Opinion ID: 1061025
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: equitable relief from the qualifying deadline

Text: This Court has broad equitable powers, and there is ample precedent for extending the qualifying deadline. As noted by the Supreme Court in Crowe v. Ferguson, 814 S.W.2d 721, at 725, . . . if a candidate misses a qualifying deadline due to her reasonable and justifiable reliance upon an official opinion, relief from the mandatory deadline is appropriate, provided filing takes place with all reasonable dispatch after it is discovered that the opinion is incorrect. The facts in the Crowe case are similar to the case at bar: a person interested in running for office was misled by election officials as to whether she was eligible to file a qualifying petition. Relying on the precedent of Koella v. State ex rel. Moffett, 218 Tenn. 629, 405 S.W.2d 184 (Tenn. 1966), the Supreme Court ruled that the candidate in question, who filed after the qualifying deadline, was properly placed on the ballot. Accordingly, we ruled as a matter of equity that Justice White's name should be placed on the ballot as if she had properly qualified. Based on briefs filed subsequent to our initial ruling granting this equitable relief to Justice White, this Court also ruled that equitable relief should be granted to all candidates similarly misled, and therefore extended the qualifying deadline for the August 1, 1996 election for the seat on the Supreme Court at issue until 4:00 p.m., July 12, 1996. As previously noted in our Order of July 9, in accordance with T.C.A. § 17-1-301, candidates for the unexpired term of Justice O'Brien, who resided in the Eastern Grand Division of Tennessee, must be residents of the Eastern Grand Division.