2016 Tennessee Legislation Provides Immunity to Businesses and Premises Owners for Failure to Prohibit Weapons on Property

One interesting theory of potential liability against a premises owner is to sue the premises owner for civil liability regarding something that occurred on the property involving guns or other weapons.  The Tennessee legislature previously adopted T.C.A. § 39-17-1359 which provides that a person, business or other entity who controls or manages properties, has the authority to prohibit weapons on that property by making a specific posting.  The key language in that statute is as follows:

(a)(1) Except as provided in § 39-17-1313, an individual, corporation, business entity or local, state or federal government entity or agent thereof is authorized to prohibit the possession of weapons by any person who is at a meeting conducted by, or on property owned, operated, or managed or under the control of the individual, corporation, business entity or government entity.

(2) The prohibition in subdivision (a)(1) shall apply to any person who is authorized to carry a firearm by authority of § 39-17-1351.

The question that has come up since the adoption of this statute (T.C.A. § 39-17-1359), is whether premises owners can be held liable if they do not ban guns from their property using this posting procedure and there is an incident that involves injury to an individual due to the use of such weapons.  The Tennessee legislator addressed this issue in 2016 when it adopted Public Chapter No. 947, which took effect July 1, 2016.  This new statute provides immunity for people, businesses or entities that own property under the legal theory that they failed to prohibit weapons on their property and an injury or death resulted from those weapons.  In other words, under this new statute, the theory that a landowner had the power to ban weapons under T.C.A. § 39-17-1359, they failed to do so, and therefore they are liable for gun violence on their property – is not a legal theory that is viable in Tennessee.  This statute will be found in Title 39, Chapter 17, Part 13, but it has not yet been officially placed in the Tennessee Code (it should be very soon).  This new statute provides as follows:

(a) A person, business, or

Misrepresentation of Licensed Contractor Status in Tennessee Can Cause Significant Liability

Tennessee law is clear that any person, firm or corporation who misrepresents that they are a licensed contractor is subject to significant penalties.  It is also against Tennessee law to act in the capacity of a “contractor” in Tennessee when one is not properly licensed.  Specifically, T.C.A. § 62-6-136 discusses this issue in subsection (A) as follows:

(a) It is unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to represent itself as a licensed contractor or to act in the capacity of a “contractor” as defined in §§ 62-6-102, or 62-37-103, and related rules and regulations of this state, or any similar statutes, rules and regulations of another state, while not licensed, unless such person, firm or corporation has been duly licensed under § 62-6-103 or § 62-37-104.

A licensed contractor is specifically defined in this statute.  This is a rather lengthy statute, but the key part is the provision that licensure is required for projects beyond $25,000.00.  The complete definition is found in T.C.A. § 62-6-102 which defines a contractor as follows:

(4)(A)(i) “Contractor” means any person or entity that undertakes to, attempts to or submits a price or bid or offers to construct, supervise, superintend, oversee, schedule, direct or in any manner assume charge of the construction, alteration, repair, improvement, movement, demolition, putting up, tearing down or furnishing labor to install material or equipment for any building, highway, road, railroad, sewer, grading, excavation, pipeline, public utility structure, project development, housing, housing development, improvement or any other construction undertaking for which the total cost is twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) or more; provided, however, with respect to a licensed masonry contractor, such term means and includes the masonry portion of the construction project, the total cost of which exceeds one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000), materials and labor;

(ii) “Contractor” includes, but is not limited to, a prime contractor, electrical contractor, electrical subcontractor, mechanical contractor, mechanical subcontractor, plumbing contractor and plumbing subcontractor, masonry contractor, and roofing subcontractor where the total cost of the roofing portion of the construction project is twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) or more;

(iii...