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Stewart v. State12/20/2000
. Finally, the commissioner concluded that the car was not in the custody of Trooper Ray at the time of the plaintiff's accident because Ray had previously released custody and control of the car pursuant to the driver's wishes.
Despite concluding that Trooper Ray had no actual control over the scene and that Ray did not have actual custody of the car at the time of the plaintiff's accident, the commissioner assessed ten percent (10%) fault against the State of Tennessee for the "negligence of Mr. Ray because he could have and ought to have stepped in and taken charge of this situation more strongly than he did." The commissioner also stated that " he only thing more that Mr. Ray could have done that he ought to have done that he failed to have done . . . is to say to a bunch of volunteer deputies in the middle of the night, you all shut up and go sit down . . . ." Although he found liability on the part of the State, the commissioner did not specify the provision(s) of section 9-8- 307(a)(1) under which he was imposing liability. Finally, the commissioner found the plaintiff's damages to be $300,000, and he assessed the remaining fault as follows: seventy percent (70%) to the driver of the pickup truck which struck the plaintiff; twelve percent (12%) to the plaintiff; and eight percent (8%) to the other Lewis County deputies.
On appeal to the Court of Appeals, the State argued that any negligence of a state trooper in failing to supervise county deputies did not fall within any provision of section 9-8-307(a)(1), and that as such, the Claims Commission was without jurisdiction to assess fault against the State. The intermediate court disagreed, holding that the findings of the commissioner fell within the category of "negligent care, custody, and control of persons" under section -307(a)(1)(E) and within the category of "negligent care, custody or control of personal property" under section -307(a)(1)(F). The Court of Appeals also found that the evidence in this case supported the commissioner's findings that Trooper Ray was negligent, that such negligence was the proximate cause of the plaintiff's injuries, and that the evidence did not preponderate against the commissioner's apportionment of fault to the plaintiff.
The State then requested permission to appeal to this Court, which was granted on the following three issues: (1) whether the State can be held liable under Tennessee Code Annotated section 9-8-307(a)(1)(E) for the failure of a state trooper to adequately supervise sheriff's deputies at the scene of the arrest; (2) whether the State can be held liable under Tennessee Code Annotated section 9-8-307(a)(1)(F) for personal injuries suffered by a deputy sheriff arising out of a state trooper's negligent control of personal property (a disabled car); and (3) whether the evidence preponderates against the assessment of twelve percent (12%) fault to the plaintiff. For the reasons given herein, we hold that the Tennessee Claims Commission improperly exercised jurisdiction under either section 9-8-307(a)(1)(E) or section 9-8- 307(a)(1)(F) to award a monetary claim against the State of Tennessee. Because we hold that the Claims Commission was without jurisdiction in this case, we decline to reach the question of whether the evidence preponderates against the commissioner's finding that the plaintiff was twelve percent (12%) at fault for his own injuries. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeals and dismiss the plaintiff's claim against the State of Tennessee.
JURISDICTION OF THE CLAIMS COMMISSION
It is a well-settled principle of constitutional and statutory law in this state that " he State of Tennessee, as a sovereign, is immune fro
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