Summers v. Thompson

• Decision Date: 23 May 1988
• Citation: 764 S.W.2d 182
• Parties: Jerry H. SUMMERS, Petitioner-Appellee, v. Mayor Robert L. THOMPSON, et al., Respondents-Appellants.
• Court: Tennessee Supreme Court

Page 182

764 S.W.2d 182

Jerry H. SUMMERS, Petitioner-Appellee, v. Mayor Robert L. THOMPSON, et al., Respondents-Appellants.

Supreme Court of Tennessee at Knoxville.

May 23, 1988.

Rehearing Denied July 18, 1988.

Jacqueline E. Schulten, Soddy-Daisy City Atty., Chattanooga, W.J. Michael Cody, Atty. Gen. & Reporter, Kevin Steiling, Asst. Atty. Gen., Nashville, for respondents-appellants.

Jerry H. Summers, Jack R. Brown, Robert L. Moon, Chattanooga, for petitioner-appellee.

Deborah S. Swettenam, Ass'n of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Dickson, J. Anthony Farmer, Trial Lawyers' Ass'n, Knoxville, for amicus-curiae.

OPINION

DROWOTA, Justice.

This direct appeal raises a significant issue of Tennessee constitutional law, that is, whether certain statutes permitting a municipal judge to be terminated at will are valid. The Petitioner, Jerry H. Summers, sat as city judge for Soddy-Daisy, Hamilton County, Tennessee, for 14 years until he was summarily terminated by the Board of Commissioners of Soddy-Daisy (the Board). Petitioner sought review of his termination by a common law writ of certiorari, contending that at will employment of a judge violated the requirement of separation of powers under Article II, Sec. 1, of the Constitution of Tennessee. The Chancery Court of Hamilton County found that the at will employment provisions of T.C.A. Secs. 6-21-501 and 16-18-102 violated the State Constitution and ordered Petitioner's reinstatement. Respondents, including the Attorney General, have brought this direct appeal to this Court as the sole determinative issue is the constitutionality of these two statutes. T.C.A. Sec. 16-4-108.

I.

Given the posture of this case, a common law writ of certiorari, the evidence consists primarily of the record made at the meeting of the Board. ¹ The record of this meeting is rather meager, although some other evidence in the form of affidavits, exhibits to the Petition for Writ of Certiorari, and Respondents' Answers to Requests for Admission are also included in the record. Respondents did not, however, offer any evidence in their favor at the meeting, relying on the terms of the statute under which they acted. The facts are relatively simple.

Petitioner was appointed to serve as city judge of Soddy-Daisy City Court in 1971 and served continuously in that position for 14 years. The parties have relied upon T.C.A. Sec. 6-21-501(b)(3), which provides that "[t]he board of commissioners shall appoint a city judge who shall be an attorney-at-law entitled to practice in the courts of the state and who shall serve at the will of the board." ² Although several Boards of Commissioners were elected following Petitioner's initial appointment, he was never reappointed or removed by any Board until the meeting of October 3, 1985. Petitioner apparently served without significant conflict with any successive Board; however, according to Petitioner's statement before the Board at the October, 1985, meeting, friction began to develop over the previous summer with the Mayor, Robert L. Thompson, the members of the Board, and the Chief of Police. The exhibits to the Petition, consisting of a series of letters between the Police Chief and Petitioner and between the Mayor and Petitioner, corroborate these allegations made by Petitioner at this meeting, which allegations were reiterated in the Petition itself. Apparently, the Mayor and members of the Board attempted to influence the judicial functions of the city court by attempting to utilize the court to increase city revenue, by requesting that the authority to issue warrants be delegated to city officers or employees who were not magistrates, and by seeking to establish a fixed schedule for appearance bonds, which would be set by clerks. In addition, Mayor Thompson attempted to persuade Petitioner to impose harsher sentences on first offenders in cases involving driving under the influence but Petitioner resisted, contending that judicial discretion was involved in determining the appropriate punishment within the ranges permitted by statute. Evidently, when the Mayor and Board concluded that Petitioner could not be persuaded to conduct city court in the manner in which they wished, they concluded that the at will employment statute could be utilized to terminate Petitioner and replace him with a more malleable city judge.

