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By Buzz Trexler

Star Correspondent

The law license of Elizabethton City Judge Jason Lee Holly, who is seeking re-election on Nov. 5, has been suspended by the Tennessee Supreme Court’s Board of Professional Responsibility, according to a release from the board.

The temporary suspension is due to Holly’s failure to answer three misconduct complaints. Further details regarding the complaints were not provided in the release, but the board’s chief disciplinary counsel, Sandy Garrett, made clear in a phone call Tuesday that the suspension is not due to misconduct.

“Mr. Holly was not suspended for any misconduct as alleged in a complaint, but simply because he failed to respond to the board,” she said. Garrett said the order of temporary suspension allows him to continue representing existing clients for 30 days, but he cannot take on new clients.

The temporary suspension will be in effect “until dissolution or modification by the Supreme Court,” the release states. The attorney may request dissolution or modification of the suspension by petitioning the Supreme Court.

“So, he kind of has a little, as I said, a 30-day window to have that petition dissolved,” Garrett said, “which frankly would not be hard to do if he responded to the complaint.”

The release said Holly cannot accept new cases and must cease representing existing clients by Nov. 27, adding that after that date, “Mr. Holly shall not use any indicia of lawyer, legal assistant, or law clerk nor maintain a presence wherein the practice of law is conducted. Mr. Holly must notify all clients being represented in pending matters, as well as co-counsel and opposing counsel, of the Supreme Court’s Order suspending his law license and is required to deliver to all clients any papers or property to which they are entitled.”

According to the Tennessee Code, city judges must be licensed attorneys and are under the jurisdiction of the Board of Judicial Conduct. Garrett said she was unable to address what, if any, impact this would have on the city judge ballot. However, Carter County Election Commission Administrator of Elections Tracy Tanner-Harris said Tuesday the ballot has been set and will not be changed.

 

A call to City Attorney Roger Day regarding the impact on Elizabethton Municipal Court was not returned by press time. Likewise, an attempt to contact Holly by email was unsuccessful by press time.

In his reelection bid, Holly is facing Teresa Murray Smith, who held the post for three months in 2020 and was the city’s first female city judge. City Council elected Holly as interim city judge in February 2020, succeeding T.J. Little Jr., who died Dec. 28, 2019, leaving the city without a judge. Little had been in the post since 2007. The following August, Holly failed in a bid to fill Little’s unexpired term, losing to Smith. However, Holly defeated Smith in the November 2020 election.

This is not the first time this year that Holly has faced action by the Supreme Court.

On July 10, AOC General Counsel John Coke notified the city by letter that “previous notices” had been sent to Holly, advising him that he had not complied with state law that requires municipal judges to annually attend three hours of continuing legal education (CLE) provided by the AOC.

“As stated in those previous notices, judges who are not in compliance at the end of the previous calendar year have a grace period until June 30th of the following year to comply with the CLE requirement,” the letter said, adding that if a municipal judge fails to complete the CLE requirements by that date, “all subsequent judgments shall be null and void, and of no effect, until such a time as the requirements are met.”

In a July 15 email to City Council members, City Manager Daniel Estes said he had notified City Attorney Roger Day of the judicial notice of noncompliance and requested that “no matters be heard by the court until this issue is resolved.”

When contacted by a reporter on July 17, Holly said the courses had been completed and the AOC later provided the reporter an email stating two courses had been completed and provided certificates of completion for those courses.

According to the Board of Professional Responsibility of the Supreme Court of Tennessee, Holly has been licensed to practice law in Tennessee since 2005. He is a 1996 graduate of the University of Tennessee and a 2000 graduate of Cumberland School of Law of Samford University.