White v. Bradley Cnty. Gov't

639 S.W.3d 568

Allan F. WHITE Jr., et al.

v.BRADLEY COUNTY GOVERNMENT et al.

No. E2020-00798-COA-R3-CV

Court of Appeals of Tennessee, Eastern Section, AT KNOXVILLE.

April 14, 2021 Session

FILED June 15, 2021

Application for Permission to Appeal Denied October 13, 2021

John M. Wolfe Jr., Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the appellants, Allan F. White Jr., and Marline White.

Thomas E. LeQuire, Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the appellees, Bradley County Government and Tiffany Goodwin.

J. Steven Stafford, P.J., W.S., delivered the opinion of the court, in which Frank G. Clement Jr., P.J., M.S., and Arnold B. Goldin, J., joined.

OPINION

J. Steven Stafford, P.J.

A police officer pursued and shot a man whom she encountered outside her home at two in the morning. After the man died from his injuries, his parents and estate brought suit in the Bradley County Circuit Court against the officer, the sheriff who supervised her, and the county, alleging negligence and violation of the man's rights under federal law and the United States Constitution. Defendants removed the case to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee ("the district court"). The district court granted summary judgment for the defendants on the federal civil rights claims and remanded the state law tort claims to the Circuit Court. On remand to the Circuit Court, the claims against the sheriff were voluntarily dismissed and the remaining defendants moved for summary judgment. In reliance on the district court's legal conclusions, the Circuit Court granted summary judgment to the police officer based on the doctrine of collateral estoppel and to the Bradley County government based on governmental immunity. Plaintiffs appealed. On appeal, we hold that collateral estoppel bars the claims against both the police officer and the county. Accordingly, we affirm.

I. PROCEDURAL AND FACTUAL BACKGROUND

This case stems from the shooting death of Allan J. White III, ("Mr. White" or "White") by Bradley County police officer Tiffany Goodwin¹ ("Ms. Goodwin" or "Goodwin") on July 28, 2015. On July 26, 2016, Mr. White's parents, Allan White Jr. and Marline² White, as next of kin and on behalf of Mr. White's estate³ (collectively, "Plaintiffs") filed a wrongful death suit against the Bradley County Government ("Bradley County"), Bradley County Sheriff Eric Watson ("Sheriff Watson") in his individual and official capacity, and Officer Tiffany Goodwin ("Ms. Goodwin") in her individual and official capacity (collectively, "Defendants") in the Circuit Court for Bradley County (the "trial court"). The complaint alleged that Ms. Goodwin killed Mr. White by use of excessive force, thereby depriving him of his rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983⁴ and the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution; that Sheriff Watson and Bradley County were also responsible and liable for Mr. White's death and the violations of his constitutional rights due to the policies, practices, and customs of Sheriff Watson and the sheriff's department; and that Mr. White's death was caused by the negligence of Ms. Goodwin, Sheriff Watson, and Bradley County, and thus the Tennessee Governmental Tort Liability Act ("GTLA"), Tennessee Code Annotated § 29-20-205, conferred liability on Sheriff Watson and Bradley County.

A. The district court proceedings

On August 8, 2016, Defendants removed the case to the federal district court. Defendants filed a Motion for Summary Judgment on January 22, 2018, on the grounds of qualified immunity for Ms. Goodwin and the failure of Plaintiffs to show any unconstitutional custom, policy, or practice of Sheriff Watson or Bradley County. The primary issue on appeal involves whether the trial court correctly determined that the district court's final judgment operated to bar the state law claims pursuant to the doctrine of collateral estoppel. Because our resolution of this issue requires a detailed examination of the district court judgment, we will quote extensively from the district court's memorandum opinion. According to the memorandum opinion:⁵

Bradley County Tennessee police officer Tiffany Goodwin ("Goodwin") returned home while on duty around 2:00 a.m. on July 28, 2015. As she pulled into her driveway, she saw a man—later identified as Allan J. White III ("White")—squat behind a truck parked near her house. Goodwin exited her vehicle, shined her flashlight towards the man, and yelled "Sheriff's office, show me your hands." Rather than yield, White took off running towards the back of the house. Goodwin radioed dispatch from her portable radio, relaying her location and requesting backup. Flashlight and Taser in hand, Goodwin gave chase.

