Spicer v. Thompson, No. M2002-03110-COA-R3-CV (TN 7/7/2004)
| Decision Date | 07 July 2004 |
| Docket Number | No. M2002-03110-COA-R3-CV.,M2002-03110-COA-R3-CV. |
| Parties | SAM SPICER, ET AL. v. STACE THOMPSON, ET AL. |
| Court | Tennessee Supreme Court |
Appeal from the Circuit Court for Rutherford County, No. 40350, Clara Willis Byrd, Judge.
Judgment of the Circuit Affirmed in Part and Reversed in Part.
James Douglas Kay, Matthew Brothers, Tom Price Thompson, III, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellees, cross-appellants, Sam Spicer and wife, Karen Spicer.
Gregory Hall Oakley, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellant, Don Pickard and, cross-appellees, Don Pickard, Stace Thompson and Howard Morris.
William B. Cain, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which Patricia J. Cottrell, and Frank G. Clement, JR., JJ., joined.
Appellant Don Pickard appeals the action of the trial court finding that he defamed Sergeant Sam Spicer in public statements to the news media. Spicer cross appeals from the action of the trial court in dismissing his malicious prosecution action against Don Pickard, Stace Thompson and Howard Morris. We affirm the action of the trial court in the defamation case and affirm the action of the trial court in the malicious prosecution case as to Howard Morris. The malicious prosecution case against Don Pickard and Stace Thompson is affirmed in part and reversed in part. The case is remanded to the trial court for further proceedings.
This case involves personnel of the Lavergne Police Department.
Sam Spicer was a full time police officer employed by the City of Lavergne since 1985. At the time of his termination in June of 1998, he had attained the rank of sergeant. Karen Spicer, wife of Sam Spicer, joined in his suit against Don Pickard et al.
Don Pickard became City Administrator of Lavergne in August of 1997 and remained in this position throughout the time period relevant to this case. He appointed Dwayne Hicks, a former Lavergne police officer, as Assistant City Administrator. Stace Thompson, a police officer employed by the Lavergne Police Department since 1989, was ordered by Don Pickard to investigate Sam Spicer.
Mike Patrick, Police Chief of Lavergne prior to mid-June of 1998, departed from that position in the course of Pickard and Thompson's investigation. Howard "Butch" Morris was Police Chief of the City of Lavergne from mid-June of 1998 through all other times relevant in this case.
Attorney Ed Hiland, represented Sam Spicer during the post-May 8, 1998 investigation until he withdrew from such representation when it became obvious he would be a witness.
Malcolm "Skip" Elrod, polygraph examiner was employed by Don Pickard to administer two polygraph tests to Sam Spicer. In the interim between the exams, Spicer, through Attorney Hiland, retained the services of Charles Scott, a private polygraph examiner to administer a polygraph test to Spicer.
Also appearing are:
1. Nick Watson, a narcotics officer of the Lavergne Police Department in charge of the May 8, 1998 undercover drug operation;
2. J.R. Smith, a/k/a Sam Dixon, an acquaintance of Don Pickard from East Tennessee, brought into Lavergne by Pickard as an undercover drug operative to purchase illegal drugs and lay the basis for the criminal charges involved in the May 8, 1998 drug sting;
3. Bobby Daingerfield, patriarch of the Daingerfield family, former Lavergne police officer and operator of the "Pit-Stop" restaurant;
4. Sean and Billy Daingerfield, teenaged sons of Bobby Daingerfield;
5. Twana Carr, sister of Bobby Daingerfield;
6. George Peach, boyfriend of Twana Carr;
7. Robert Wolfe, Captain on the Lavergne Police Department and, as was the case with the other police officers, an employee at will. He was fired by Don Pickard in June of 1998;
8. Carol Burgeson, confidential informant relative to the drug trade in Lavergne in January of 1998;
9. Jason Goforth, young man in Lavergne found firing a stolen gun on September 4, 1997;
10. William Timson, Lavergne police officer first on the scene at the Goforth incident of September 4, 1997;
11. Christopher Spradling, narcotics detective at Lavergne Police Department to whom Jason Goforth was delivered by William Timson and Sam Spicer on September 4, 1997;
12. Jimmy Ball, investigator for the National Insurance Crime Bureau involved in the investigation of a stolen motorcycle incident;
13. William Whitesell, District Attorney General in Rutherford County;
In mid-1997, the Board of Alderman of Lavergne, Tennessee, being dissatisfied with the overall performance of the Lavergne Police Department, employed Don Pickard as City Administrator with instructions to straighten out the police department. When incumbent Police Chief Mike Patrick declined to make personnel changes, Mr. Pickard relieved him and took over the operation of the police department himself.
