 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Stewart v. State12/20/2000
d 891, 894 (Tenn. 1996). Plainly stated, Trooper Ray was in no better position than any of the other deputies, including the plaintiff, to prevent the plaintiff's harm. All of the Lewis County deputies were trained in law-enforcement practices, and the plaintiff himself, who had over a year's experience with the Sheriff's Department before his accident, admitted to receiving forty hours of such training. Moreover, Ray enjoyed no special relationship with the Lewis County deputies that would result in the law imposing a duty upon Ray to control the actions of the deputies. Given these circumstances, we decline to find that "society's contemporary policies and social requirements" mandate imposing upon Trooper Ray a common-law duty to control the conduct of local police authorities at an arrest scene.
To say that Trooper Ray was under no general legal duty to assert control over the county officers in this case, however, is not to say that Trooper Ray was incapable of assuming such a duty. Because any "determination of the state's liability in tort shall be based on traditional tort concepts of duty," Tenn. Code Ann. ยง 9-8-307(c), the Claims Commission may properly exercise jurisdiction in cases in which a state highway patrol officer has assumed a duty to control local law- enforcement officials and is negligent in the discharge of that assumed duty. Cf. Marr v. Montgomery Elevator Co., 922 S.W.2d 526, 529 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1995) ("One who assumes to act, even though gratuitously, may thereby become subject to the duty of acting carefully."). As is the case generally with questions of whether a duty has been imposed by law, the question of whether one has assumed a duty to act is also a question of law. See, e.g., Castro v. Brown's Chicken & Pasta, Inc., 732 N.E.2d 37, 42 (Ill. App. Ct. 2000) ("Whether a defendant has voluntarily undertaken a legal duty to a plaintiff seeking to bring a negligence action is a question of law . . . .").
From our examination of the undisputed facts in the record, we find that as a matter of law, Trooper Ray did not assume any such duty to control the Lewis County police deputies. First, Trooper Ray did not summon the Lewis County deputies to the arrest scene or otherwise request any assistance from the Lewis County Sheriff's Department. In fact, by the time most of the deputies arrived, the driver of the Nova had already been arrested and placed in the back of Ray's police cruiser. In addition, it was undisputed that Trooper Ray did not order, instruct, or request that the deputies perform any specific duties, nor did he attempt to prevent the deputies from performing their own tasks during this time. Although the plaintiff argues that all of the witnesses agreed that Trooper Ray was "in control" of the arrest scene as Ray was the first officer on the scene, the actions of the deputies do not confirm this belief. For example, the deputies neither sought Ray's instruction nor his permission to undertake various tasks, such as moving the Nova to the other side of the road, establishing roadblocks and directing traffic around the accident scene, or requesting further assistance after the accident from the Hohenwald Police Department. Accordingly, because we conclude as a matter of law that Trooper Ray neither possessed nor assumed a legal duty to control local police authorities at the arrest scene, we hold that the Court of Appeals erred in finding that the Claims Commission had jurisdiction over the plaintiff's claim pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated section 9-8-307(a)(1)(E).
Liability for Negligent Care, Custody, or Control of Personal Property
As an alternative basis for jurisdiction, the Court of Appeals also found that the Claims
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Tennessee Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|