Boston v. Hartford Acc. & Indem. Co.

• Citation: 822 So.2d 239
• Decision Date: 04 April 2002
• Docket Number: No. 2000-CA-00968-SCT.,2000-CA-00968-SCT.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Mississippi
• Parties: Louise BOSTON, Administratrix of the Estate of Mae Evelyn Boston, Deceased v. HARTFORD ACCIDENT AND INDEMNITY COMPANY, Lafayette County, Mississippi, F.D. East, Vera Theobald, Bill Plunk, Ricky Miller, Lyndon Carpenter and John Thomas.

822 So.2d 239

Louise BOSTON, Administratrix of the Estate of Mae Evelyn Boston, Deceased v. HARTFORD ACCIDENT AND INDEMNITY COMPANY, Lafayette County, Mississippi, F.D. East, Vera Theobald, Bill Plunk, Ricky Miller, Lyndon Carpenter and John Thomas.

No. 2000-CA-00968-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

April 4, 2002.

Rehearing Denied August 1, 2002.

Ellis Turnage, Cleveland, attorney for appellant.

H. Scot Spragins, Oxford, attorney for appellees.

EN BANC.

PITTMAN, C.J., for the Court.

¶ 1. This wrongful death action was filed by Louise Boston ("Boston"), administratrix of the estate of Mae Evelyn Boston ("Decedent") in the Circuit Court of the First Judicial District of Hinds County against Lafayette County, its sheriff, Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company ("HAIC"), the chancery clerk, a deputy chancery clerk and three jailers following a dismissal with prejudice of her federal claims and a dismissal without prejudice of her state claims in federal court. Subsequently, on defendant's motion, venue was transferred to Lafayette County. The defendant's motion to dismiss was granted when the Lafayette County Circuit Court concluded that Boston's state law claims were barred, either by the statute of limitations or by res judicata and collateral estoppel, that defendants Plunk and Theobald were entitled to quasi-judicial immunity, and that Lafayette County was entitled to sovereign immunity at the time Boston's state law claims accrued. Aggrieved, Boston perfected a timely appeal to this Court.

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS BELOW

¶ 2. (The following facts are largely incorporated from Boston v. Lafayette County, 744 F.Supp. 746, 748-50 (N.D.Miss. 1990)).

¶ 3. Mae Evelyn Boston ("Decedent") died in her sleep on July 12, 1987, from heart failure after being detained approximately forty-eight hours in the Lafayette County Jail pending involuntary commitment proceedings.

¶ 4. Decedent, diagnosed with chronic paranoid schizophrenia since childhood, was detained after her sister signed an affidavit which stated, in effect, that Decedent presented a danger to herself and her newborn child. Upon signing of the affidavit, the Chancery Judge validly appointed defendant Mel Davis ("Davis") Special Master over the initial detainment proceedings. Davis found that the Decedent warranted temporary detainment in the Lafayette County Jail pending a professional psychiatric and medical examination and ordered the Chancery Clerk to issue a writ of custody so that Decedent could be detained. Defendant Bill Plunk ("Plunk"), the Chancery Clerk, complied with Davis's command and issued the writ. During the same proceeding, Davis appointed an attorney to represent the Decedent in any future commitment proceedings and appointed two medical professionals from a nearby mental health center to examine and evaluate the Decedent's mental and physical condition within the next twenty-four hours.

¶ 5. The writ to take custody was issued at approximately ten o'clock on a Friday morning. Although the court-appointed physicians were ordered to examine the Decedent within twenty-four hours, the Deputy Chancery Clerk called the mental health center and scheduled the Decedent's examination for 9:30 the following Monday morning.

¶ 6. The Decedent died at approximately 11:30 that Sunday morning in between half-hourly visual inspections of the jailer on duty, Ricky Miller ("Miller"). According to submitted expert testimony, the blood clots which caused the Decedent's death formed at least twenty-four hours and probably several days prior to her death, and likely would have been detected and effectively treated had medical professionals examined her within twenty-four hours of her detainment. ¶ 7. The Decedent's mental illness was manifest when she was detained at the jail on Friday morning. Upon arrival she made grunting sounds and pushed down upon her abdomen, which accompanying police officers interpreted as a hallucination that she was having a baby. She appeared physically ill to one of the accompanying officers, but merely appeared disoriented to Miller, who admitted the Decedent into custody.

¶ 8. Miller placed the Decedent alone inside a six-man cell after her arrival, pursuant to written procedure. He also observed her condition at half hour intervals and attempted to administer her medication according to the prescriptions. However, he failed to complete a medical screening form on the Decedent as required by departmental policy, and he did not ascertain that the Decedent had recently given birth by caesarian section. The Decedent remained psychotic and gave no indication to Miller that she was in pain or that she wished for professional medical attention.

