Roberts v. Robertson County Bd. of Educ.

• Decision Date: 11 April 1985
• Docket Number: No. 84-154-II,84-154-II
• Citation: 26 Ed.LawRep. 515,692 S.W.2d 863
• Parties: 26 Ed. Law Rep. 515 Wallace Glenn ROBERTS, Jr., Plaintiff/Appellant, v. ROBERTSON COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION, Jerome Ellis, Superintendent of Schools, Steve Moss, and William Ballard, Defendants/Appellees, v. William Edward YOUNT, Third-Party Defendant.
• Court: Tennessee Court of Appeals

Page 863

692 S.W.2d 863

26 Ed. Law Rep. 515

Wallace Glenn ROBERTS, Jr., Plaintiff/Appellant, v. ROBERTSON COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION, Jerome Ellis,

Superintendent of Schools, Steve Moss, and William

Ballard, Defendants/Appellees, v. William Edward YOUNT, Third-Party Defendant.

No. 84-154-II

Court of Appeals of Tennessee Middle Section, at Nashville.

April 11, 1985.

Permission to Appeal Denied by

Supreme Court June 17, 1985.

Robert A. Anderson, Weeks & Anderson, Nashville, for plaintiff/appellant.

James E. Walton, Walton & Jones, Springfield, for Robertson County Bd. of Educ., defendant/appellee.

Jere Lee, Mac Robinson, Dodson, Harris, Robinson & Aden, Nashville, for Steve Moss and William Ballard, defendants/appellees.

Tracy D. Shaw, Nashville, for William Edward Yount, third party defendant.

OPINION

KOCH, Judge.

Wallace Glenn Roberts, Jr. suffered a serious head injury on December 17, 1976, during a vocational agriculture class at Greenbrier High School when a fellow student, William Edward Yount, asked him for assistance in using a power driven drill press. He filed this action on October 22, 1980, in the Circuit Court for Robertson County pursuant to Tenn.Code Ann. Sec. 29-20-101 et seq. [the "Tennessee Governmental Tort Liability Act"] against the Robertson County Board of Education as well as the county school superintendent, the principal of Greenbrier High School, and his vocational agriculture teacher, Billy Ross Ballard. On April 2, 1981, the defendants filed a third-party complaint in accordance with Tenn.R.Civ.P. 14.01 seeking contribution and indemnity from Yount on the theory that it was his negligence that caused Roberts' injuries. ¹ In accordance with Tenn.Code Ann. Sec. 29-20-307, the trial court heard the proof without a jury on December 8 and 9, 1983. At the conclusion of the proof, the trial court dismissed Roberts' action after determining that Mr. Ballard had not breached the duty of care he owed to his students and that Yount's intervening negligent acts were the proximate cause of Roberts' injuries. Roberts has perfected this appeal and now takes issue with the trial court's refusal to grant a directed verdict in his favor and with the trial court's determination that the defendants did not breach their legally imposed duty of care.

The trial court heard this case without a jury. Thus, our review is governed by Tenn.R.App.P. 13(d) which directs us to review the record de novo according the trial court's findings of fact a presumption of correctness. Accordingly, we will affirm the trial court's decision unless an error of law affecting the result has been committed or unless the evidence preponderates against the trial court's findings of fact. Willis v. Smith, 683 S.W.2d 682, 687-88 (Tenn.App.1984); Haverlah v. Memphis Aviation, Inc., 674 S.W.2d 297, 300 (Tenn.App.1984); and Summit Hill Associates v. Knoxville Utilities Board, 667 S.W.2d 91, 96 (Tenn.App.1983). In conducting our review of the trial court's decision, we are also mindful that the trial court's findings based upon its own determination of the credibility of the witnesses and upon disputed evidence should be given great weight by this Court and should not be disregarded unless there is clear, concrete, and convincing evidence to the contrary. APCO Amusement Co. v. Wilkins Family Restaurants of America, Inc., 673 S.W.2d 523, 529 (Tenn.App.1984), and W.F. Holt Co. v. A & E Electric Co., 665 S.W.2d 722, 733 (Tenn.App.1983).

Determinations concerning negligence, contributory negligence, proximate cause, and foreseeability present unique problems when they are made by a trial judge sitting without a jury. Usually, these determinations are within the exclusive domain of the jury. City of Elizabethton v. Sluder, 534 S.W.2d 115, 117 (Tenn.1976), and Frady v. Smith, 519 S.W.2d 584, 586 (Tenn.1974). However, they involve not only factual matters but also mixed considerations of logic, common sense, public policy, and precedent. Wyatt v. Winnebago Industries, Inc., 566 S.W.2d 276, 280 (Tenn.App.1977), and Mullins v. Seaboard Coastline Railway Co., 517 S.W.2d 198, 201 (Tenn.App.1974).

