HELD LAW FIRM CASES OF THE YEAR

2010 Simpson v. VOA. Held Law Firm represents Martha Simpson, a senior citizen who reported other tenants’ illegal activity to the manager of her housing complex. Instead of addressing the illegal activities, the manager evicted Ms. Simpson in violation of the Fair Housing Act.

2009 Pruitt v. City of Clinton. Held Law Firm represents the owners of Tow Right Wrecker Service, who were illegally removed from the City’s call list after they complained about racial discrimination, in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution. The case goes to trial on September 4, 2010.

2008 Fellhoelter v. USDA. Held Law Firm represented a former USDA auditor who was fired after he reported milk contamination and gross mismanagement of billions of taxpayer dollars. The case went all the way to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

2007 Fox v. Eagle Distributing. Held Law Firm represented a beer delivery driver who was fired after he told a customer he was sueing the company for age discrimination. The case went to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.

2006 Tracy v. Union County Schools. Held Law Firm represented India Tracy, a high school student who, due to her religious convictions, refused to attend a three-day-long tent revival that was scheduled as a school field trip each spring. School personnel then discussed her religious beliefs with other students, who beat and harassed her. The case garnered international attention and settled for enough money for India to study complete high school at a private school and to travel to Germany to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming a palentologist.

2005 Terry v. Bristol Motor Speedway. Held Law Firm represented a female account manager at the Speedway who was demoted, and who had all of her accounts reassigned to male account managers, even though she sold more advertising to Speedway customers than all of these account managers combined.

2004 Moore v. Roane County. Held Law Firm represented a grandmother who was denied appropriate medical attention after she was arrested for refusing to reveal the where-abouts of her grandson to the Department of Children’s Services. The evidence showed that the grandmother was denied her diabetes medicine, a mattress, a blanket, and treatment for multiple spider bites, even after she went into renal failure and almost died.

2003 Westbrook v. UT Battelle. Held Law Firm represented Janet Westbrook, a Safety Engineer who was fired after she reported various safety violations at Oak Ridge facilities. Ms. Battelle’s case went reached the desk of the Secretary of the Department of Energy, who required mediation. The case eventually settled; at the time, it was the highest award given to any whistle-blower in Oak Ridge

2002 Hinds v. Titan Wheel International. Robert Hinds is the former president of a tire distributor who was bought by an international company. When the international company violated Mr. Hinds’ employment contract, Held Law Firm sued and won a jury verdict. The company appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit; Ms. Held beat them there too.

2001 Carter v. Youth Services International. Held Law Firm represented four African-American employees of a youth drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility, who suffered discrimination on the basis of their race, and who were terminated after they complained about it. The case eventually settled for the full amount requested.

2000 KnoxRecall v. Victor Ashe, et. al. Following the untimely death of City Councilman Danny Mayfield, Held Law Firm represented the citizens’ organization who attempted to recall Mayor Victor Ashe and other city council members suspected of violating the Sunshine Laws in deciding to fill the seat. KnoxRecall also sued to clean the voter registration rolls of the names of long-dead people, to utilize the state’s recall provisions. She also drafted the Petition for Recall and successfully defended its validity in hearings before the Election Commission and in Chancery Court. The Petition was signed by several thousand voters.

1999 Citizens for Police Review v. City of Knoxville. Held Law Firm represented a citizen’s organization to address multiple complaints of racism and the use of excessive force during arrests made by the Knoxville Police Department. As a result of pressure from CPR, the City passed an ordinance establishing the Citizens’ Police Review Board, an independent body designed to investigate and remedy future claims of abuse. Ms. Held drafted the document that formed the basis of the ordinance establishing the Board, as well as all of the documents to establish the organization as a private non-profit advocacy organization.

1998 Tennessee Industrial Renewal Network v. City of Knoxville. Working with future employee (and Vice Mayor) Bob Becker, Held Law Firm drafted and advocated for an ordinance designed to require businesses and government employers to pay employees sufficient wages to ensure that a full-time worker did not also have to rely upon public benefits.

1997 In Re: Community Microloan Program. Margaret Held co-designed and wrote the documents to incorporate a non-profit bank, modeled after the Grameen bank that won a Nobel Prize in 2009. The bank provided small loans to start-up businesses in Knoxville’s inner city.

1996 Gamaleldin v. KCDC. Margaret Held represented Cynthia Gamaleldine, a public housing resident who wanted to start a small daycare business in her apartment. KCDC eventually agreed to amend her lease, which paved the way for other public housing residents to operate home-based businesses as a way to lift themselves out of poverty. The case was featured by the Harvard Civil Rights/Civil Liberties Law Review.