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Coleman v. State3/17/1999
This appeal involves the jurisdiction of the Tennessee Claims Commission. Plaintiff appeals the dismissal by the Claims Commission of his claim filed under Tennessee Code Annotated section 9-8-307(a)(1)(M) on the basis that the Claims Commission lacks subject matter jurisdiction. For the reasons stated in this opinion, we affirm the decision of the Claims Commission to dismiss this claim.
On October 20, 1992, Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission (ABC) Special Agent, Mark Hutchens, acting on information he received, contacted Bedford County Sheriff Don Edwards. Agent Hutchens sought the assistance of Sheriff Edwards and members of his department in the investigation of a suspected drug transaction believed to be scheduled to take place that evening at the Rattlesnake Lodge in rural Bedford County, Tennessee. Sheriff Edwards agreed to assist and brought with him sheriff's deputies McCullough, Brown and Owens. ABC agents Jim Ray and Jim Richardson accompanied Agent Hutchens.
Agent Hutchens and Sheriff Edwards arrived first at Rattlesnake Lodge in an unmarked car driven by Agent Hutchens. They were followed by other vehicles occupied by the ABC officers and sheriff's deputies. Upon arrival at the lodge, Hutchens and Edwards observed two individuals standing beside a car outside of the lodge. These individuals were later identified as the claimant Steven Ray Coleman and Billy White.
Agent Hutchens and Sheriff Edwards emerged from their vehicle and shouted their identity as police officers. Coleman and White ran from the scene into heavy grass area and toward the nearby river. Agent Hutchens raced in pursuit. He later testified that someone fired shots at him from the area to which Coleman and White had fled. Hutchens returned fire with two shots from his weapon. Neither Coleman nor White were hit by this gunfire and Hutchens did not fire again. White leaped up from the grass and raced to his left disappearing from sight and was not apprehended by any of the officers. Claimant Coleman ran to his right toward the river, jumped in the river and started to swim across to the opposite side. Gunshots were fired at him by persons never identified. One of these gunshots struck him while he was in the water and seriously injured him. He reached the opposite bank of the river and yelled to the officers for help asserting that he had been hit. Officers and paramedics attended him at the scene and he was dispatched first to the Bedford County Hospital and from there transferred to Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
According to claimant Coleman, he had been invited by Billy White to participate in a high stakes dice game at Rattlesnake Lodge. In route to the lodge, his automobile overheated and he stopped at the home of his friend, Ricky Mencer, to borrow an automobile and continue his journey to the lodge. He borrowed the automobile belonging to Mencer's girlfriend, Deborah Cooper, and drove on to the lodge where he and Billy White were awaiting the arrival of a "high fader." When they saw the unmarked car of Hutchens and Edwards arrive, they thought they were going to be robbed and thereupon ran from the scene. Subsequently a search warrant was issued for search of the Deborah Cooper automobile, and a suitcase containing approximately ninety pounds of marijuana was taken from the trunk of the car.
Suit was brought by the claimant in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee against Bedford County and the county personnel involved. The federal suit was resolved before trial.
The State of Tennessee and its employees acting within the scope of their employment are protected by the doctrine of governmental immunity
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