts to provide administrative support to all of the courts of the state through an administrative office of the courts in order to: Designate and assign temporarily any judge or chancellor to hold or sit as a member of any court, of comparable dignity or equal or higher level, for any good and sufficient reason; Maintain a roster of retired judges who are willing and able to undertake special duties from time to time and to designate or assign them appropriate judicial duties; Make a careful and continuing survey of the dockets of the circuit, criminal, chancery and other similar courts of record, and to report at periodic intervals to the court, and annually to the general assembly, information that is public record; Take affirmative and appropriate action to correct and alleviate any imbalance in caseloads among the various judicial districts of the state; and Take affirmative and appropriate action to correct or alleviate any condition or situation adversely affecting the administration of justice within the state; Adopt, upon the recommendation of the administrative director of the courts, an annual plan providing for the orientation of newly elected or appointed judges of trial or appellate courts of record and for the appropriate continuing legal education and training of the judges; and Establish and implement a policy concerning the prevention of sexual harassment. This policy shall include training workshops and the establishment of a hearing procedure. Acts 1970, ch. 422, § 2; T.C.A., § 16-331; Acts 1984, ch. 931, § 23; 1993, ch. 65, § 1; 1993, ch. 307, § 3. Cross-References. Department of personnel, sexual harassment workshops, § 4-3-1703 . Orientation and continuing training and education of trial and appellate judges, § 16-3-803 . Posting of sexual harassment policy by state entities, § 4-3-124 . Supervision of judicial system, Tenn. R. Sup. Ct. 11. Rule Reference. This section is referred to in Tenn. Sup. Ct. R. 11, §§ I and VII. Textbooks. Tennessee Criminal Practice and Procedure (Raybin), § 24.12. Tennessee Jurisprudence, 16 Tenn. Juris., Judges, § 7. Law Reviews. The Tennessee Court System — Supreme Court (Frederic S. Le Clercq), 8 Mem. St. U.L. Rev. 191. Attorney General Opinions. Constitutionality of legislation governing ethical standards for certain attorneys, OAG 87-51 (3/30/87). Constitutionality of legislation relating to appointment of special judges, OAG 99-068 (3/18/99). The Tennessee supreme court has the authority to require general sessions courts to collect and report statistical and other data to the administrative office of the courts concerning filing and disposition of driving while intoxicated cases and to make such information available to the department of safety or to any other department or agency of state government, OAG 01-054 (4/9/01). Proposed legislation that gives the Tennessee Supreme Court the authority to appoint any former judge or justice who has at least one year of judicial service to serve as “a senior judge to hear complex commercial disputes” raises significant constitutional concerns. Unlike existing law, the proposed legislation would permit a former judge who has minimal judicial experience and who has never won a judicial election to serve in a judicial capacity. And the appointment would not be temporary but would be for a four-year term, renewable without limitation at the discretion of the Supreme Court. The election requirement of article VI, section 4 is not absolute, as demonstrated by the several provisions that allow unelected individuals to exercise judicial authority for a limited time or limited purpose, but the proposed legislation would undermine the election requirement to an extent not provided in existing law. However, the proposed legislation that would allow the Supreme Court to transfer complex commercial cases from the assigned trial court judge to a senior business judge does itself not raise constitutional concerns. It constitutes a specific grant of authority to transfer cases in furtherance of the Supreme Court’s existing supervisory authority. OAG 18-14, 2018 Tenn. AG LEXIS 15 (3/23/2018). Because an airport authority has discretion to determine the fees applicable to businesses operating on its property when it enters into contracts or other agreements with those businesses, it may impose a fuel flowage fee as part of those agreements. An airport authority may enter into agreements that require non-profit entities to pay fuel flowage fees. OAG 18-32, 2018 Tenn. AG LEXIS 31 (7/20/2018). The Tennessee Constitution gives the Legislature the exclusive authority to create inferior courts, including a business court. The Tennessee Supreme Court may create a business docket in an inferior court within the limits established by the Tennessee Constitution. The judges assigned to the business court or to the business docket must be elected in accordance with the Tennessee Constitution. OAG 18-33, 2018 Tenn. AG LEXIS 32 (7/30/2018). Cited: Cantor v. Brading, 494 S.W.2d 139, 1973 Tenn. App. LEXIS 250 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1973); Dungan v. Dungan, 579 S.W.2d 183, 1979 Tenn. LEXIS 424 (Tenn. 1979); State v. Brown, 644 S.W.2d 418, 1982 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 398 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1982); Johnson v. State, 797 S.W.2d 578, 1990 Tenn. LEXIS 314 (Tenn. 1990); State v. Bates, 804 S.W.2d 868, 1991 Tenn. LEXIS 44 (Tenn. 1991); Maxwell Med., Inc. v. Chumley, 282 S.W.3d 893, 2008 Tenn. App. LEXIS 542 (Tenn. Ct. App. Sept. 22, 2008); In re Bell, 344 S.W.3d 304, 2011 Tenn. LEXIS 577 (Tenn. June 10, 2011).