Prior records request suit dismissed with prejudice

JOHN COFFELT

Editor

A Coffee County Chancery Court petition by a county resident seeking to compel the state for a collection of Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation records was dismissed with prejudice in April on the grounds that documents supplied used “AI hallucinations” for citations.

In December of 2025, Sarah Bradley filed a petition for access to state records with Coffee County Chancery Court for documents related to an Old Stone Fort Bridge relocation project. Bradley alleges in the petition that TDEC had delayed releasing a collection of records requests, violating state statute.

In April, the courts granted the state’s motion to dismiss the case due to Bradley failing to appear at the hearing, and “additionally, the Court found that some citation’s included in the Petitioner’s Response in Opposition to the Motion to dismiss included what ‘appeared to be AI generated hallucinations as the Court was unable to verify the citations.’”

A dismissal with prejudice generally means the case is ended permanently.

According to Bradley’s suit, she submitted a records request on Nov. 3, 2025 for 17 documents that ranged from a Pedestrian Access Plan, Truss Maintenance Plan to blanket requests for “Any and all Correspondence” regarding bats from 2022-2025 and NEPA/Categorical Exclusion from 2023-25.

The Times reached out to Bradley, the attorney representing her in a different public records case and TDEC for comment and clarification. Any comments supplied after press time will be added to the online story.