Mason v. Metropolitan Gov. Of Nashville

• Decision Date: 30 September 2005
• Citation: 189 S.W.3d 217
• Parties: Roketa MASON, A Minor by Yolanda MASON, as Next Friend and Natural Mother, and Yolanda Mason, Individually v. METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT OF NASHVILLE AND DAVIDSON COUNTY, Tennessee.
• Court: Tennessee Court of Appeals

Page 217

189 S.W.3d 217

Roketa MASON, A Minor by Yolanda MASON, as Next Friend and Natural Mother, and Yolanda Mason, Individually v. METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT OF NASHVILLE AND DAVIDSON COUNTY, Tennessee.

Court of Appeals of Tennessee, Middle Section, at Nashville.

January 6, 2005 Session.

September 30, 2005.

Permission to Appeal Denied by Supreme Court March 27, 2006.

John L. Kennedy and Lora Barkenbus Fox, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee.

Joseph P. Bednarz, Sr., and Joseph P. Bednarz, Jr., Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellees, Roketa Mason and Yolanda Mason.

OPINION

FRANK G. CLEMENT, JR., J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which WILLIAM C. KOCH, JR., P.J., M.S., and WILLIAM B. CAIN, J., joined.

Plaintiff, a tenth grade high school student, was attacked while riding the school bus. She was seriously injured by another student using a razor provided by the school as part of the cosmetology curriculum. Plaintiff filed this action against the school system alleging negligence for failure to properly supervise students using dangerous instructional instruments and for violation of the school's zero tolerance policy by permitting students to take razors to and from school, thereby permitting the attacker to have the razor on the school bus where the attack occurred. Following a bench trial, plaintiff was awarded a judgment of $80,000 from which defendant appeals. Finding the school system is not liable for the injuries suffered by the plaintiff, we vacate the judgment and remand with instructions to enter an order dismissing the action.

Roketa Mason (Plaintiff) suffered severe cuts to the face during a fight with another student, Brittany Moore (Moore), while riding the school bus home at the end of the school day at Whites Creek High School.¹ The assault occurred on January 25, 2002. Both girls were tenth grade students, but did not know each other prior to the day of the assault.² While neither Plaintiff nor Moore were exemplary students, neither had a history of assault or violent behavior prior to the event at issue.

At the end of the school day, Moore and Plaintiff separately entered the school bus to go home. Plaintiff was already seated when Moore entered the bus. An argument began while Plaintiff was sitting by one window and Moore sitting by another window. Both students had someone sitting next to them on the bus. The two argued briefly, then Moore reached over the students sitting between them and grabbed Plaintiff with Plaintiff hitting Moore in response. Moore proceeded to pull a razor blade from her pocket and, using it as a weapon, cut Plaintiff. Plaintiff was taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center Emergency Room by ambulance where she underwent surgery receiving over one hundred stitches. A permanent scar from the laceration remains.

The razor Moore used to assault Plaintiff was one of many instruments in the cosmetology kit provided by the cosmetology school teacher at Whites Creek High School to cosmetology students. The cosmetology kit — which included razor blades (Shaper Blades), scissors (Ice Tempered Shear), cuticle pusher, among other instruments — was an integral part of the cosmetology curriculum at the school. The cosmetology students were permitted to carry the cosmetology kits to and from school to do homework. Prior to permitting the students to take the kits to and from school, the cosmetology teacher provided safety instructions on the various cosmetology instruments in the kit and tested their knowledge of the safety instructions. The teacher specifically explained that if a student used the cosmetology instruments, the razor in particular, other than as instructed in class, the student would be subject to the school's "zero tolerance" policy which expressly prohibited students from possessing razors and other objects used for the purpose of going armed.³ One of the specific mandates the teacher imposed upon the cosmetology students was to keep the safety shield on the razors and the razors in the cosmetology kit while transporting the kit. As the teacher explained, she told them:

Remember, zero tolerance don't [sic] exempt you because you have the implements in your kit — or you have them out. You must have them in your kit. If they are caught out, then you are now maybe [sic] suspended for having it out of the kit. It must stay in the kit at all times unless for instructional purposes in the class.

Only after the teacher instructed and tested the students on the safe and proper use and care of the cosmetology kit did the teacher permit the students to take their cosmetology kits from the classroom.

