Young v. Stamey, E2019-00907-COA-R3-CV

• Decision Date: 25 March 2020
• Docket Number: No. E2019-00907-COA-R3-CV,E2019-00907-COA-R3-CV
• Parties: RONALD C. YOUNG v. E.T. STAMEY, ET AL.
• Court: Tennessee Court of Appeals

RONALD C. YOUNG v. E.T. STAMEY, ET AL.

No. E2019-00907-COA-R3-CV

COURT OF APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT KNOXVILLE

January 23, 2020 Session

March 25, 2020

Appeal from the Chancery Court for Anderson County

No. 18CH0073

M. Nichole Cantrell, Chancellor

This appeal concerns whether a city councilman is disqualified from office because he also is employed by his city's municipal school system. Ronald C. Young ("Young") ran against E.T. Stamey ("Stamey") for a seat on the Clinton City Council. Stamey, the incumbent, won. Afterward, Young filed suit in the Chancery Court for Anderson County ("the Trial Court") against Stamey as well as the Anderson County Election Commission and its members ("the Commission"). Young alleged that, pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann. § 7-51-1501 and the Clinton City Charter, Stamey is disqualified from being a city councilman because he works for Clinton City Schools ("CCS"), albeit in a noninstructional capacity. The Commission filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings, and Stamey filed a motion for summary judgment. The Trial Court granted both motions. Young appeals. We hold, first, that Stamey is not a city employee. We hold further that even if Stamey is a city employee, as a noninstructional public school employee he is allowed to run for city council pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-5-301. Finally, we hold that Young failed to state a claim against the Commission, which acted solely in its ministerial capacity in certifying the election results. We affirm.

Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Chancery Court Affirmed; Case Remanded

D. MICHAEL SWINEY, C.J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which RICHARD H. DINKINS and THOMAS R. FRIERSON, II, JJ., joined.

David A. Stuart, Clinton, Tennessee, for the appellant, Ronald C. Young.

Robert L. Bowman and Brandon L. Morrow, Knoxville, Tennessee, for the appellees, the Anderson County Election Commission and its individual members, Joseph Rainey, Chairman; Mary Matheny, Secretary; William Gallaher, D. Jane Miller, and William "Bear" Stephenson.

Tasha C. Blakney, Knoxville, Tennessee, for the appellee, E.T. Stamey.

OPINION

Background

On November 6, 2018, city council elections were held in Clinton, Tennessee. Young ran against Stamey, an incumbent, for one of the seats. Stamey won, receiving approximately 64% of the vote. On November 21, 2018, Young filed his Complaint to Contest Election, for Declaratory Judgment, and for Injunctive Relief in the Trial Court against Stamey and the Commission. In his complaint, Young alleged that "[a]t all times material hereto, defendant, E. T. Stamey, is and has been an employee of the Town of Clinton, Tennessee, in the athletic department of the town's public school system. . . ." Young asserted that Stamey was disqualified from holding office based on Article I, § 13, of the Charter for the Town of Clinton, Tennessee, which provides that "[a] vacancy shall exist if the Mayor or a Councilmember . . . accepts a position of employment with the City. . . ." Young asserted further that Stamey was disqualified from seeking or holding office on the basis of Tenn. Code Ann. § 7-51-1501, which provides that "unless otherwise authorized by law or local ordinance, an employee of a municipal government or of a metropolitan government shall not be qualified to run for elected office in the local governing body of such local governmental unit in which the employee is employed." Tenn. Code Ann. § 7-51-1501 (2015). Young requested that the Trial Court "enter declaratory judgment that defendant, E. T. Stamey, was not qualified to appear on the ballot, and that plaintiff, the only qualified candidate appearing thereon, was and is the lawful winner, and is entitled to assume and perform the duties of the office." Young also sought injunctive relief to prevent the Commission and its members "from approving any ballot where an employee of the Town of Clinton seeks or purports to seek election to the city council and likewise, from certifying any candidate elected to the city council who is found or revealed to be an employee of the Town of Clinton."

