The Tennessee Court of Appeals affirmed an order compelling disclosure  in an ongoing investigation

The trial court granted the Tennessee Attorney General’s petition seeking to compel the respondent corporation, Law Solutions Chicago LLC d/b/a UpRight Law (“UpRight”), to provide information regarding the identities of consumers who had paid for but allegedly not received UpRight’s services. In so ruling, the trial court determined that the attorney general had established that UpRight’s practices, if proven, would likely constitute violations of the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act. The trial court also determined that the information sought was not protected by the attorney-client privilege. UpRight has appealed. Discerning no reversible error, we affirm the trial court’s ruling.

The Attorney General sought the information

the Attorney General had been investigating UpRight for alleged deceptive business practices under the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) in connection with UpRight’s “advertising and sale of debt relief and legal services to consumers” and had also been investigating UpRight’s purported “unauthorized practice of law.”

The Attorney General asserted that UpRight paired consumers in need of debt relief services with local bankruptcy attorneys. However, according to the Attorney General, UpRight did not always provide the services for which consumers had paid. The Attorney General sought, within the RFI, a list of Tennessee consumers, including names and addresses (“identifying information”), who had partially paid UpRight’s fees but had received no services. The Attorney General also averred that UpRight refused to provide this information, which the Attorney General had deemed relevant to his investigation.