Plaintiff sued the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee (Defendant) based on Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-20-205, the Governmental Tort Liability Act, alleging liability based on the negligent acts and omissions of an employee, the cosmetology school teacher at Whites Creek High School. Following a bench trial, the trial court found Defendant liable because, as it stated, "the actions of [the teacher], in allowing students to carry straight razors home with them on the bus, was an operational act of negligence and contrary to the school's Zero Tolerance Policy" and awarded Plaintiff damages in the amount of $80,000. Defendant appeals contending the attack was not foreseeable.⁴

STANDARD OF REVIEW

The trial court heard this case without a jury. The standard of review of a trial court's findings of fact is de novo and we presume that the findings of fact are correct unless the preponderance of the evidence is otherwise. Tenn. R.App. P. 13(d); Rawlings v. John Hancock Mut. Life Ins. Co., 78 S.W.3d 291, 296 (Tenn.Ct. App.2001). For the evidence to preponderate against a trial court's finding of fact, it must support another finding of fact with greater convincing effect. Walker v. Sidney Gilreath & Assocs., 40 S.W.3d 66, 71 (Tenn.Ct.App.2000); The Realty Shop, Inc. v. R.R. Westminster Holding, Inc., 7 S.W.3d 581, 596 (Tenn.Ct.App. 1999). Where the trial court does not make findings of fact, there is no presumption of correctness and we "must conduct our own independent review of the record to determine where the preponderance of the evidence lies." Brooks v. Brooks, 992 S.W.2d 403, 405 (Tenn.1999). We also give great weight to a trial court's determinations of credibility of witnesses. Estate of Walton, 950 S.W.2d 956, 959 (Tenn.1997); B & G Constr., Inc. v. Polk, 37 S.W.3d 462, 465 (Tenn.Ct.App.2000). Issues of law are reviewed de novo with no presumption of correctness. Nelson v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 8 S.W.3d 625, 628 (Tenn.1999).

ANALYSIS

Defendant contends the trial court erred by finding it negligent because Moore's attack on Plaintiff was not foreseeable. The trial court found Defendant liable, reasoning the event was foreseeable "in this day and time" because "the students and atmosphere have changed." We have determined the trial court applied an erroneous "foreseeability" standard that produced an erroneous conclusion of liability.

Society places a significant responsibility upon school officials to provide a safe environment for our children, the students. However, such a responsibility does not make our school officials insurers of the safety of its students. To the contrary, teachers and school districts are not expected to be insurers of the safety of students. King by King v. Kartanson, 720 S.W.2d 65, 68 (Tenn.Ct.App.1986); Roberts v. Robertson County Board of Education, 692 S.W.2d 863, 872 (Tenn.Ct.App.1985); Cadorette v. Sumner County Board of Education, No.01A01-9510-CV-00441, 1996 WL 187586, at *2 (Tenn.Ct.App. April 19, 1996). Moreover, Tennessee does not impose upon teachers the duty to anticipate or foresee the hundreds of unexpected student acts that occur in our public schools. Roberts, 692 S.W.2d at 872. This is particularly true when injury results from conduct that constitutes a radical departure from reasonable conduct. See Doe v. Linder, 845 S.W.2d 173, 179 (Tenn.1992); Roe v. Catholic Diocese, 950 S.W.2d 27, 31-32 (Tenn.Ct.App.1996).

A claim of negligence requires proof of the following elements: (1) a duty of care owed by the defendant to the plaintiff; (2) conduct below the applicable standard of care that amounts to a breach of that duty; (3) an injury or loss; (4) cause in fact; and (5) proximate, or legal, cause. McCall v. Wilder, 913 S.W.2d 150, 153 (Tenn.1995) (citing Kilpatrick v. Bryant, 868 S.W.2d 594, 598 (Tenn.1993); Bradshaw v. Daniel, 854 S.W.2d 865, 869 (Tenn. 1993); McClenahan v. Cooley, 806 S.W.2d 767, 774 (Tenn.1991)). Duty is the legal obligation owed by the defendant to the plaintiff to conform to a reasonable person standard of care for protection against unreasonable risks of harm. McCall, 913 S.W.2d at 153 (citing Pittman v. Upjohn Co., 890 S.W.2d 425, 428 (Tenn.1994); Nichols v. Atnip, 844 S.W.2d 655, 661 (Tenn.Ct.App.1992), W. KEETON, PROSSER AND KEETON ON THE LAW OF TORTS, § 53 (5th ed.1984)).

If it is determined that a plaintiff's injury would not have occurred but for the defendant's breach of a duty, the question then is whether the defendant's breach was a proximate cause of the plaintiff's injury, which, as our Supreme Court noted in Hale v. Ostrow, is different from a cause in fact of the injury. 166 S.W.3d 713, 718-719 (Tenn.2005).

Proximate cause puts a limit on the causal chain, such that, even though the plaintiff's injury would not have happened but for the defendants' breach, defendants will not be held liable for injuries that were not substantially caused by their conduct or were not reasonably foreseeable results of their conduct. Haynes, 883 S.W.2d at 612. "Thus, proximate cause, or legal cause, concerns a determination of whether legal liability should be imposed where cause in fact has been established." Kilpatrick, 868 S.W.2d at 598.

Hale, 166 S.W.3d at 719. While a defendant...