Poling v. Goins

OPINION

HARBISON, Justice.

The Court granted review in this case to consider whether the courts of this state may appropriately entertain actions brought under the Civil Rights Act of 1871 as amended, 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 et seq.

In one of the first cases in recent years to consider the subject, Chamberlain v. Brown, 223 Tenn. 25, 442 S.W.2d 248 (1969), this Court held that the state courts need not entertain such actions. It noted that the statutes authorizing these suits were originally directed to trial courts in the federal system and not to the respective states.

Although the opinion in that…