Judge's Order Baffles Lawyers

Members of the Blount County legal community are scratching their heads over a recent court order - unattached to any docketed criminal or civil case - demanding that four lawyers produce documents having to do with local court procedures.

The order, signed by Circuit Court Judge Mike Meares on May 10 - a Saturday - ordered attorneys Steve Ogle, president of the Blount County Bar Association; Melanie E. Davis and Robert N. Goddard, both members of the association's Local Rules Committee; and David Black to appear in his courtroom the following Monday at 8 a.m. with any "correspondence to or from the Blount County Circuit or Chancery Courts or any of their judges or clerks about Local Rules."