Section 41-1-112 - Actions by commissioner(a) The commissioner is authorized to sue and to prosecute suits in the commissioner's own name as the commissioner, with reference to all matters pertaining to the penitentiary affairs of the state at the main prison, for the enforcement of all contracts made by the commissioner or by the commissioner's authority, for the collection of all debts or demands due the department of correction and to protect the property of the state in the commissioner's charge in the department.(b)(1) The commissioner is authorized to sue and to prosecute suits: (A) For the collection of all demands due on account of the Brushy Mountain Coal Mines to enforce all contracts made with the commissioner in the name of the Brushy Mountain Coal Mines;(B) To protect the Brushy Mountain Coal Mines and coal lands, the improvements upon the Brushy Mountain Coal Mines and coal lands and all property in the commissioner's charge in the department; and(C) As to any and all matters growing out of the state coal mining enterprise.(2) These suits shall be brought and prosecuted in the commissioner's own name or in the name of the Brushy Mountain Coal Mines.Acts 1903, ch. 278, §§ 1, 2; impl. am. Acts 1915, ch. 20, § 9; Shan., §§ 7474a1, 7474a2; impl. am. Acts 1919, ch. 39, §§ 1, 2; impl. am. Acts 1923, ch. 7, § 42; mod. Code 1932, §§ 12070, 12071; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), §§ 41-127, 41-128.