She lost sight of White as he entered the woods behind her house. Noting the direction he took, Goodwin cut through neighboring backyards, then veered left into the woods, aiming to cut off White's path. As she crested an embankment, she found White laying facedown along a ditch, arms beneath him. He faced the opposite direction, motionless.

Goodwin approached. She stated again, "Sheriff's office, show me your hands." This prompted White to roll over, but Goodwin ordered him back onto his stomach with his hands behind his back. Kneeling beside him, Goodwin cuffed White's right wrist with her free hand,⁶ but White's left arm remained underneath him. After her orders to bring his left arm behind him were disregarded, Goodwin attempted to grab the arm. This was met with resistance. White jerked his right arm away, rolled over, and rose to his feet. As White ripped his arm free, Goodwin pulled the trigger on the Taser. Whether she had actually hit him, though, was unclear.

Undeterred, White threw Goodwin to the ground by her collar. As he did, Goodwin fired the Taser a second time, though she was again unsure if she had made contact. While Goodwin was on her back, White climbed atop her, facing the opposite direction. He put his knees on both of Goodwin's shoulders, effectively pinning her to the ground. As the two grappled, White put his hands on Goodwin's face and neck, pushing down on her face, in what felt to Goodwin like an effort to choke her.⁷ With his right hand, White began to strike Goodwin's ribs on her side.

Goodwin struggled beneath him. She attempted to push White off of her to no avail. Her orders to get off were disregarded. She attempted to access her radio, but it had been loosed from her shoulder during the altercation. And she was entangled in the wires of the Taser she had dropped moments prior in her attempts to push White aside. Fearing for her life, Goodwin grabbed her gun from its holster with her right hand.

Goodwin pointed the gun up over her face, unsure of precisely where she was aiming, and pulled the trigger. Still feeling White atop her, she fired at least once more.⁸ At that point, White removed himself from Goodwin, yelling, "Ow, ow, okay, I'm done." Goodwin rose, located her flashlight and radio, and informed dispatch that shots were fired. She kept her gun trained on White, as he writhed on the ground, attempting to get up. Goodwin ordered that he remain on the ground and continued asking who he was. At some point, he responded, "I don't know you."⁹

Shortly thereafter, backup units and emergency medical services ("EMS") arrived. EMS first transported White to SkyRidge Medical Center in Cleveland, Tennessee, then to Erlanger Medical Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he eventually died from his injuries.

On April 16, the district court granted summary judgment dismissing the § 1983 claims and constitutional violations against Ms. Goodwin, finding that Ms. Goodwin's conduct was "objectively reasonable." The district court also dismissed the claims against Sheriff Watson and Bradley County because:

Plaintiffs ... have made no substantive response to Defendants’ arguments regarding Bradley County's policies and procedures, nor Sheriff Watson's alleged liability—in fact, Plaintiffs made no mention of these claims at all in their response to the motion before the Court. As a result, Plaintiffs have abandoned these claims. Brown v. VHS of Mich., Inc. , 545 F. App'x 368, 372 (6th Cir. 2013) ("A plaintiff is deemed to have abandoned a claim when a plaintiff fails to address it in response to a motion for summary judgment.").

The district court declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the state law claims and remanded the case to the trial court. No appeal was taken from the judgment of the district court dismissing all of the federal claims against all Defendants.

B. Proceedings upon the remand to the trial court

On July 13, 2018, Defendants filed a motion for summary judgment on the state law claims. Plaintiffs gave notice of non-suit of all claims against Sheriff Watson and the "official capacity" claims against Ms. Goodwin, and on December 19, the trial court dismissed those claims. On July 15, 2019, the trial court denied Bradley County and Ms. Goodwin's motion for summary judgment, stating its reasoning from the bench:

When a situation is where you have a question of the intent of a party, you shouldn't grant summary judgment. And ... [when] you have to rely upon that one witness and they have control over how that version comes out. And I find that to be this case. I can't grant summary judgment because of that.

* * *

[O]ur courts have stated that summary judgment is not proper where the outcome of a case hinges upon the credibility of witnesses.

Ms. Goodwin and Bradley County filed a motion to amend the judgment, in which they argued, in part:

In considering Defendants’ federal court motion for summary judgment, the District Court considered the same issue, facts and circumstances relating to Officer Goodwin's actions which are now before this Court. Plaintiffs did not appeal or otherwise challenge the District Court's conclusions and order and therefore the same are final. Therefore, Plaintiffs are now collaterally estopped from relitigating the reasonableness of Officer

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