A U.S. District Court judge has issued a temporary restraining order preventing Tennessee officials from enforcing a new state law that forces online auctioneers to get a state license. U.S. District Court Judge Eli Richardson (pictured above) of the Middle District of Tennessee issued his ruling late last week. The temporary restraining order expires July 11 at noon. An injunction hearing on the matter is scheduled for July 10 at 9 a.m., according to a copy of Richardson’s injunction. “Considering the lack of evidence on the current record that extended-time online auctions are harming Tennessee consumers, the Court finds that the balance of relative harms among the parties weighs in favor of Plaintiffs and against Defendants at this time,” Richardson wrote. “Finally, the Court finds that the public interest will not be harmed by injunctive relief pending a preliminary injunction hearing, that will be set in short order.” Will McLemore, one of the plaintiffs in the case, told The Tennessee Star Monday he runs an online auction company out of Nashville. “This law would have caused me to have to alter my business model and affect auction managers that work with me and my firm,” McLemore said. “One of…
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