In January 2019, the Commission filed an answer raising a number of defenses including that it was unaware of Stamey's employment status and that if Stamey were disqualified, the proper remedy would be to declare the election void. Stamey filed his own answer wherein he denied that he was a city employee. In March 2019, the Commission filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings stating, in part: "The Election Commission's role in the challenged election was limited to its ministerial capacity and it is not a necessary party to this civil action. Plaintiff has failed to state a claim against the Election Commission." Along with its motion for judgment on the pleadings, the Commission filed a "Statement of Undisputed Material Facts pursuant to Tenn. R. Civ. P. 12.03 and 56." The statement read as follows:

1. Mr. Young and Mr. Stamey ran against each other for a seat on the City Council for the Town of Clinton.

2. The election was held on November 6, 2018.

3. Mr. Stamey received a majority of the votes.

4. The Election Commission certified Mr. Stamey as the winner of the election on November 19, 2018.

5. Mr. Young filed his lawsuit on November 21, 2018, alleging that Mr. Stamey was not qualified to run for or hold the Clinton City Council seat because he was an employee of the City of Clinton.

6. Prior to the filing of the above-captioned lawsuit, the Election Commission had no knowledge regarding Mr. Stamey's employer. Moreover, the Election Commission was presented with no information, reliable or otherwise, indicating that Mr. Stamey was in any way ineligible to run for or hold the office which he sought.

7. Prior to the November 6, 2018 election, neither Plaintiff Young nor anyone else filed a complaint or challenge with the Anderson County Election Commission regarding Defendant Stamey's qualifications to hold the City Council position for which he sought and received the majority of the votes.

(Record citations omitted). In March 2019, Stamey filed a motion for summary judgment acknowledging that he had worked for CCS since 2017, but that this did not make him a city employee. Young filed a response to both motions. Young did not dispute any facts contained in Stamey's statement of undisputed material facts. As part of his response, Young filed his Declaration Under Penalty of Perjury asserting that he had informed the Commission of Stamey's job with CCS but was told that the election results would be certified anyway. In his Declaration, Young stated:

1. On or about the 10^th day of November, 2018, I was told that defendant, E. T. Stamey, appeared to be an employee of the Clinton City Schools, and that if he was a school department employee, he would be disqualified from being a member of the Clinton City Council. I was also told that there was an Opinion by the Tennessee Attorney General and Reporter specifically addressing the issue in the context of a teacher employed by the Clinton City School Department.

2. On or about the 13^th day of November, 2018, I visited Mark Stephens, Administrator of Elections for the Anderson County Election Commission, in his office and informed him that I had heard that Mr. Stamey was employed by the Clinton City Schools and therefore disqualified, according to the previously mentioned Opinion. I alsoexpressed my understanding that both a charter provision and a statute established his disqualification.

3. On or about the 16^th day of November, 2018, I visited again with Mr. Stephens, and on this occasion I provided him with a copy of Opinion No. 08-72 dated the 31^st day of March, 2008, by the Tennessee Attorney General and Reporter. A true and exact copy of the same is attached hereto as an exhibit.

4. Mr. Stephens told me in substance that regardless of the Opinion of the Tennessee Attorney General and Reporter, "We are going to certify the election."

The Attorney General Opinion that Young referenced in his Declaration, Opinion 08-72, reads as follows:

QUESTION

Given the provisions of the Charter of the City of Clinton and the provisions of Tenn. Code Ann. § 7-51-1501, is a school teacher of the city school system eligible to be a candidate for the city legislative body?

OPINION

No. Tenn. Code Ann. § 7-51-1501 disqualifies municipal employees from eligibility to serve on the municipality's legislative body unless otherwise authorized by law or local ordinance. The charter and ordinances of the City of Clinton do not authorize such eligibility.

ANALYSIS

Section 7-51-1501 of the Tennessee Code provides as follows:

[U]nless otherwise authorized by law or local ordinance, an employee of a municipal government or of a metropolitan government shall not be qualified to run for elected office in the local governing body of such local governmental unit in which the employee is employed.

Tenn. Code Ann. § 7-51-1501.

According to the City of Clinton's charter, the city council is the city's legislative body and has the power to establish and administer thecity's public school system. See City of Clinton Charter (1990). Thus, a city school teacher is disqualified from election to Clinton's city council unless some other law or local ordinance authorizes a teacher to run for such an office. Neither the City of Clinton's charter nor any municipal ordinance of the City of Clinton authorizes a city school teacher to run for the city council.

Tenn. Code Ann. § 12-4-101 does not conflict with Tenn. Code Ann. § 7-51-1501. Section 12-4-101 concerns the personal interests of public officials and provides specific standards of conduct for municipal officials who are also municipal employees. Tenn. Code Ann. § 7-51-1501's prohibition is a general disqualification for candidacy. That statute permits a city employee to serve on a city legislative body if such candidacy is "otherwise authorized by law or local ordinance." A city's legislative body may pass an ordinance permitting a

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