Hayes v. Gibson County

• Decision Date: 02 July 2009
• Docket Number: No. W2007-01849-SC-R11-CV.,W2007-01849-SC-R11-CV.
• Citation: 288 S.W.3d 334
• Parties: Lee HAYES v. GIBSON COUNTY, Tennessee.
• Court: Tennessee Supreme Court

288 S.W.3d 334

Lee HAYES v. GIBSON COUNTY, Tennessee.

No. W2007-01849-SC-R11-CV.

Supreme Court of Tennessee, at Jackson.

April 8, 2009 Session.

July 2, 2009.

J. Mark Johnson, Trenton, Tennessee, for the appellant, Lee Hayes.

Floyd S. Flippin and Terri Smith Crider, Humboldt, Tennessee, for the appellee, Gibson County, Tennessee.

OPINION

SHARON G. LEE, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which JANICE M. HOLDER, C.J., GARY R. WADE, and WILLIAM C. KOCH, JR., JJ., joined. CORNELIA A. CLARK, J., not participating.

The issue presented in this declaratory judgment action brought by Lee Hayes, the Gibson County juvenile court clerk, is whether he should be compensated pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated section 8-24-102, as amended in 2001, which sets the Gibson County juvenile court clerk's salary at a minimum of $50,805 per year, or pursuant to a 2000 private act that sets the salary at $32,000 per year. Gibson County argues, and the Court of Appeals agreed, that the private act of 2000 creating the office of Gibson County Juvenile Court Clerk and establishing his salary at $32,000 per year, controls. Mr. Hayes argues that the General Assembly's 2001 amendment to Tennessee Code Annotated section 8-24-102, establishing statewide salaries for county officers, including juvenile court clerks, supersedes the 2000 private act and that his annual salary should be $50,805 in accordance with Tennessee Code Annotated section 8-24-102, as amended. We hold that there is an irreconcilable conflict between the 2000 private act and the 2001 public act, and that the 2001 public act, a general statutory scheme of statewide application, supersedes and repeals by implication the earlier private act. Accordingly, the judgment of the Court of Appeals is reversed and the case remanded to the trial court.

Background

In 1982, the General Assembly enacted Chapter 307 of the Private Acts of 1982, which created the Gibson County Juvenile Court and provided that the county clerk would also serve as the juvenile court clerk. 1982 Tenn. Priv. Acts 230, 230-31. In 2000, the legislature amended the 1982 private act with the passage of Chapter 142 of the Private Acts of 2000, which created the separate office of Gibson County Juvenile Court Clerk and established a salary of $32,000 per year along with "any annual raises given to county employees by the Gibson County Commission." 2000 Tenn. Priv. Acts 459, 459-60.

At the time the General Assembly enacted the 2000 amendment to the 1982 private act, Tennessee Code Annotated section 8-24-102 provided that "[f]or the purposes of determining the compensation to be received by the various county officers, `general officers' includes ... juvenile court clerks" and mandated that "county officers shall receive compensation per year" according to a chart based on county population. Tenn.Code Ann. § 8-24-102(a), (b) (1993 & Supp.1999). The General Assembly in 2001, after passage of Chapter 142 of the Private Acts of 2000, amended Tennessee Code Annotated section 8-24-102 to increase the salary scale for county officers, among other things. The 2001 public act, Chapter 405 of the Public Acts of 2001, mandates that "general officers shall receive minimum compensation" according to a scaled chart based on county population according to the 2000 federal census. 2001 Tenn. Pub. Acts 962. Gibson County's population according to the 2000 census was 48,152. Under Tennessee Code Annotated section 8-24-102 as amended effective July 1, 2001, county officers serving counties with a population of 35,000 to 49,999 (such as Gibson County) were entitled to a minimum salary of $50,805. Tenn.Code Ann. § 8-24-102(b) (2002 & Supp.2008).

Mr. Hayes was elected Gibson County Juvenile Court Clerk in 2002 and reelected in 2006. Since 2002, Gibson County has paid Mr. Hayes a base annual salary of $32,000 according to the provisions of the 2000 private act. After Mr. Hayes became aware of the discrepancy between the salaries established for his office by the 2000 private act and the 2001 public act, he informed the Gibson County attorney and the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts ("AOC") of the discrepancy.

Thereafter, the chief legal consultant for the University of Tennessee County Technical Assistance Service advised the Gibson County attorney that he believed the 2000 private act was "in constitutional conflict" with the 2001 general statute and that the juvenile court clerk should have been paid according to the 2001 general statute beginning July 1, 2001. Further, in January of 2005, the Attorney General issued an opinion in response to a request from the AOC, opining that starting July 1, 2001, the juvenile court clerk should be paid under section 8-24-102 as amended by the 2001 public act and stating, "we think a court would conclude that the 2001 amendment repealed the 2000 private act by implication." Op. Tenn. Att'y Gen. 05-007 (2005), 2005 WL 273520, at *2.

