BRIAN B. DEVEREUX; RENEE DEVEREUX v. KNOX COUNTY, TENNESSEE, - Articles

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BRIAN B. DEVEREUX; RENEE DEVEREUX v. KNOX COUNTY, TENNESSEE,

Posted by: Karen Belcher on Sep 22, 2021

Court: 6th Circuit Court (Published Opinions)

Attorneys 1: ARGUED: David S. Wigler, KNOX COUNTY, TENNESSEE, Knoxville, Tennessee, for Appellant.

Attorneys 2: ARGUED: Richard Everett Collins, II, STANLEY, KURTZ & COLLINS, PLLC, Knoxville, Tennessee, for Appellees.

Attorneys 3: ON BRIEF: David S. Wigler, KNOX COUNTY, TENNESSEE, Knoxville, Tennessee, for Appellant.

Attorneys 4: ON BRIEF: Richard Everett Collins, II, STANLEY, KURTZ & COLLINS, PLLC, Knoxville, Tennessee, for Appellees.

Judge(s): BATCHELDER, GRIFFIN, and STRANCH, Circuit Judges

Court Appealed: Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee at Knoxville

JANE B. STRANCH, Circuit Judge. Brian Devereux suffered a major stroke during or around the period of his custody by Knox County for misdemeanor first-time DUI. Corrections officers were in and out of the holding cell where he sat motionless for several hours but did not provide medical attention until it was too late to mitigate the stroke’s effects. Devereux and his wife, Renee Devereux,1 sued the officers and Knox County. They brought federal civil rights claims as well as negligence claims under the Tennessee Governmental Tort Liability Act, which waives sovereign immunity for certain claims, but not those arising from “civil rights.” After years of litigation, the district court dismissed all of Devereux’s claims against the officers as well as his civil rights claims against Knox County. It then declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the TGTLA claims and dismissed them without prejudice, allowing Devereux to refile them in state court. Knox County objects, arguing that the district court should have retained jurisdiction and determined that the TGTLA’s “civil rights exception” necessarily barred Devereux’s negligence claims. The parties also move to certify a question about the civil rights exception’s timing and scope to the Tennessee Supreme Court. We VACATE the district court’s 2018 order denying Knox County’s first motion to dismiss only as to its rationale regarding the TGTLA negligence claim and VACATE the portion of the district court’s order of September 11, 2019, that relied on that vacated part of the district court’s 2018 order, AFFIRM its judgment in all other respects, and DENY the parties’ joint motion to certify.

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