In efforts to combat the drug traffic in Lavergne Mr. Pickard employed J.R. Smith, a prior working acquaintance from East Tennessee, as an undercover agent. Smith took the assumed name of Sam Dixon and began to work his way into the local drug community. Pickard set up the undercover operation in the latter part of 1997 with Detective Nick Watson in charge and reporting directly to Pickard. Smith went undercover acting as a confidential informant and making various drug purchases from local dealers always using the code name Sam Dixon. Among the primary targets of the drug investigation were members of the Daingerfield family led by Bobby Daingerfield, a former Lavergne police officer who operated a restaurant in Lavergne known as the "Pit Stop." Sam Dixon worked himself into the confidence of the Daingerfield family, and while he did not testify at the trial, it would appear that he notified Nick Watson and Don Pickard that Sam Spicer "tipped off" some individuals who were targets of the drug investigation.
The undercover drug operation culminated in a wide scale drug bust on the morning of May 8, 1998. In the City of Lavergne courtroom, warrants were being issued beginning at 4:00 a.m. that morning and continuing throughout the day. Sergeant Spicer was not a part of the drug sting and was assigned to other duties. Spicer appeared at the city courtroom some time around 6 to 6:15 a.m. as the sting operation was beginning. He thereafter left the courtroom and went on patrol. He went to the Pit Stop Market for breakfast. Both Spicer and other officers of the Lavergne Police Department were regular customers of the Pit-Stop Market where they apparently received free meals from the Daingerfield family. Pickard, driving around before the sting operation commenced, observed Spicer's car and another patrol car at the Pit-Stop and, not wishing to have police vehicles at a place where arrests were to be made, wanted the cars moved. Spicer left the Pit-Stop after breakfast of his own accord and returned to his patrol duties. Nick Watson then went back to City Hall to inform Don Pickard that Spicer had been in the courtroom looking at warrants prior to having breakfast at the Pit-Stop and was "tipping off" people at the restaurant. When Spicer returned to police headquarters he was confronted by Don Pickard about the "tipping off" allegations. Spicer vigorously denied that he had tipped off anybody about anything. Pickard immediately placed Spicer on administrative leave as of the morning of May 8, 1998. Immediately after the May 8, 1998 sting operation Pickard ordered Lavergne Police Officer Stace Thompson to investigate the allegations that Spicer had tipped off individuals at the Pit-Stop Market. He was ordered to report his findings directly to Pickard.
The allegations about "tipping off" drug dealers came primarily from alleged statements made by members of the Daingerfield family. During all of this time undercover agent Sam Dixon was very close to the Daingerfield family and was purchasing drugs from various members of the family. All of the members of the Daingerfield family were arrested in the May 8, 1998 drug sting. After the drug sting they all maintained that they were not talking about Sam Spicer but in fact about Sam Dixon. Twana Carr testified that she made it clear to Stace Thompson that she was talking about Sam Dixon and not Sam Spicer. Bobby Daingerfield testified:
Q. Where were you when [Stace Thompson] questioned you?
A. Once at the LaVergne City Police Department, once at the Rutherford County Sheriff's Department, and once at Morgan County Regional Facility, the penitentiary, the annex for Brushy Mountain.
Q. Tell us about those conversations with Mr. Thompson.
A. Well, Stace was asking me questions about Sam and if he'd ever told me — if he had ever let me go when I had been arrested or should have been arrested and if I knew of any favors he had ever done for anybody or things of that nature.
Q. And when we're talking about Sam, are we referring to Sam Spicer or Sam Dixon?
A. At that point I knew he was talking about Sam Spicer. And I don't recollect the conversation. I mean, it changed at some point. At some point here in time I was talking about Sam Dixon, too, because I was still trying to be heard about this other Sam.
Q. How did the conversation change to Sam Dixon?
A. Well, I still would like to know what they intend to do about this man who has been buying my kids beer and cigarettes. He was a police officer, too. I knew they were trying to concentrate on Sam Spicer. I didn't know about Sam Spicer doing anything, but I did know about this other Sam.
And that was when I informed him there was another officer involved. They'd asked me about Harry Hollins which was a police officer there in town, they'd asked me about things about him. And to the best of my memory, I don't remember ever telling them anything about Sam Spicer that was in any way with the intent, you know, making him believe that he was giving me...
To continue reading
Request your trial