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Stewart v. State12/20/2000
In this case, we determine whether the Tennessee Claims Commission properly asserted jurisdiction pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated sections 9-8-307(a)(1)(E) and -307(a)(1)(F) for the alleged negligence of a state highway patrol officer in failing to properly control county police authorities at an arrest scene. The Court of Appeals affirmed the Commission's exercise of jurisdiction, and the State requested permission to appeal on the issue of whether the Claims Commission properly asserted jurisdiction and whether the plaintiff, who stepped into the road before being hit by the truck, was fifty percent (50%) or more at fault for his accident. We hold that the Claims Commission lacked jurisdiction in this case under either section 9-8-307(a)(1)(E) or section 9-8-307(a)(1)(F), and because the Claims Commission possessed no jurisdiction to hear the plaintiff's claims, we decline to reach the issue of whether the plaintiff was more than fifty percent (50%) at fault for his accident. Accordingly, the judgment of the Court of Appeals finding proper jurisdiction is reversed, and the plaintiff's claim against the State is dismissed.
Tenn. R. App. P. 11 Application for Permission to Appeal; Judgment of the Court of Appeals Reversed; Claim Dismissed
William M. Barker, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which E. Riley Anderson, C.J., and Frank F. Drowota, III, Adolpho A. Birch, Jr., and Janice M. Holder, JJ., joined.
OPINION
Shortly before midnight on September 20, 1991, Tennessee Highway Patrol Officer Billy Ray was on duty in Hohenwald, Tennessee, when he received a radio dispatch from the Lewis County Sheriff's Department notifying him that a blue 1974 Chevy Nova was speeding on Highway 99. Trooper Ray set up a radar station, and within minutes, he saw the car speed by at about 80 miles per hour. Ray activated his emergency lights and siren, and he stopped the car on an incline heading west away from Hohenwald. Trooper Ray parked his patrol car behind the Nova.
After arresting the driver of the Nova for speeding and driving on a revoked license, Ray placed him in the back seat of his cruiser. In the meantime, two deputies and three reserve deputies from the Lewis County Sheriff's Department arrived in two patrol cars and parked behind Ray's vehicle on the right shoulder of the highway. Although Trooper Ray had not summoned the other county deputies or otherwise requested their assistance, the deputies stated that they were responding to the same dispatch that was received by Ray.
After the driver of the Nova was arrested, he requested that Ray release the Nova into the custody of the passenger in the car. Trooper Ray complied with the driver's request after confirming that the passenger had a valid driver's license and was otherwise competent to drive. As Ray was in the process of releasing the Nova into the custody of the passenger, the Nova slipped out of gear and began to roll backwards down the incline toward Ray's cruiser. A Lewis County deputy leaped into the car and applied the brake, thereby preventing a collision with Ray's patrol car.
The passenger then asked the Lewis County deputy, who was still in the car, to steer the Nova to the opposite shoulder of the highway so that she could drive the car to its owner in Hohenwald. In the process of turning the Nova around, the Nova stalled in the middle of the highway and would not restart. Three of the county deputies, including the plaintiff, reserve deputy Larry Stewart, then pushed the stalled car to the other shoulder. After the deputies tried unsuccessfully to restart the car, Trooper Ray permitted the former driver of the car to attempt to start the car, but h
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