Hancock v. Farm Bureau Ins. Co.

• Decision Date: 23 September 1981
• Docket Number: No. 52890,52890
• Citation: 403 So.2d 877
• Parties: John W. HANCOCK v. FARM BUREAU INSURANCE CO., et al.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 877

403 So.2d 877

John W. HANCOCK v. FARM BUREAU INSURANCE CO., et al.

No. 52890.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

Sept. 23, 1981.

Paul M. Neville, Meridian, for appellant.

Kenneth Watts, Grace Watts, J. R. Shannon, Walter W. Eppes, Jr., Meridian, Jerome B. Steen, Whitman B. Johnson, III, Steen, Reynolds, Dalehite & Currie, Jackson, for appellees.

Before ROBERTSON, BROOM and HAWKINS, JJ.

ROBERTSON, Presiding Justice, for the Court:

Appellant, John W. Hancock, filed a complaint in the Chancery Court of Lauderdale County against Farm Bureau Insurance Company, State Farm Insurance Company, J. R. Shannon and Walter W. Eppes, Jr., seeking reformation of a written release signed by Hancock and obtained by Farm Bureau Insurance Company, for its insured, Mary Walker Stewart. Hancock also prayed that State Farm Insurance Company and its attorneys, J. R. Shannon and Walter W. Eppes, Jr., be enjoined from interposing and relying on this written release as an affirmative defense in a suit for damages filed by Hancock against Gerald Miles Harrison in the Circuit Court of Lauderdale County.

General demurrers by all defendants were filed in the Chancery Court suit and the chancellor sustained these general demurrers and dismissed Hancock's bill of complaint.

On January 6, 1979, about 7:00 p. m., Hancock ran into a stopped automobile owned and operated by Mary Walker Stewart on U. S. Highway 45 Alternate, approximately one mile north of Artesia, Mississippi.

Shortly thereafter, Gerald Miles Harrison drove his car into Hancock's automobile while it was immobilized due to the collision with the Stewart automobile. Stewart's insurer, Farm Bureau Insurance Company, on February 23, 1979, settled Hancock's claim against Stewart for $1500, and took a general release from Hancock on that date.

When suit was filed in the Circuit Court of Lauderdale County by Hancock against Gerald Miles Harrison, defendant Harrison answered and asserted as an affirmative defense the "Final Release and Settlement of Claim" executed by Hancock to Mary Walker Stewart.

At this stage of the proceedings, Hancock, plaintiff in the Circuit Court suit against Harrison, filed his bill of complaint in the Chancery Court of Lauderdale County, praying reformation of the release executed by Hancock in favor of Stewart. This complaint was filed not against Harrison, the only defendant in the Circuit Court suit, but against Stewart's insurer, Farm Bureau Insurance Company, Harrison's insurer, State Farm Insurance Company, and Harrison's attorneys, J. R. Shannon and Walter W. Eppes, Jr. Hancock also prayed that Harrison's insurer "State Farm Insurance Company, J. R. Shannon and Walter W. Eppes, Jr." be enjoined "from relying on the said Release in the defense of Gerald Miles Harrison in Cause No. 1055-H pending in the Circuit Court of Lauderdale County, Mississippi."

We affirm the decree of the chancery court sustaining the general demurrers of all defendants and dismissing the bill of complaint because there is no equity on the face of the bill and because plaintiff Hancock has a plain, adequate and speedy remedy at law.

In Huffman v. Griffin, 337 So.2d 715 (Miss.1976), this Court said:

"This motion raises the issue of priority jurisdiction between courts of concurrent jurisdiction. The principal of priority jurisdiction is that where two suits between the same parties over the same controversy are brought in courts of concurrent jurisdiction, the court which first acquires jurisdiction retains jurisdiction over the whole controversy to the exclusion or abatement of the second suit. (Citing Lee v. Lee, 232 So.2d 370, 373, (Miss.1970), and other authorities). (Emphasis added).

"In this state priority of jurisdiction between courts of concurrent jurisdiction is determined by the date the initial pleading is filed, provided process issues in due course. (Citing Euclid-Mississippi v. Western Casualty and Surety Company, Inc., 249 Miss. 547, 559-60, 163 So.2d 676 (1964), and other authorities). 337 So.2d at 719.

Plaintiff, Hancock, chose his forum when he filed his suit for damages against Gerald Miles Harrison in the Circuit Court of Lauderdale County. He is bound by that decision and, as said in Huffman :

"(T)he court which first acquires jurisdiction retains jurisdiction over the whole controversy to the exclusion or abatement of the second suit."

337 So.2d at 719. (Emphasis added).

In Bogdahn et al. v. Pascagoula Street Ry. & Power Co., 118 Miss. 668, 79 So. 844 (1918), it was held that the matter of a $7,500 settlement with a...