While we have determined that the evidence does not preponderate against the trial court's findings of fact with regard to the occurrences that gave rise to this action, we do not concur with its determination that Mr. Ballard had fulfilled his duty of care owed to his students or that the county board of education should be relieved from liability because of Yount's intervening actions. Therefore, we reverse the judgment of the trial court.

I. The Facts

Wallace Glenn Roberts, Jr. was a fourteen year old freshman at the Greenbrier High School in 1976. He elected to enroll in the school's Vocational Agriculture I class that was taught by Billy Ross Ballard. Mr. Ballard had taught this class at Greenbrier High School since 1960. There were twenty-three students enrolled in this class when it began in the middle of August, 1976. The class met one hour each day during the school week.

According to the rules of the State Board of Education, Vocational Agriculture I is one of two basic courses which students must take in the ninth grade in order to be eligible to enroll in more specialized areas. ² It is intended to acquaint the students with basic farm techniques. In the words of Mr. Ballard, it was intended to train students in

any general area of shop dealing with anything that he is going to come in contact with the rest of his life I guess you would say around the home, around the farm, around the shop.

This course was taught in a separate modular building in back of the old Greenbrier High School. This building contained a classroom outfitted with tables and chairs, a tool room, two restrooms, Mr. Ballard's office, and an L-shaped shop area. There were a number of entrances to the shop area from the interior rooms and one primary outside entrance separated from the shop area by a hallway running between the tool room, the classroom, and the two restrooms.

Mr. Ballard testified that he taught this course in 1976 in much the same way he had taught it in past years. He did not rely upon a written lesson plan but generally relied upon his memory and his "philosophy on learning the students." ³ In this regard, Mr. Ballard testified that

I just go historically day to day. After so many years, it just sort of falls in. And there are some old lesson books there, maybe ten, twelve years old. Every once in a while you will thumb through and pick up where you left off.

Mr. Ballard also described the normal progression of subjects in his class. He began with a discussion about the activities of the Future Farmers of America. Then he turned to beef production, then to shop, and finally to various types of crops. During the shop portion of the class, Mr. Ballard stated that he first taught the use of oxyacetylene and the arc welder, then the band saw, then the wood lathe, and then the drill press.

Mr. Ballard did not believe that the drill press was a very difficult piece of equipment to use, although he did state that some of its uses were more "delicate" than others. He demonstrated the use of this machine to his students by showing how it could be used to drill holes in metal and then how it could be fitted with a router bit for use in drawing letters and words in wood.

Mr. Ballard also testified that he taught "safety" in each one of his classes, although the record is not clear concerning the exact nature of the instruction Roberts' class received. This instruction took several forms including handouts, films, signs posted in the shop, and shop demonstrations on each piece of equipment. It also appears to have involved general safety rules as well as specific operational rules with regard to each piece of equipment.

While Mr. Ballard could not remember whether he passed out a written sheet of his safety rules to his Vocational Agriculture I class in 1976, he stated that these rules were a matter of general knowledge among his students. Mr. Ballard's three main general safety rules were: (1) that the machinery could not be operated when he was not in the shop; ⁴ (2) that "horseplay and horsepower don't mix"; and (3) that students should not talk to or distract persons who were working with the machinery. He also stated that there were other general rules with regard to the use of protective eye wear and disconnecting a piece of equipment while it was being adjusted. Students were also told not to try to do anything on a piece of equipment that they had not done before without asking Mr. Ballard first or without his direct supervision.

Mr. Ballard also testified that in addition to these general safety rules, there were a number of specific safety rules with regard to the operation of the drill press that he reviewed with his students when he demonstrated the use of each piece of equipment. A number of these operational rules were also included in a sign posted on the wall near the drill press which contained a list of eight safety precautions. ⁵

Mr. Ballard and his students also testified that certain students were given more latitude to work with machinery than others. Mr. Ballard stated that this was based on each student's ability and responsibility demonstrated in the way that he used each piece of equipment. While these students were not exempted completely from complying with Mr. Ballard's safety rules, they had more latitude to use the machinery without Mr. Ballard's direct supervision. While Mr. Ballard was generally complimentary of Yount's work, the record is not clear concerning whether Yount was considered one of these better students.

The class in which Roberts and Yount were students received its group instruction in the use of the drill press in late October or early November, 1976. This instruction included a demonstration wherein Mr. Ballard showed students how to drill holes in metal and how to carve letters in wood...