Davidson County’s Metropolitan government is taking one of its own cities to court.

Forest Hills has its own mayor, city manager and commissioners, as well as zoning regulations and ordinances separate from the rest of Metro. This year, the city’s commissioners voted to go a step further, making plans to set up a municipal court to enforce those rules.

But Metro’s Legal Department says Forest Hills doesn’t have the right. A complaint filed in Chancery Court today claims that the governments of so-called “smaller cities” within the county, like Forest Hills, can only perform functions that were already in place 48 years ago, when the Metropolitan government was formed.

In a letter explaining the lawsuit, Metro Legal Director Sue Cain says there had been discussions about having Metro’s General Sessions Court enforce Forest Hills ordinances, but those talks fell apart.