(a) The proceedings, records, and work papers of a review committee shall be privileged and confidential and shall not be subject to discovery, subpoena, or other means of legal process or introduction into evidence in any civil action, arbitration, or administrative proceeding other than a state board of accountancy proceeding; and no member of the review committee or person who was involved in the peer review process shall be permitted or required to testify in any civil action, arbitration, or administrative proceeding other than a state board of accountancy proceeding as to any matters produced, presented, disclosed, or discussed during or in connection with the peer review process or as to any findings, recommendations, evaluations, opinions, or other actions of the committees or any member of the committees; provided, that information, documents, or records that are publicly available are not immune from discovery or use in any civil action, arbitration, administrative proceeding, or state board of accountancy proceeding merely because they were presented or considered in connection with the peer review process.

Terms Used In Tennessee Code 62-1-202

  • Board: means the state board of accountancy established under §. See Tennessee Code 62-1-103
  • Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Member: means a member of a limited liability company. See Tennessee Code 62-1-103
  • Peer review: means a study, appraisal or review of one (1) or more aspects of the professional work of a CPA firm that performs attest services by a qualified person or persons who hold certificates and who are not affiliated with the CPA firm being reviewed. See Tennessee Code 62-1-103
  • Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • review committee: means any person or persons carrying out, administering or overseeing peer review. See Tennessee Code 62-1-201
  • State: means any state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands and Guam, except that "this state" means the state of Tennessee. See Tennessee Code 62-1-103
  • Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
  • Testify: Answer questions in court.
(b) The privilege created by this part also does not apply to materials prepared in connection with a particular engagement merely because they happen to be subsequently presented or considered as part of the peer review process, nor does it apply to disputes between review committees and persons or firms subject to a peer review arising from the performance of the peer review.
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