## Facts

- The University of Tennessee–Knoxville hired Usha Haley in 2000 as an associate professor, with a probationary period and tenure consideration by the end of the 2001–2002 academic year.
- Haley applied for tenure and promotion during the 2001–2002 academic year and was denied tenure and promotion on May 28, 2002.
- Haley pursued multiple actions arising from the tenure denial:
  - a federal action alleging Title VII discrimination and a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claim against the dean in his individual capacity;
  - a breach-of-contract claim filed with the Tennessee Claims Commission; and
  - a Tennessee Human Rights Act claim filed in state chancery court.
- In the federal action, the university moved to dismiss, arguing that Haley’s Claims Commission filing waived other causes of action based on the same act or omission under Tenn. Code Ann. § 9-8-307(b).
- Haley voluntarily nonsuited (withdrew) her Claims Commission claim before the Commission took action, contending that the withdrawal prevented any statutory waiver.
- The federal district court certified questions of Tennessee law to the Tennessee Supreme Court under Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 23.

## Issues

1. Whether a claimant’s voluntary nonsuit or withdrawal of a claim filed with the Tennessee Claims Commission—before any Commission action—prevents the waiver in Tenn. Code Ann. § 9-8-307(b) from barring other state or federal causes of action based on the same act or omission.
2. Whether Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 23, authorizing the court to answer certified questions from federal courts, exceeds the court’s jurisdiction under the Tennessee Constitution.

## Decision

- The court answered the certified waiver question in the affirmative: the § 9-8-307(b) waiver is triggered upon filing in the Claims Commission and is not undone by a later voluntary nonsuit or withdrawal.
- The court held that Rule 23’s certified-question procedure is constitutional and does not impermissibly extend the court’s jurisdiction.

## Legal Principles

- Tenn. Code Ann. § 9-8-307(b) provides that filing a claim in the Tennessee Claims Commission operates as a waiver of any other cause of action, based on the same act or omission, that could be brought against the state in another court.
- The waiver attaches at the moment of filing; subsequent disposition of the Claims Commission claim, including voluntary nonsuit, does not negate the waiver.
- A voluntary dismissal does not retroactively erase legal consequences that attach to the act of filing; the statute makes filing the operative event for waiver.
- The certified-question process under Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 23 is a permissible exercise of the court’s authority to declare Tennessee law and does not constitute an improper assertion of original jurisdiction over the underlying case.

## Conclusion

The Tennessee Supreme Court held that a claimant who files in the Tennessee Claims Commission waives other state or federal claims arising from the same act or omission even if the Commission claim is later nonsuited, and it upheld the constitutionality of the court’s Rule 23 certified-question procedure.


Haley v. Univ. of Tenn.-Knoxville, 188 S.W.3d 518 (Tenn. 2006)