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White v. Revco Discount Drug Centers11/22/2000
s entered the apartment and discovered that Woodfin had locked himself in the bathroom. Woodfin warned the officers that he had a shotgun pointed at the bathroom door and that he would shoot anyone who entered. According to the complaint, one of the other officers then kicked open the bathroom door and fired his weapon, mortally wounding Woodfin in the stomach. The officers then left the apartment and, for the first time, called a police supervisor to tell him what had occurred.
The plaintiffs in this action then filed a wrongful death suit against Boone, Revco, the Knoxville police officers involved, the City of Knoxville, and the Knoxville Community Development Corporation, which leased the apartment to Woodfin. The complaint alleged in relevant part that the officers were negligent in the use of deadly force against Woodfin, because such force was unreasonable and unnecessary to accomplish an arrest on a misdemeanor warrant. The complaint also alleged that the actions of the officers "escalated and aggravated the situation" and that through these actions, the officers became "the aggressors," making any use of deadly force unreasonable.
In the original complaint, the plaintiffs alleged that Boone was acting "as an agent" for Revco during the events giving rise to Woodfin's death and that Revco was therefore liable for Boone's actions under the doctrine of respondeat superior. In their amended complaint, the plaintiffs further alleged that during all times relevant to the action, Boone was working as a private security guard for Revco and that he was acting "under the direction, consent, control, and within the scope of his employment with Revco." More specifically, the amended complaint alleged that Revco directed Boone to call the KPD to check on Woodfin and that Revco directed and consented to Boone going to Woodfin's house "to prevent Woodfin from ever returning to Revco and to punish Woodfin for disregarding Revco's no trespass order." As proof of Revco's control over Boone, the plaintiffs alleged that Revco recalled Boone from Woodfin's apartment to issue a citation to a shoplifter.
Revco moved to dismiss the complaint against itself under Tennessee Rule of Civil Procedure 12.02(6), stating that the plaintiffs failed to allege sufficient facts setting forth a cause of action. The basis for Revco's motion was that because "Boone, as a matter of law, was acting solely within the scope of his duty as a police officer" when the officers sought to arrest Woodfin in his apartment, Boone could not be Revco's employee or agent. The trial court granted Revco's motion to dismiss, and the plaintiffs appealed to the Court of Appeals.
The Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of the complaint by adopting a test that examines the nature of the activities undertaken by the police officer during the events giving rise to the cause of action. The intermediate court then found that Boone's actions in this case reflected "a vindication of a public right," thereby compelling the conclusion that Boone could only have been acting in his official capacity as a Knoxville police officer. Because Boone was not acting within the scope of his private employment with Revco at the time of Woodfin's death, the court declined to find that a cause of action had been stated against Revco under the doctrine of respondeat superior. We respectfully disagree with the judgment of the Court of Appeals, and for the reasons given herein, we hold that the original and amended complaints in this case sufficiently set forth a cause of action upon which relief may be granted. Accordingly, we remand this case to the Knox County Circuit Court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
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