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One calls for openness, the other for healing.

Two local judges, current Circuit Court Judge Mike Meares and General Sessions Court Judge David Duggan, are facing each other in the county general election for the Division II seat vacated by Circuit Court Judge D. Kelly Thomas Jr. when he was appointed to the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals in November 2006.

The race has been indirectly fraught with a conflict between Meares and Division I Circuit Court Judge W. Dale Young.

Both candidates represent different political outlooks. Meares is a Democrat. He was appointed to serve as interim judge by Gov. Phil Bredesen in June 2007. General Sessions Court Judge David Duggan is a Republican.

The Daily Times recently talked with both Meares and Duggan about the campaign, asking them to discuss their qualifications for the position and plans if elected.
There has been a great deal of attention paid to the workings of Blount County Circuit Court in recent months as Meares has waged a high-profile fact-finding campaign about court matters. So, The Daily Times asked both candidates what they believe needs to be fixed in Circuit Court.

“Our courts have to continually improve in their efficiency and openness,” Meares said. “You cannot be fair to the people if you are not timely in resolving their disputes. Also to maintain the public’s confidence in the integrity of our judicial system, every matter than can be addressed in open court, needs to be addressed in open court. Efficiency and openness are two areas in which I think our court system can improve and always needs to improve.”

Duggan said he wanted to be a calming influence.

“There is presently a lot of turmoil in our court,” he said. “I think it’s unnecessary. I don’t think it should be. If I’m successful in this campaign, I intend to give a very high priority in the short-term to trying to deal with that turmoil and trying to restore order.”

Dispute over cases

The legal community has divided during what appears to be a dispute between Meares and Young related to administrative matters in Circuit Court. Young, presiding judge for the 5th Judicial District, said in a letter to the editor in The Daily Times, published on April 27, that there was a backlog of cases waiting to be tried by Meares.

In June, Meares ordered Circuit Court Clerk Tom Hatcher to appear before him to answer questions about a list of 98 criminal cases that Meares claimed should have been reported as disposed of from July 2007 until April 2008.

In a May 30 order, requiring local attorneys Rob Goddard and Melanie Davis to appear before him, Meares pointed out apparent discrepancies in the local Circuit Court rules as recommended by the Blount County Bar Association and how they were adopted. He has also questioned whether there could be more efficient ways of dividing the cases between Circuit Divisions I and II. In Blount County Circuit Court, Division I hears mostly civil cases and Division II hears mostly criminal cases.
Meares has since issued an order calling the “Presiding Judge” section of the Local Rules into question, claiming the section includes language giving authority outside of the law, and declares it void altogether.

Duggan and Meares also talked about what Circuit Court has been doing right.
“We traditionally have had excellent judges,” Duggan said. “We have excellent attorneys. The division of the workload, that’s been one of the issues brought up in this campaign, that has worked very well over the years.”

Meares praised the employees of the legal system.

“You have to recognize there are many dedicated employees working in the Justice Center,” he said. “They are working hard to keep up with growing legal demands of our community. Just as highways have gotten busier here in Blount County in the last 40 years, so has our court system. You have to give the officers, the clerks and the office assistants, who are working behind the scenes, due credit for the job they do to keep our courts open and accessible.”

Experience, qualifications

Meares, who served as a practicing attorney and partner in the law firm of Dungan & Meares before being appointed to the judgeship, began his legal career in 1983 in Miami and moved in 1986 to the law firm of Meares, Morton, Meares and Ansley in Maryville. He entered public service in 1989 as the first public defender for the 5th Judicial District.

Duggan has served as judge for the Blount County General Sessions Court, Section IV, since January 2005. He handles criminal, civil, domestic and probate cases. He practiced as a Blount County attorney for nearly 18 years before being elected.

Meares said that three things make him the best candidate: “independence, experience and plain-old commons sense. I’m not beholden to any public officials, and I’ve refused campaign contributions from lawyers. Independence is essential for judges. The public deserves a legal system that is run for the benefit of the public and not for any public official or any group of lawyers.”

Duggan again emphasized his philosophy, when asked about his qualifications.
“I believe in judicial restraint,” he said. “I believe that a judge needs to understand, and I do understand, that a courtroom does not provide political balance. Politics should never come into the equation. Once you go through those doors and the witnesses are put under oath, it should not matter ... I understand that.”

Meares pointed to his legal experience as well.

“In 24 years as a lawyer, I’ve tried murder cases, drug cases, aggravated assault cases — the type of cases I now hear as judge. I’ve also handled post-conviction relief cases, which are so troublesome for the courts and lawyers and the public. For the last year, there were 19 jury trials conducted in Blount County. I conducted 18 of those 19 jury trials. Three of those were murder cases.”

Duggan said that temperament matters, too.

“I have the better temperament and the better demeanor,” he said. “I know what to do in the courtroom. I know what not to do. All judges have times when our patience is tried and maybe we show a little anger or say or do something perhaps we shouldn’t, but day-in-and-day-out, week-in-and-week-out, I have the better temperament. That court belongs to the people. While a judge has to be firm, he has to be fair to everybody. He has to treat people with dignity and respect, that includes the court reporters and it includes the court clerks, not just the parties to the proceedings. It includes the attorneys.”


When asked what their priorities would be upon election, the candidates had very different answers.

Duggan said he would settle conflict in the legal community.

“My first priority will be, most likely, trying to get before the Bar Association, maybe asking attorneys to sit down with me, and begin discussion about what I consider to be a necessary healing process, to restore some order where there has been turmoil. ... We have to have some healing. We have to settle this turmoil and get back to the proper business of the court.”

Meares said he would continue the work he has started.

“I would continue with the priorities I started with to make sure the criminal court docket, all the cases, are being resolved in a timely fashion,” he said. “I would continue to make efforts to see where I could be of more assistance in making the civil docket work more efficiently so every member of the public could be assured equal access to the courts and fair and swift justice.”

If Duggan is elected, Tennessee Code Annotated 17-4-101 gives the County Commission authority to appoint a judge to serve in his place.

COMING SATURDAY: The race for House of Representatives