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Freeman v. Shannon9/7/2000
This is a negligence suit under the Tennessee Governmental Tort Liability Act. The plaintiff is a prisoner who was injured when another car struck the patrol car in which he was being transported. The plaintiff sued the county sheriff under the Tennessee Governmental Tort Liability Act, asserting that his injuries were caused by the negligence of the sheriff's deputy. The plaintiff later amended his complaint to add the county as a defendant. The trial court granted motions to dismiss filed by both the sheriff and the county. The plaintiff appeals the trial court's dismissal of his suit against the county. We affirm, finding that the amended complaint against the county does not relate back to the date the plaintiff filed suit against the sheriff and therefore is barred by the statute of limitations.
Tenn. R. App. 3; Judgment of the trial court is affirmed
Holly Kirby Lillard, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which W. Frank Crawford, P.J., WS, and Alan E. Highers, J., joined.
OPINION
On July 29, 1997, Plaintiff/Appellant Ronald Freeman, Jr. ("Freeman"), a state prisoner, was being transported from court to prison by Benton County Sheriff's Deputy Dennis Wheatley ("Wheatley")in a Benton County Sheriff's Deputy's car. Wheatley had placed Freeman, handcuffed, in the rear of the patrol car without fastening his seatbelt. On January 28, 1998, Freeman filed a pro se complaint against Bobby Shannon ("Shannon"), the Benton County Sheriff. Freeman alleged that his injuries were due to the negligence of Shannon, or of his agent Wheatley, in failing to fasten Freeman's seat belt when he was placed in the rear of the patrol car.
On August 5, 1998, Shannon filed a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, under Rule 12.02(6) of the Tennessee Rule of Civil Procedure. Shannon argued that, as a county employee, he was immune from suit under Section 29-20-310(b) of the Tennessee Governmental Tort Liability Act, Tennessee Code Annotated Section 29-20-101 et seq. ("TGTLA"), upon which Freeman's negligence suit would necessarily be based. Section 29-20-310(b) of the TGTLA provides that "no claim may be brought against an employee or judgment entered against an employee for damages for which the immunity of the governmental entity is removed by this chapter unless the claim is one for medical malpractice brought against a health care practitioner." Tenn. Code Ann. ยง 29-20-310(b) (Supp. 1998). In addition, Shannon argued that Freeman's complaint failed to state a cause of action against him because it contained no factual allegation regarding Shannon's actions upon which a claim of negligence could be based.
On November 9, 1998, after obtaining counsel, Freeman filed a motion for leave to amend his complaint to add Benton County ("the County") as a defendant. On November 13, 1998, the trial court granted Freeman permission to amend his complaint to add Benton County as a defendant, and gave him fourteen days to file his amended complaint.
On December 2, 1998, the County filed a motion to dismiss the amended complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, pursuant to Rule 12.02(6) of the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure. The County noted that the amended complaint was filed more than one year after Freeman's injury. It argued that Freeman's claim against the County was barred by the one year statute of limitations in Section 29-20-305(b) of the TGTLA. The County maintained that Freeman's amended complaint against the County could not relate back to the date he filed his original complaint against Shannon under Rule 15.03 of the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure because the requirements of Rule 15.03 ha
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