Mr. Hayes initiated the present action by filing a declaratory judgment action and petition for writ of mandamus against Gibson County. Mr. Hayes asserted that the 2001 amended general statute supersedes the 2000 private act, and that he should therefore be paid in accordance with Tennessee Code Annotated section 8-24-102 as amended. Following a hearing, the trial court agreed with Mr. Hayes and awarded him $95,773.83 in back pay,¹ prejudgment interest, and attorney's fees in the amount of $9,075. The Court of Appeals reversed, holding that there was not an inescapable conflict between the 2000 private act and the 2001 public act, and that "the 2001 amendments did not change the character or purpose of the statutory section [of Tennessee Code Annotated section 8-24-102], which clearly provides the general minimum compensation levels for county officials." Hayes v. Gibson County, No. W2007-01849-COA-R3-CV, 2008 WL 1891444, at *3 (Tenn.Ct.App. Apr.29, 2008).

Analysis

The issue we address in this appeal is whether the Gibson County Juvenile Court Clerk should be paid under the provisions of the 2000 private act or the statewide salary statute enacted at Tennessee Code Annotated section 8-24-102 as amended in 2001.²

The issue presented requires statutory construction. Issues of statutory construction are reviewed de novo with no presumption of correctness attaching to the rulings of the court below. Carter v. Bell, 279 S.W.3d 560, 564 (Tenn.2009). The primary rule governing our construction of any statute is to ascertain and give effect to the legislature's intent. Walker v. Sunrise Pontiac-GMC Truck, Inc., 249 S.W.3d 301, 309 (Tenn.2008). To that end, we begin by examining the language of the statute. Curtis v. G.E. Capital Modular Space, 155 S.W.3d 877, 881 (Tenn. 2005). In our examination of statutory language, we must presume that the legislature intended that each word be given full effect. Lanier v. Rains, 229 S.W.3d 656, 661 (Tenn.2007). When the language of a statute is ambiguous in that it is subject to varied interpretations producing contrary results, Walker, 249 S.W.3d at 309, we construe the statute's meaning by examining "the broader statutory scheme, the history of the legislation, or other sources." State v. Sherman, 266 S.W.3d 395, 401 (Tenn.2008). However, when the import of a statute is unambiguous, we discern legislative intent "from the natural and ordinary meaning of the statutory language within the context of the entire statute without any forced or subtle construction that would extend or limit the statute's meaning." State v. Flemming, 19 S.W.3d 195, 197 (Tenn.2000); see also In re Adoption of A.M.H., 215 S.W.3d 793, 808 (Tenn.2007) (holding that "where the statutory language is not ambiguous ... the plain and ordinary meaning of the statute must be given effect"). We presume that the General Assembly is aware of its prior enactments and of decisions of the courts when enacting legislation. Carter, 279 S.W.3d at 564.

As noted, Mr. Hayes argues that the General Assembly's 2001 amendment to Tennessee Code Annotated section 8-24-102, establishing statewide salaries for county officers, including juvenile court clerks, supersedes the 2000 private act, which Mr. Hayes argues should be held to have been repealed by implication. The general rule is that when "two acts conflict and cannot be reconciled, the prior act will be repealed or amended by implication to the extent of the inconsistency between the two." Cronin v. Howe, 906 S.W.2d 910, 912 (Tenn.1995); State ex rel. Strader v. Word, 508 S.W.2d 539, 547 (Tenn.1974) (stating that "private acts are held to have been superseded as far as is necessary to give effect to a general statutory plan of statewide applicability"); Southern Constr. Co. v. Halliburton, 149 Tenn. 319, 258 S.W. 409, 412 (Tenn.1924) (stating that "[a]lthough a later act may not cover the entire subject-matter of an earlier act, nor purport to provide a new system, if the later act is repugnant and irreconcilable on a particular point, it will operate as a repeal by implication to the extent of the repugnance and conflict").

Repeals by implication, however, are disfavored in Tennessee, and therefore "will be recognized only when no fair and reasonable construction will permit the statutes to stand together." Cronin, 906 S.W.2d at 912. Consequently, a court will hold a later statute to have repealed an earlier statute by implication only when the conflict between the statutes is irreconcilable. Id.; see also English v. Farrar, 206 Tenn. 188, 332 S.W.2d 215, 220 (1960) ("While ... repeal by implication is not favored, our many cases so announcing all agree that a later statute will operate as a repeal of an earlier statute, if the repugnance and conflict between them is such that they cannot stand together.") (quoting Hart v. Pierce, 169 Tenn. 411, 88 S.W.2d 798, 800 (1935)); Knox County Educ. Ass'n v. Knox County Bd. of Educ., 60 S.W.3d 65, 74 (Tenn.Ct.App.2001) (stating "[a] repeal by...