Tennessee Code Annotated
Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-20-108 (2026)
Immunity of emergency communications district boards, state, counties, and municipalities and employees - Exceptions
✓ current as of May 2026
- (a) Emergency communications district boards, established in § 7-86-105, and the members of such board shall be immune from any claim, complaint or suit of any nature which relates to or arises from the conduct of the affairs of the board except in cases of gross negligence by such board or its members. The finding of the general assembly is that the service of such boards and the members thereof is so critical to the safety and welfare of the citizens of this state that such absolute and complete immunity is required for the free exercise of the duties of such boards by the members.
- (b) Such immunity shall also extend to employees of an emergency communications district, and county and municipal governments for the acts or omissions of employees that manage, supervise, or perform 911 emergency communications service as communicators or dispatchers; provided, that all such employees shall attain and maintain training requirements as may be required by state law.
- (c) An emergency call taker or public safety dispatcher who assists or instructs a caller or bystander on T-CPR is not liable for any civil damages or subject to a civil suit of any nature arising out of the assistance and instruction provided to the caller or bystander, except in cases of gross negligence or willful misconduct.
- (d)
- (1) A caller or bystander may decline to receive T-CPR.
- (2) When a caller or bystander declines T-CPR, the emergency call taker or public safety dispatcher has no obligation to provide such instruction.
- (e) The emergency communication district, state, county, and municipality are not liable for any civil damages or subject to a civil suit of any nature for employees who answer 911 emergency calls and employees who are recently hired, except in cases of gross negligence or willful misconduct.
- (f) As used in this section, "T-CPR" means telecommunicator cardiopulmonary resuscitation, which is the dispatcher-assisted delivery of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) instruction by trained emergency call takers or public safety dispatchers to callers or bystanders for events requiring CPR, such as out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA).
Amended by 2020 Tenn. Acts, ch. 575, Secs.s2, s3 eff. 3/19/2020.
Amended by 2014 Tenn. Acts, ch. 795, s 9, eff. 1/1/2015.
Acts 1985, ch. 144, § 1.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 4
cases (3 in the last 5 years), 2014–2024 · leading case: Penny Lawson v. Hawkins Cnty., TN (2023).
Penny Lawson v. Hawkins Cnty., TN (2023). “However, ECD-911’s immunity also is removed by Plaintiffs’ claim of gross negligence under Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-20-108 , and the third special duty exception to the public duty doctrine allows that claim to proceed against ECD-911.”
Cherry v. Macon Hosp., Inc., 45 F. Supp. 3d 781 (M.D. Tenn. 2014). “§ 29-20-108 insulates the 911 Board from vicarious liability for the actions of dispatchers within its employ.”
Tanna Gordon v. State of Tennessee (Tenn. Ct. App. 2024). “at 64 (quoting Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-20-108 (a)–(c), (e)).”
Penny Lawson v. Hawkins Cnty., TN (2021). “” Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-20-108 (2012).3 In addition, the third special duty exception to the public duty doctrine explicitly includes “reckless” conduct.”
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