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Stewart v. State12/20/2000
vorable view in support of the petitioner's claim," Brady v. Reed, 186 Tenn. 556, 563, 212 S.W.2d 378, 381 (1948), and such a policy "does not authorize the amendment, alteration or extension of its provisions beyond [the statute's] obvious meaning." Pollard v. Knox County, 886 S.W.2d 759, 760 (Tenn. 1994). Moreover, " here a right of action is dependent upon the provisions of a statute . . . we are not privileged to create such a right under the guise of a liberal interpretation of it." Hamby v. McDaniel, 559 S.W.2d 774, 777 (Tenn. 1977).
Accordingly, when deciding whether a claim is within the proper statutory scope of the Commission's jurisdiction to hear and decide claims against the State of Tennessee, we will give a liberal construction in favor of jurisdiction, but only so long as (1) the particular grant of jurisdiction is ambiguous and admits of several constructions, and (2) the "most favorable view in support of the petitioner's claim" is not clearly contrary to the statutory language used by the General Assembly. Cf. Northland Ins. Co. v. State, __ S.W.3d __, __ (Tenn. 2000) ("The statute's liberal construction mandate allows courts to more broadly and expansively interpret the concepts and provisions within its text."). Furthermore, because issues of statutory construction are questions of law, see Wakefield v. Crawley, 6 S.W.3d 442, 445 (Tenn. 1999); Jordan v. Baptist Three Rivers Hosp., 984 S.W.2d 593, 599 (Tenn. 1999), we review the issues involving the jurisdiction of the Claims Commission de novo without any presumption that the legal determinations of the commissioner were correct. See Northland Ins. Co., __ S.W.3d at __; Ardis Mobile Home Park v. State, 910 S.W.2d 863, 865 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1995).
Liability for Negligent Care, Custody, and Control of Persons
The Court of Appeals held that the Claims Commission properly exercised jurisdiction in this case pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated section 9-8-307(a)(1)(E), which authorizes claims against the state for the " egligent care, custody and control of persons." According to the intermediate court, the evidence supported the commissioner's finding that Trooper Ray was negligent in failing "to take sharper, firmer control" of the county deputies at the arrest scene, and that as such, the trooper's negligence clearly supported jurisdiction under section -307(a)(1)(E). Before this Court, the State argues that a claim of negligent supervision of county deputies by a state trooper cannot fall within this grant of jurisdiction because there is simply no duty on the part of a state trooper to assume control over local police authorities at the scene of an arrest. We agree with the State.
No provision of section 9-8-307(a)(1) specifically defines under what circumstances the state may be held liable for injuries resulting from the " egligent care, custody and control of persons." An examination of the cases dealing with this grant of jurisdiction, though, makes clear that liability may be imposed for injuries to persons confined in penal institutions, residences, or health facilities maintained by the state. See Learue by Learue v. State, 757 S.W.2d 3, 5 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1987). It is also well established that liability may be imposed for injuries to third persons caused by those persons for whom the state has responsibility. See Hembree v. State, 925 S.W.2d 513, 517 (Tenn. 1996); Cox v. State, 844 S.W.2d 173 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1992).
The question in this case, therefore, becomes whether Trooper Ray had a legal duty to exercise reasonable care in the care, custody, and control of county deputies at an arrest scene. The State first argues that unlike other subsections in section -307(a)(1), section -
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