¶ 9. Jailers Lyndon Carpenter ("Carpenter") and John Thomas ("Thomas") also observed the Decedent at half hour intervals during the weekend. On their respective shifts they administered her medication as prescribed and noted each dosage in the log book. No symptoms of physical illness were readily apparent, and at one point during the weekend Thomas observed her sitting in her cell, singing loudly. Neither jailer investigated nor discovered Miller's failure to complete a medical screening form for the Decedent.

¶ 10. Miller was on duty the morning the Decedent expired. He checked on her at approximately 11:15 that morning, at which time she was asleep and snoring. At 11:40 he conducted another check, heard no sound, and moved closer to investigate her physical condition. Upon discovering he could not wake her, he immediately telephoned for an ambulance and contacted Sheriff East. The Decedent was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.

¶ 11. On September 2, 1987, Boston filed her first civil action in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi alleging both federal and state law claims. In orders dated July 30, 1990 and August 20, 1990, the district court dismissed Boston's federal law claims with prejudice, but dismissed Boston's state law claims without prejudice. Boston v. Lafayette County, 743 F.Supp. 462, 475 (N.D.Miss.1990), and Boston v. Lafayette County, 744 F.Supp. 746, 755-56 (N.D.Miss.1990). The Fifth Circuit subsequently affirmed both decisions without opinion on May 6, 1991. Boston v. Lafayette Co., 933 F.2d 1003 (5th Cir.1991).

¶ 12. On July 6, 1993, Boston brought her second civil action in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi against some of the same defendants and additional defendants alleging both federal and state law claims. Boston v. Theobald, Civil Action Number: 3:93-CV-106-B-D. The district court dismissed by order and final judgment on April 20, 1995, all of Boston's federal law claims with prejudice as they were barred by collateral estoppel, and dismissed Boston's state law claims without prejudice.

¶ 13. On May 8, 1995, Boston filed her complaint in the Circuit Court of the First Judicial District of Hinds County claiming wrongful death. Defendants subsequently filed a motion to transfer venue to Lafayette County on July 6, 1995, which was granted by order on January 2, 1996. On November 1, 1999, the defendants filed a motion to dismiss and for summary judgment. The motion to dismiss with prejudice was granted May 31, 2000. The court determined:

(1) that the Statute of Limitations had ran against each of the individual defendants before this matter was instituted on May 8, 1995; (2) that the claims of the plaintiff against all defendants are barred by application of res judicata and/or principles of collateral estoppel; (3) that individual defendant East is immune from the claims of the plaintiff under the discretionary function doctrine and/or because Sheriff East did not individually participate in the deprivations alleged in this case; (4) that Defendants Plunk and Theobald are entitled to quasi judicial immunity under Mississippi law; and (5) that the County was entitled to sovereign immunity.

¶ 14. It is from this ruling that Boston appeals.

DISCUSSION

I. DID THE CIRCUIT COURT PROPERLY TRANSFER THIS ACTION FROM THE FIRST JUDICIAL DISTRICT OF HINDS COUNTY TO LAFAYETTE COUNTY?

¶ 15. Boston filed her complaint in the First Judicial District of Hinds County on May 8, 1995. The complaint named Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company ("HAIC"), Lafayette County, Vera Lee Theobald ("Theobald") in her capacity as deputy chancery clerk of Lafayette County, F.D. "Buddy" East ("East") individually and in his capacity as sheriff of Lafayette County, Ricky Miller ("Miller"), Lyndon Carpenter ("Carpenter"), and John Thomas ("Thomas") individually and in their capacities as jailers of Lafayette County, and Bill Plunk ("Plunk") individually and in his official capacity as Chancery Clerk of Lafayette County.

¶ 16. On July 6, 1995, the defendants filed a motion to transfer venue to Lafayette County in accordance with Miss.Code Ann. § 11-46-13(2), commonly known as the Mississippi Tort Claims Act. On January 2, 1996, the Circuit Court of the First Judicial District of Hinds County, while not citing a specific statute, entered an order finding the defendants' motion for change of venue to be well taken and gave Boston twenty (20) days to dismiss individual defendants and their sureties, upon which time the court would reconsider its decision. By order dated April 2, 1996, having found that more than twenty (20) days had passed and no motion to dismiss had been submitted by Boston, the court transferred the action to the Lafayette County Circuit Court. This decision was reiterated in an order dated October 29, 1996, where the court denied Boston's motion to reconsider because Boston had failed to respond within the twenty (20) days as required by the original order from January 2, 1996.

¶ 17. Boston contends that because she is an adult resident citizen of Jackson, First Judicial District of Hinds County and HAIC is a non-resident of Mississippi, her suit should have stayed in Hinds...