(a) No state funds received by a local government unit shall be expended to pay attorney’s fees, court costs, or other expenses attributable to a lawsuit filed against the state, a state agency, or a state official in which the local government unit is named as a plaintiff. If the state, agency, or official prevails in the lawsuit, then the department of finance and administration shall deduct from the local government unit’s allocation of state-shared taxes, in the case of a city or county, or allocation of funds based on the Tennessee investment in student achievement formula (TISA), in the case of an LEA, such sum or part of such sum to recover attorney’s fees, court costs, and other expenses attributable to defending the state in the lawsuit.

Terms Used In Tennessee Code 9-4-5115

  • Lawsuit: A legal action started by a plaintiff against a defendant based on a complaint that the defendant failed to perform a legal duty, resulting in harm to the plaintiff.
  • Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
  • 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
(b) As used in this section, “local government unit” means a county, municipality, or local education agency (LEA) as defined in § 49-1-103.
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