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Attorney General Skrmetti details office reorganization, major litigation and consumer‑protection results
Summary
Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti briefed the committee on organizational changes, the new strategic litigation unit and several high‑profile cases including consumer suits and a Purdue settlement; he reported staffing and budget figures and highlighted recent wins and ongoing litigation.
Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti briefed the Finance, Ways and Means Committee on his office’s recent reorganization, caseload and several major litigation efforts.
Skrmetti said his office reorganized to create three distinct new divisions — general litigation, administrative law and torts — to concentrate like legal practices together and improve recruiting and efficiency. He said the office currently carries more than 17,000 open matters, employs approximately 211 attorneys and 52 non‑attorney staff, and reported a FY24 budget of about $69 million with the office bringing in nearly $350 million in collections and settlements in that fiscal year.
Skrmetti described the strategic litigation unit — a 10‑attorney team established with legislative support — as central to high‑profile matters. He said the office led litigation that resulted in a federal court vacating a proposed Title IX rule, participated in a case argued before the U.S. Supreme Court (the office’s solicitor general, Matt Rice, argued at the court), and is actively litigating consumer‑protection cases including a suit against Meta about social media’s effects on youth and a series of matters tied to fertility clinic misconduct. He said his consumer advocate unit recently helped secure a $13 million reduction in a proposed utility rate increase in the Chattanooga area.
On settlements and multistate matters, Skrmetti said Tennessee’s share of the Purdue Pharma resolution is a minimum of $90 million and that much of that funding is expected to flow into the state’s opioid abatement trust fund and be administered by the state opioid council. He described a settlement with the asset manager BlackRock that includes enhanced disclosure, auditing and transparency provisions to address concerns about inconsistent ESG representations.
Skrmetti also summarized the office’s work on college athletics and name‑image‑likeness (NIL) issues, saying Tennessee led a multistate enforcement effort that reached an agreement in principle with the NCAA to protect student‑athlete rights and institutional interests; he said details remained subject to public announcement as negotiations finalize.
Committee members praised the office’s responsiveness on constituent matters and asked follow‑up questions on specific cases and on how often the office outsources outside counsel. Skrmetti said the office’s turnover rate has improved and that his team is prepared for anticipated post‑conviction capital litigation workloads assigned to the office under state law.
