Tennessee Code Annotated
Tenn. Code Ann. § 8-8-302 (2026)
Suits against counties for wrongs of deputies - Timing
✓ current as of May 2026
- (a) Anyone incurring any wrong, injury, loss, damage or expense resulting from any act or failure to act on the part of any deputy appointed by the sheriff may bring suit against the county in which the sheriff serves; provided, that the deputy is, at the time of such occurrence, acting by virtue of or under color of the office.
- (b) Notwithstanding § 28-1-105, an action brought pursuant to subsection (a) must be filed within one (1) year after the cause of action accrued.
- (c)
- (1) The county has sixty (60) days in which to answer or otherwise respond to any action brought pursuant to subsection (a).
- (2) If, at the end of the sixty-day period, the county has failed to answer or otherwise respond to the complaint, the county shall not be in default but rather is deemed to have denied the material, well pleaded factual allegations of the complaint.
Amended by 2023 Tenn. Acts, ch. 451, s 1, eff. 7/1/2023.
Acts 1972, ch. 800, § 2; T.C.A., § 8-833.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 49
cases (20 in the last 5 years), 1981–2026 · leading case: Jenkins v. Loudon Cnty., 736 S.W.2d 603 (Tenn. 1987).
Jenkins v. Loudon Cnty., 736 S.W.2d 603 (Tenn. 1987). “The Court then observed that the liability of the sheriff had been shifted to the county to a limited extent: "It is equally clear that [T.C.A. § 8-8-302] authorizes suit against the County based on the acts of a deputy sheriff if, but only if, the deputy is at the time `acting…”
Linkous v. Lane, 276 S.W.3d 917 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2008). “Further there is no specific statement that the non-negligence claim made under Tenn.Code Ann. § 8-8-302 was dismissed. Appellant did not raise the issue of the dismissal of the § 8-8-302 claim on appeal.”
Corder v. Metro. Gov't of Nashville & Davidson Cnty., 852 S.W.2d 910 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1992). “(Governmental Tort Liability Act), and T.C.A. § 8-8-302 (suits against counties for wrong-doing of deputies).”
Thompson v. Williamson Cnty., Tenn., 965 F. Supp. 1026 (M.D. Tenn. 1997). “Furthermore, Defendant Williamson County is also sued in this action pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated Section 8-8-302, which provides: “Anyone incurring any wrong, injury, loss, damage or expense resulting from any act or failure to act on the part of any deputy appointed by…”
Erwin v. Rose, 980 S.W.2d 203 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1998). “Tenn.Code Ann. § 8-8-302. In Jenkins v. Loudon County, 736 S.”
Spurlock v. Whitley, 971 F. Supp. 1166 (M.D. Tenn. 1997). “The Court notes that notwithstanding Monell and its progeny, the County is made specifically liable for the actions of deputy sheriffs under a Tennessee statute, Tenn.Code Ann. § 8-8-302, which provides: Anyone incurring any wrong, injury, loss, damage or expense resulting from…”
Willis v. Barksdale, 625 F. Supp. 411 (W.D. Tenn. 1985). “Section 8-8-302 provides: "Anyone incurring any wrong, injury, loss, damage or expense resulting from any act or failure to act on the part of any deputy appointed by the sheriff may bring suit against the county in which the sheriff serves provided that the deputy is, at the…”
Buchanan v. Williams, 434 F. Supp. 2d 521 (M.D. Tenn. 2006). “” Tenn.Code Ann. § 8-8-302. Thus, under this statute, the County remains liable on Plaintiffs state law claims for conversion and intentional inflection of emotional distress and Plaintiffs proof satisfies the requirements of the conversion claim.”
Wilson v. Morgan, 477 F.3d 326 (6th Cir. 2007). “After the verdicts were entered, the magistrate judge directed verdicts against the county pursuant to Tenn.Code Ann. § 8-8-302, in the amount of the damages the jury had awarded to the plaintiffs on their state law claims.”
Cheryl Merolla v. Wilson Cnty., Tennessee (Tenn. Ct. App. 2019). “Tenn. Code Ann. § 8-8-302 . Tennessee Code Annotated section 8-8-303 provides a waiver of sovereign immunity for claims raised pursuant to section 8-8-302.”
Seiber v. Cooper, 522 F. Supp. 157 (E.D. Tenn. 1981). “§ 1988 1 incorporates into federal law T.C.A. § 8-8-302 2 which exposes a county to liability for the acts of deputy sheriffs “acting by virtue of, or under color of his office.”
Matthews v. Pickett Cnty., TN, 136 F. Supp. 2d 861 (M.D. Tenn. 2000). “Based upon her husband’s prior history of physical and sexual assault, the Circuit Court for Pickett County issued a Protective Order on October 15, 1993 to bar her husband from contacting her and directed all law enforcement officers to arrest her husband in the event that the…”
— Tenn. Code Ann. § 8-8-302(a) — 1 case
Griffin, Jr. v. Hunter (W.D. Tenn. 2023).
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.