(a) Compensation for services or for the taking or use of property shall be owed only to the extent that a claimant may not be deemed to have volunteered the claimant’s services or property without compensation and only to the extent that such taking exceeds the legal responsibility of a claimant to render such services or make such property so available.
Emergency: means an occurrence, or threat thereof, whether natural, technological, or manmade, in war or in peace, that results or may result in substantial injury or harm to the population, or substantial damage to or loss of property. See Tennessee Code 58-2-101
Person: includes a natural person or entity organized under the laws of this state or any other state or territory of the United States or the federal government, as the case may be, and includes both the singular and plural. See Tennessee Code 58-2-101
State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(b) Compensation owed for personal services shall be only such as may be fixed by TEMA.(c) Compensation for property shall be owed only if the property was commandeered or otherwise used in coping with an emergency and its use or destruction was ordered by the governor or a member of the emergency forces of this state.(d) Any person claiming compensation for the use, damage, loss, or destruction of property under this chapter shall file a claim therefor with the agency in the form and manner that the agency provides.(e) Unless the amount of compensation owed on account of property damaged, lost, or destroyed is agreed between the claimant and TEMA, the amount of compensation shall be calculated in the same manner as compensation due for a taking of property pursuant to the condemnation laws of this state.(f) Nothing in this section applies to or authorizes compensation:
(1) For the destruction or damaging of standing timber or other property in order to provide a firebreak;(2) For damage resulting from the release of waters or the breach of impoundments in order to reduce pressure or other danger from actual or threatened flood; or(3) Beyond the extent of funds available for such compensation.
