Shell v. State

• Citation: 893 S.W.2d 416
• Parties: Paul SHELL, Betty Stimpson and Jeff Stimpson, Claimants-Appellants, v. STATE of Tennessee, Respondent-Appellee.
• Decision Date: 17 January 1995
• Court: Supreme Court of Tennessee

Page 416

893 S.W.2d 416

Paul SHELL, Betty Stimpson and Jeff Stimpson, Claimants-Appellants, v. STATE of Tennessee, Respondent-Appellee.

Supreme Court of Tennessee,

at Jackson.

Jan. 17, 1995.

Rehearing Denied Feb. 21, 1995.

Hal Gerber and Ronald D. Krelstein, Memphis, for Paul Shell.

Michael W. Whitaker, Covington, for Jeff Stimpson.

Langdon S. Unger, Jr., Martin, for Betty Stimpson.

Charles W. Burson, Atty. Gen. & Reporter, Michael E. Moore, Sol. Gen., Michael W. Catalano, Associate Sol. Gen., Nashville, for respondent-appellee.

OPINION

DROWOTA, Justice.

Paul Shell, Betty Stimpson and Jeff Stimpson appeal from the Court of Appeals' affirmance of the dismissal by the Tennessee Claims Commission of their action against the State of Tennessee for negligent deprivation of a constitutional right. The appellants' lawsuit is based on alleged prosecutorial misconduct in the investigation of reports of child sexual abuse in a day care center; this investigation ultimately led to the indictment and prosecution of the appellants for multiple sexual offenses. This appeal presents two issues for our review: (1) whether the appellants' action, which was filed in October 1989, was viable at that time in light of the legislature's repeal in May 1989 of the language in Tenn.Code Ann. § 9-8-307(a)(1)(N) authorizing suits against the State for the negligent deprivation of constitutional rights; and (2) assuming that a cause of action for the negligent deprivation of constitutional rights did exist at the time this action was filed, whether the statutory period of limitations on the action had expired when the appellants filed their action in October 1989.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

During the early 1980's, these appellants were involved in various capacities with the Georgian Hills Early Childhood Center, a day care facility operated by the Georgian Hills Baptist Church. Paul Shell was the minister of the church; Betty Stimpson was the director of the day care center; and Jeff Stimpson, Betty's son, was employed by the day care center on a part-time basis. In early 1984, reports of child sexual abuse by certain Georgian Hills employees began to surface. The Shelby County District Attorney's office, under the guidance of Assistant District Attorney Phyllis Gardner, launched an extensive investigation concerning these reports. This investigation, which was carried out by a "task force" consisting of employees of the city, county, and state governments, led to the arrest of a Georgian Hills employee, Frances Ballard, in June 1984. Ballard was later indicted on multiple counts of aggravated rape and aggravated sexual battery involving 19 different children. See State v. Ballard, 855 S.W.2d 557, 559 (Tenn.1993). The day care center ceased its operations in September 1984.

In December 1984, the Shelby County Grand Jury issued subpoenas to Shell and Betty Stimpson, directing them to turn over the names and addresses of all the children who had attended Georgian Hills for the relevant time period. Shell and Stimpson complied with the subpoenas. In their complaints, Shell and Betty Stimpson state that they were not warned by the district attorney that they were suspects in the investigation at that time.

After being apprised of the results of the district attorney's investigation, the grand jury charged Shell, Betty Stimpson, and Jeff Stimpson in May 1985 with several sexual abuse offenses. The ensuing criminal prosecutions of Shell and the Stimpsons continued for a period of over three years. During this period, Betty and Jeff Stimpson were tried on various counts in their indictments; their trials, however, failed to produce any convictions. After Jeff Stimpson was acquitted on four counts of aggravated rape in October 1988, the district attorney dismissed all the remaining charges against the appellants on October 28, 1988.

On October 17, 1989, Betty and Jeff Stimpson filed a complaint with the division of claims administration pursuant to Tenn.Code Ann. § 9-8-307(a)(1)(D) and (N), alleging that Gardner had committed professional malpractice and had deprived them of their constitutional rights to due process of law because of her negligence in handling the investigation and prosecution of their cases. Specifically, the Stimpsons alleged that Gardner had committed prosecutorial misconduct by: (1) disseminating the names of alleged victims to private attorneys, thereby causing the Stimpsons and the day care center to be bombarded with civil lawsuits; (2) using improper interviewing techniques to pressure children into reporting that they had been molested; (3) withholding exculpatory evidence from the grand jury; and (4) ordering the members of the task force to destroy tapes of the initial interviews of the children so that the tapes would be unavailable for inspection by the defense counsel. Shell filed a substantially similar complaint on October 27, 1989. Because the division of claims administration was unable to act upon the complaints within ninety days, the claims were transferred to the Claims Commission for resolution pursuant to Tenn.Code Ann. § 9-8-402(c).