At a regularly scheduled meeting of the Board on October 3, 1985, without notice to Petitioner or to the citizens of Soddy-Daisy, Petitioner was terminated. No cause for termination was given by the Board of Commissioners. According to the transcript of the meeting, Mayor Thompson made a motion to change the city judge effective immediately, which motion was carried unanimously. Several citizens protested Petitioner's removal and pressed the members of the Board to give some cause for his removal. The Mayor repeatedly refused to provide any reason for Petitioner's removal, stating that the city attorney had advised the Board not to respond to such questions. When citizens continued to press for some explanation, the city attorney stated that the city charter granted the Board the authority to appoint a city judge who served at will and that the Board was not required to have any reason for termination of at will employees. Some citizens persisted in their protests, a few expressing their suspicions that the Board intended to turn the city court into a "cash register court."

Although the formal termination vote had already been taken, the Board invited Petitioner to speak. He stated that politics had been injected into the operation of the court by the Mayor, Board, and Chief of Police. He explained that he had been pressured to increase city revenue and to impose harsher penalties on certain types of offenders. Noting that compliance with the Board's requests would infringe upon his judicial functions, Petitioner warned that the potential for abuse of the city court was high, depriving persons brought before the court a fair and impartial hearing.

On November 27, 1985, Petitioner filed his Petition for Writ of Certiorari in the Hamilton County Chancery Court challenging his termination as arbitrary, capricious, and illegal in that the statutes permitting at will employment of a city judge violated the Constitution of Tennessee. Other claims were asserted by Petitioner as well. Although the Mayor and Board denied many of the allegations of the Petition, by an order of February 9, 1987, the issue was narrowed to the constitutionality of the statutes in question and additional claims asserted by Petitioner against the Board were severed. On March 6, 1987, the Chancellor filed his Memorandum Opinion. Although finding no violation under the language of the statute, as written, the Chancellor observed that city court meets regularly and exercises substantial, local judicial authority and noted the importance of the constitutional issue presented. Finding that judicial independence and impartiality could not be assured if the city judge had no definite term and was subjected to the whims of the local legislative body, he concluded that the at will provisions of T.C.A. Secs. 6-21-501(b) and 16-18-102 violated the principle of separation of powers and ordered Petitioner's reinstatement until the next Board of Commissioners election. Notices of Appeal were duly filed by Respondents.

II.

The majority of this Court does not find it necessary to address the constitutional issue presented by this case because the issue may be resolved by a proper construction of the statutes involved. ³ Moreover, the holding of this case is expressly limited to those city courts that are not vested with concurrent jurisdiction with a General Sessions Court, which is an inferior court, under T.C.A. Sec. 6-21-501(b) or T.C.A. Sec. 16-18-101 (Supp.1987). The jurisdiction of these city courts is wholly limited to traffic violations or violations of city ordinances, as the judges of these courts have no authority to impose fines exceeding $50 or to impose extensive terms of imprisonment and, as a practical matter, are essentially administrative judges. ⁴ Such a judge is not cloaked with the powers of a judge of an inferior court within the meaning of Article VI, Sec. 1. See State ex rel. Haywood v. Superintendent, Davidson County Workhouse, 195 Tenn. 265, 270-271, 259 S.W.2d 159, 161 (1953). ⁵ We now turn to the proper construction of the statutes at issue.

T.C.A. Sec. 6-21-501 has two separately operative subsections. Subsection (a) grants only a limited jurisdiction to city courts that are not covered by the terms of subsection (b). Under subsection (a), "[t]he city judge shall have jurisdiction in and over all cases for the violation of and all cases arising under the laws and ordinances of the city." Subsection (b) courts, however, are "vested with concurrent jurisdiction and authority with courts of general sessions of the county ... in all cases of the violation of the criminal laws of the State of Tennessee within the limits of such municipalities." T.C.A. Sec. 6-21-501(b)(2). Furthermore, the applicability of subsection (b) is limited by the population classifications of subsection (b)(1). If a city incorporated under the City Manager-Commission Charter does not come within the population ranges of subsection (b), then only subsection (a) can apply and that city court can exercise very limited jurisdiction. A careful examination of the application of this rather complicated statutory scheme is useful.

T.C.A. Sec. 6-21-501(a) was originally enacted in 1921 as part of an act to provide a uniform City Manager-Commission Charter. 1921 Public Acts, chapter 173, article 9, Sec. 1. In 1965, this subsection was amended to read as it does in its present form. 1965 Public Acts, chapter 330, Sec. 1. Until 1979, subsection (a) was the sole provision of what is now codified as T.C.A. Sec. 6-21-501. What is now subsection (b) was amended piecemeal into the statute...