Lane v. RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co., No. 2001-CA-00384-SCT

• Decision Date: 08 May 2003
• Docket Number: No. 2001-CA-01032-SCT., No. 2001-CA-00384-SCT
• Parties: Christine LANE and Cordelia Griffin, Wrongful Death Beneficiaries of Willie Lawrence Muse, Deceased v. R.J. REYNOLDS TOBACCO COMPANY; Phillip Morris USA Inc.; Corr-Williams Company, Inc., Successor by Merger to Corr-Williams Tobacco Company, and C.W.C. Acquisition Company; Hattiesburg Grocery Company; and Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation. Christine Lane and Cordelia Griffin, Wrongful Death Beneficiaries of Willie Lawrence Muse, Deceased v. Liggett Group, Inc., Liggett & Myers, Inc., and Brooke Group Ltd.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

853 So.2d 1144

Christine LANE and Cordelia Griffin, Wrongful Death Beneficiaries of Willie Lawrence Muse, Deceased v. R.J. REYNOLDS TOBACCO COMPANY; Phillip Morris USA Inc.; Corr-Williams Company, Inc., Successor by Merger to Corr-Williams Tobacco Company, and C.W.C. Acquisition Company; Hattiesburg Grocery Company; and Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation.

Christine Lane and Cordelia Griffin, Wrongful Death Beneficiaries of Willie Lawrence Muse, Deceased v. Liggett Group, Inc., Liggett & Myers, Inc., and Brooke Group Ltd.

Nos. 2001-CA-00384-SCT, 2001-CA-01032-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

May 8, 2003.

Rehearing Denied September 25, 2003.

John Hubert Anderson, Hattiesburg, attorney for appellants.

Michael W. Ulmer, Lewis W. Bell, Jackson, Stephanie E. Parker, John F. Yarber, Atlanta, GA, Michael B. Wallace, Rebecca L. Hawkins, Walker (Bill) Jones, III, Sheryl Bey, Stuart G. Kruger, Tiffanee N. Wade, Jackson, Brooke Ferris, Jon Mark Weathers, Hattiesburg, Robert L. Gibbs, Jackson, Andrea La'Verne Ford Edney, William E. Huffman, Jr., and William L. Durham, II, attorneys for appellees.

Jesse Lee Howell, Thomas A. Cook, attorneys for appellees.

EN BANC.

PITTMAN, C.J., for the Court.

¶ 1. The Court consolidated two appeals regarding related products liability suits against cigarette manufacturers, distributors, and retailers. Both suits were filed in the Forrest County Circuit Court by the wrongful death beneficiaries of Willie Lawrence Muse. The first suit, No.2001-CA-00384, was dismissed on the pleadings pursuant Miss. R. Civ. P. 12(c). The second suit, No.2001-CA-01032, was dismissed on the pleadings pursuant to Miss. R. Civ. P. 54(b).

¶ 2. There are two issues on appeal: First, did the court err in denying the plaintiffs' motion for leave to amend; Second, did the court err by holding that the plaintiffs' did not state a claim upon which relief could be granted. Finding no error, we affirm.

FACTS

¶ 3. Willie Lawrence Muse smoked cigarettes from 1943 until he died from squamous cell carcinoma of the mouth on October 10, 1997.

¶ 4. On November 30, 1998, Muse's daughter, Christine Lane ("Lane"), filed a wrongful death suit in the Circuit Court of Forrest County against several manufacturers, distributors and retailers of cigarettes ("Liggett"). She twice amended her complaint: first on December 3, 1998, joining additional defendants; second, on December 4, 1998, adding Cordelia Griffin as a plaintiff.

¶ 5. Following various procedural and discovery requests, on September 12, 2000, Liggett filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings pursuant Miss. R. Civ. P. 12(c). Citing the Mississippi Product Liability Act (MPLA) codified in Miss.Code Ann. § 11-1-63 (2001), they argued that the claims failed as a matter of law because the alleged injuries to Muse were caused by an inherent characteristic of cigarettes which is a generic aspect of the product that cannot be eliminated without compromising the product's usefulness or desirability, and that this aspect is recognized by the ordinary person with the ordinary knowledge common to the community.

¶ 6. Counsel for Lane orally contested the motion at a hearing on December 5, 2000. At the conclusion of the hearing, counsel requested five days to submit a response to the court in opposition to Liggett's motion, which he failed to do. On December 18, 2000, the trial judge granted the defendants' motion and entered a judgment on the pleadings.

¶ 7. On December 28, 2000, counsel for Lane filed both a Motion for Order to Alter or Amend and a Motion for Order Allowing Plaintiffs to Amend. On January 31, 2001, a hearing was held on the motions. On February 1, 2001, the trial court denied the motions on and dismissed the complaint. Lane filed a "Second Amended Complaint" that same day. The amended complaint filed after the dismissal alleged, in addition to the allegations contained in the previous complaint, that the defendants conspired to conceal the addictive nature of nicotine and any harmful effects of smoking.