The Claims Commission dismissed the complaint, ¹ holding that both causes of action had accrued prior to October 17, 1988, and were therefore barred by the one-year statute of limitations for personal injury actions. Tenn.Code Ann. § 28-3-104. The Court of Appeals affirmed the ruling of the commissioner. We granted the appellants' Rule 11 application for the limited purpose of deciding the two questions enunciated in the beginning of this opinion. ²

I.

Before we address the statute of limitations question, we must first determine whether a cause of action existed for the negligent deprivation of a constitutional right on October 17, 1989--the date of the Stimpson complaint. Although this issue was not raised below, it is properly reviewable by this Court because its answer determines whether the Claims Commission had subject matter jurisdiction over these claims in the first instance. Tenn.R.App.P. 13(b).

In May 1984, the General Assembly enacted legislation which waived the State's sovereign immunity under certain conditions. Acts of 1984, ch. 972, 1984 Tenn.Pub.Acts 1026 (now codified at Tenn.Code Ann. § 9-8-307). In this act, the legislature created the Tennessee Claims Commission to hear certain claims against the State; one of the claims the commission was designated to entertain was for the "negligent deprivation of statutory or constitutional rights." Acts of 1984, ch. 972, § 8(a)(14), 1984 Tenn.Pub. Acts 1026, 1030. This section was eventually codified at Tenn.Code Ann. § 9-8-307(a)(1)(N). In May 1989, as part of an act modifying several provisions of § 9-8-307, the General Assembly deleted the words "or constitutional" from § 9-8-307(a)(1)(N). Acts of 1989, ch. 491, § 1, 1989 Tenn.Pub.Acts 853, 854.

The State argues that the 1989 amendment should be applied retroactively so as to bar the appellants' lawsuit. The State argues that the cause of action for the negligent deprivation of constitutional rights was created by the legislature in response to the United States Supreme Court's decision in Parratt v. Taylor, 451 U.S. 527, 101 S.Ct. 1908, 68 L.Ed.2d 420 (1981), in which the Court held that the negligent deprivation of an individual's constitutional rights could, in an appropriate case, give rise to a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The State asserts that because the legislature was attempting to encourage plaintiffs to file claims in the Claims Commission in lieu of bringing § 1983 actions against state employees, it created the cause of action.

However, in Daniels v. Williams, 474 U.S. 327, 106 S.Ct. 662, 88 L.Ed.2d 662 (1986) the Supreme Court overruled Parratt and held that mere negligence of the part of state officials does not implicate the due process clause, and therefore does not state a cause of action under § 1983. The State asserts that because of Daniels, the legislature deleted the words "or constitutional" from § 9-8-307(a)(1)(N) in May 1989.

The legislative history of the 1989 amendment supports the State's explanation. One of the sponsors of the bill, Senator Riley Darnell, explained in the Senate floor debates that:

T.C.A. 9-8-307(a)(1)(N) gives the Claims Commission jurisdiction over claims based on negligent deprivation of statutory or constitutional rights. This was done in part to encourage people to use the Claims Commission to file their lawsuits rather than going to federal court. Since we had done that, the United States Supreme Court has indicated that actions brought under 42 U.S.C. 1983 cannot be based on negligent conduct. Therefore, we're deleting the word "constitutional" from the bill so that negligent conduct is not one of those that would be brought in lieu of a 1983 civil rights action.

The State concludes that because § 9-8-307(a)(1)(N) was intended to mirror the requirements of a § 1983 action, and because the Supreme Court held that negligence cannot be the basis of a § 1983 action, the 1989 amendment should be retroactively applied to January 21, 1986--the date the Daniels decision was handed down.

This argument must fail for a number of reasons. First, a basic rule of statutory construction provides that statutes are to be applied prospectively, unless the legislature clearly indicates to the contrary. Woods v. TRW, Inc., 557 S.W.2d 274, 275 (Tenn.1977); United Inter-Mountain Tel. Co. v. Moyers, 221 Tenn. 246, 426 S.W.2d 177, 181 (1968); Menefee Crushed Stone Co. v. Taylor, 760 S.W.2d 223, 226 (Tenn.App.1988). Section 7 of ch. 491 states that "[t]his act shall take effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it." The act was passed by both houses on May 24, 1989; it was signed by Governor McWherter on June 1, 1989. It therefore became effective on that date, and there is nothing in the text of the act or in its legislative history to indicate that the legislature intended that it...