Opinion ID: 1743368
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: effect of special supreme court's ruling

Text: We first consider the Chancery Court's holding that the pronouncement of the Special Supreme Court in part VI of its October 2, 1996 opinion regarding the residency requirements of the current vacancy on the Supreme Court was obiter dictum. The Chancery Court noted that while [the opinion was] accorded persuasive authority, [it was] not binding on [the] Court. After a thorough consideration of the issue and the unique facts of this case, we conclude that the residency issue addressed in part VI of the Special Supreme Court's opinion was not before the Court. In sum, it is clear that the pronouncement of the Special Supreme Court in this regard was beyond the mandate for which that Court was commissioned. After the members of this Court disqualified themselves from participating in the Hooker and Laska cases, the Governor commissioned the members of the Special Supreme Court to serve as special justices pursuant to Tenn. Const. art. VI, § 11 and Tenn. Code Ann. § 17-2-102. The letter sent by the Governor to each member of the Special Supreme Court specifically limited the mandate of the Special Supreme Court. The letter stated: Pursuant to my authority under Article VI, Section 11, of the Constitution of the State of Tennessee, I hereby specially commission you to serve as a special justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court for the trial and determination of State of Tennessee, ex rel. Hooker v. Thompson, No. 01-S-01-9605-CH-00106 and State of Tennessee, ex rel. Laska v. Thompson, No. 01-S-01-9606-CH-00114. (Emphasis added). The applicable constitutional and statutory provisions limit the commission of a special court to those cases and issues over which the regular members of the court are disqualified from presiding. Article VI, section 11 provides that in case all or any of the Judges of the Supreme Court shall thus be disqualified from presiding on the trial of any cause or causes, the Court, or the Judges thereof, shall certify the same to the Governor of the State, and he shall forthwith specially commission the [special judges] for the trial and determination thereof. (Emphasis added). Similarly, Tenn. Code Ann. § 17-2-103 provides that [t]he special judges so commissioned shall hear and determine the causes in the commission set forth ... and shall have the same power and authority in those causes as the regular judges of the court. (Emphasis added). See also Tenn. Code Ann. § 17-2-102 (The judges of the supreme court ... shall certify to the governor all cases ... in which [any] of them is incompetent to sit ... [and] the governor shall appoint and commission the requisite number of competent lawyers to dispose of the causes.). Thus, the commission of the Special Supreme Court was limited to a determination of the Laska and Hooker cases. Those cases involved the issue of whether the August 1, 1996 election for the Supreme Court position would be a retention or a contested election, and if the election was contested, who was entitled to be a candidate. The orders of the Special Supreme Court issued prior to its opinion addressed matters directly related to these issues. The first five sections of the October 2, 1996 opinion also related to these issues; however, the views expressed in part VI did not relate to the determination of the Laska and Hooker cases. Thus, the pronouncement was beyond the Special Supreme Court's mandate. We note that this Court had the benefit of thorough and extensive briefing of the issues, as well as oral argument, by the interested parties, an advantage that the Special Supreme Court did not have in determining the residency issue. In view of our holding, we need not decide the question of whether the Special Supreme Court's opinion regarding the residency requirements of the current vacancy was obiter dictum and not binding on the trial court as precedent, as found by the Chancellor. We observe, however, that trial courts must follow the directives of superior courts, particularly when the superior court has given definite expression to its views in a case after careful consideration. Taylor v. Taylor, 162 Tenn. 482, 488-89, 40 S.W.2d 393, 395 (1931); Rose v. Blewett, 202 Tenn. 153, 161-62, 303 S.W.2d 709, 712-13 (1957); Davis v. Mitchell, 27 Tenn. App. 182, 223-24, 178 S.W.2d 889, 905-06 (1943) [5] . Accordingly, inferior courts are not free to disregard, on the basis that the statement is obiter dictum, the pronouncement of a superior court when it speaks directly on the matter before it, particularly when the superior court seeks to give guidance to the bench and bar. To do otherwise invites chaos into the system of justice.