¶ 8. The second of the consolidated cases parallels the first. On October 9, 2001, Lane refiled the amended complaint from February, but substituting new defendants ("RJR"). Citing the previous decision of the trial court, RJR responded by filing motion for judgement on the pleadings based on theories of collateral estoppel and res judicata. Following a hearing, the trial judge granted the motion and dismissed the matter.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 9. There are two standards of review applicable to this appeal. First, motions for leave to amend are within the discretion of the trial court. A denial of motion for leave to amend is reviewed under the abuse of discretion standard and not reversed unless the trial court abused its discretion. Frank v. Dore 635 So.2d 1369, 1375 (Miss.1994) (citing Bourn v. Tomlinson Interest, Inc. 456 So.2d 747, 749 (Miss.1984); McDonald v. Holmes 595 So.2d 434, 436 (Miss.1992)).

¶ 10. Second, the Court employs the broader de novo standard in determining whether a circuit court erred in granting a Rule 12(c) motion for judgment on the pleadings. Hartford Cas. Ins. Co. v. Halliburton Co., 826 So.2d 1206, 1210 (Miss.2001) (citing City of Tupelo v. Martin, 747 So.2d 822, 829 (Miss.1999)). A Rule 12(c) motion for judgment on the pleadings serves a similar function to the Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Id. Unlike summary judgment, both Rule 12(b)(6) and Rule 12(c) are decided on the face of the pleadings alone. Hartford Cas. Ins. Co., 826 So.2d at 1210. Because the granting of a judgment on the pleadings raises a question of law, the de novo standard applies. Id.

DISCUSSION

I. DID THE CIRCUIT JUDGE ERR IN DENYING THE PLAINTIFFS' MOTION TO AMEND THEIR PLEADINGS.

¶ 11. Lane claims that she had a right to amend her complaint within 30 days after the first dismissal. Citing Miss. R. Civ. P. 15(a), she argues that the trial judge improperly denied this right. At the time of the trial court's decision, Rule 15(a) stated, in part:

On sustaining a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6), or for judgment on the pleadings, pursuant to Rule 12(c), thirty days leave to amend shall be granted, provided matters outside the pleadings are not presented at the hearing on the motion. Otherwise a party may amend his pleading only by leave of court or upon written consent of the adverse party; leave shall be freely given when justice so requires.

Miss. R. Civ. P. 15(a). The Court agrees, but notes that on April 17, 2003, Rule 15(a) was amended by replacing "thirty days leave to amend shall be granted" with "leave to amend shall be granted when justice so requires upon conditions and within time as determined by the court."

¶ 12. Recently, this issue was considered in Poindexter v. Southern United Fire Ins. Co., 838 So.2d 964 (Miss.2003). Writing for a plurality of the Court, Justice Cobb noted that, unlike the federal rule, our Rule 15(a) at that time provided an absolute right to amend. Id. at 970. The plurality concluded that a denial of such right was an abuse of discretion. Id. We adopt this view today. Therefore, in accordance with a plain reading of the rule, the Court rejects the futility exception to the former absolute right to amend. See Sligh v. First Nat'l Bank of Holmes County, 704 So.2d 1020, 1024 (Miss.1997)

.

¶ 13. In the instant case, following dismissal, Lane was entitled to 30 days leave to amend. However, by January 31, 2001, Lane had yet to file an amended complaint and when requested by the trial judge, was unable to submit a copy to the court. The right to amend was automatic, and there is no need to petition the court for thirty days leave. Sligh v. First Nat'l Bank of Holmes County, 704 So.2d at 1024. Nevertheless, because she failed to exercise her right, the decision of trial court is affirmed.

II. DID THE CIRCUIT COURT ERR IN GRANTING JUDGMENT ON THE PLEADINGS.

¶ 14. Broadly speaking, the second issue is whether the MPLA bars all suits based on injuries that arise out of the use tobacco products. Lane contends that § 11-1-63 does not preclude all product liability claims against tobacco companies as a matter of law. Instead, she argues MPLA limits claims arising out of the use of unaltered tobacco, but not those arising out of the use of altered tobacco. Lane alleges that manufacturers' defectively designed product led to Muse's cancer and that the defect is not an "inherent characteristic" of tobacco, but rather is a result of the intentional mixing of toxic compounds.

¶ 15. Liggett submits that the trial court's decision was a proper application of the law. They contend that the "defects alleged by the Lane are generic aspects of cigarettes that cannot be eliminated without substantially compromising the usefulness or desirability of the product and which are recognized by the ordinary person with ordinary knowledge common to the community." Moreover, Liggett argues that the Legislature and the drafters of the Restatement of Torts 2d specifically intended to limit tobacco related product liability claims.

¶ 16. Generally, to recover in a products liability action based on a design defect, plaintiffs must prove that at the time the product left the control of the manufacturer or seller: (1) the product was designed in a defective manner; (2) the defective condition rendered the product unreasonably dangerous to the user or consumer; and (3) the defective and unreasonably dangerous condition of the product was the proximate cause of plaintiff's damages. Bobby Marzine Harges, An Evaluation of the Mississippi Products liability Act of 1993, 63 Miss. L.J. 697, 712 (1994) (paraphrasing Miss.Code Ann. § 11-1-63 (1993)).

¶ 17. Mississippi's products liability law is based on Restatement (Second) of Torts § 402A. Horton v. Am. Tobacco Co., 667 So.2d 1289, 1295 (Miss.1995) (citin...