Lee v. Thompson, 2002-CA-00082-SCT.

• Decision Date: 11 September 2003
• Docket Number: No. 2002-CA-00082-SCT.,2002-CA-00082-SCT.
• Citation: 859 So.2d 981
• Parties: Susan Renee LEE, General Guardian of Emily Renee Lawson, A Minor and Sole Wrongful Death Beneficiary of Randy Clay Lawson, Deceased v. Sheriff Andrew THOMPSON, Individually, Sheriff Andrew Thompson, in his Official Capacity as Sheriff of Coahoma County, the Coahoma County Sheriff's Department, Tracy A. Vance, Norman Harris, Jerry Hampton, Sammie Davis, Sabrea L. Broom, Addie Evans, Raechele D. Scott, and Everett L. Langdon, in both their Individual and Official Capacities.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

859 So.2d 981

Susan Renee LEE, General Guardian of Emily Renee Lawson, A Minor and Sole Wrongful Death Beneficiary of Randy Clay Lawson, Deceased v. Sheriff Andrew THOMPSON, Individually, Sheriff Andrew Thompson, in his Official Capacity as Sheriff of Coahoma County, the Coahoma County Sheriff's Department, Tracy A. Vance, Norman Harris, Jerry Hampton, Sammie Davis, Sabrea L. Broom, Addie Evans, Raechele D. Scott, and Everett L. Langdon, in both their Individual and Official Capacities.

No. 2002-CA-00082-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

September 11, 2003.

H. Wesley Williams, III, Ridgeland, Jeffrey Stephen Moffett, for appellant.

David D. O'Donnell, Oxford, for appellees.

EN BANC.

CARLSON, Justice, for the Court.

¶ 1. Aggrieved by the trial court's dismissal of her wrongful death suit brought on behalf of her minor daughter against various Coahoma County defendants as a result of the death of her minor daughter's father while he was an inmate at the Coahoma County Jail, Susan Renee Lee appeals to this Court. Finding no reversible error, we affirm the judgment of the Circuit Court of Coahoma County, though for reasons different than those stated by the trial court.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY¹

¶ 2. Susan Renee Lee (Lee) is the former wife of Randy Clay Lawson (Lawson). Emily Renee Lawson (Emily), is the minor daughter of Lee and Lawson.

¶ 3. In the early morning hours of June 4, 1999, an extremely intoxicated Lawson appeared at Lee's home in an effort to reconcile. Not surprisingly, it did not work. An altercation erupted, and Lee requested assistance from a neighbor who then fell victim to Lawson's wrath, receiving several injuries inflicted by Lawson. Responding to a disturbance call as a result of the altercation, officials from the Coahoma County Sheriff's Department dutifully arrived at the Lee home, but Lawson, evidently unscathed from the incident, had by then left the scene. It took nothing more than a tag number and vehicle description for law enforcement to apprehend Lawson. By 6:20 a.m. on June 4th, two Coahoma County deputies arrived with Lawson at the Coahoma County Jail. According to the various pleadings, several witnesses verified that at the time Lawson arrived at the jail, he was "drunk and rowdy," but he was not injured. A little over nine hours later, at 3:40 p.m., Lawson was discovered dead—hanging from the top bunk in his jail cell.

¶ 4. Upon a petition being filed in the Chancery Court of Coahoma County on June 15, 1999, twelve days after Lawson's death, Maggie L. Baty (Baty), Lawson's mother, was appointed as administratrix of Lawson's estate by order entered the same day. The very next day, Baty commenced an action in Civil Action No. 14-CI-99-0038, on the docket of the Circuit Court of Coahoma County, "Maggie L. Baty, Administratrix of the Estate of Randy C. Lawson and on behalf of all Wrongful Death Beneficiaries, Plaintiff, versus Andrew Thompson, Sheriff of Coahoma County, Mississippi; John Doe(s), Jailer(s) of Coahoma County Jail; and Coahoma County, Mississippi, Defendants." In this civil action, Baty asserted both federal and state claims against the defendants for "failing to prevent the suicide" of Lawson. The only reference to the Mississippi Tort Claims Act (MTCA), Miss.Code Ann. §§ 11-46-1 to -23 (Rev.2002 & Supp. 2003), is found in paragraph 11 (page 4) of the complaint, which states:

The actions and/or inactions of the Defendants itemized and described hereinabove also constitute torts under state law. All such state claims will be itemized and specifically pled once the ninety (90) day period has run as required under Miss.Code Ann. § 11-46-11(1).²

The suit also sought, inter alia, $5,000,000 in compensatory damages from Sheriff Thompson, the John Doe jailers and Coahoma County (County).

¶ 5. On June 25, 1999, only nine days after Baty had commenced the civil suit as administratrix of Lawson's estate, the Chancery Court of Coahoma County, in a different cause from that of the estate matter, entered a decree, pursuant to a petition filed by Lee, appointing Lee as the general guardian of Emily's estate due to Emily's having an unliquidated claim for damages arising out of her father's death.

¶ 6. Although Emily had been born more than 11 months after the marriage of Lee and Lawson, Baty disputed the allegation that her son was Emily's father. Pursuant to a chancery court order entered in the estate cause on September 8, 1999, Lee and Emily submitted to DNA testing and ReliaGene Technologies, Inc. (ReliaGene) of New Orleans, Louisiana, performed the DNA analysis. The resulting ReliaGene report revealed that Emily was indeed Lawson's biological daughter.

¶ 7. On March 23, 2000, Lee, as Emily's natural mother and as duly appointed general guardian of Emily's estate, filed in the chancery court estate cause a motion to have Baty removed as administratrix of Lawson's estate and to have Lee substituted as the administratrix. On April 13, 2000, Baty and Lee, by and through their respective counsel, agreed to the chancellor's entry of an order removing Baty and substituting Lee as the administratrix of Lawson's estate.

¶ 8. Although we cannot ascertain the exact date from the record, we do know that somewhere along the way, the Coahoma County defendants removed the Baty action from circuit court to federal court. We find in the record an opinion dated August 14, 2000, and signed by the Honorable Neal B. Biggers, Jr., Chief Judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi.³ Judge Biggers's opinion was entered pursuant to a previously filed motion to dismiss by the Coahoma County defendants, and in the opinion, reference is made to the fact that Lee was substituted for Baty as the administratrix of Lawson's estate and thereafter filed an amended complaint on May 18, 2000. Likewise, the federal court opinion sets out that the defendants were asserting that Lawson had hung himself while Lee on the other hand contended in her amended complaint that Lawson "was killed by the sheriff's department of Coahoma County by a severe beating administered by one or more deputies."⁴ Judge Biggers found that Lee's amended complaint failed to sufficiently allege a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claim against Coahoma County and Sheriff Thompson, and that as to the state law claims, Miss.Code Ann. § 11-46-9(1)(m) barred any claim against Sheriff Thompson and Coahoma County. Pursuant to the opinion and the same-day entry of a final judgment consistent with the opinion, Judge Biggers dismissed Lee's amended complaint with prejudice; however, by order dated October 20, 2000, the final judgment was amended to provide that the dismissal was without prejudice and that Lee would thus have thirty days from and after October 20, 2000, in which to file an amended complaint in the federal court action.

¶ 9. Rather than filing an amended complaint in the federal court action pursuant to that court's order of October 20, 2000, Lee chose to instead file a new state court complaint. On March 28, 2001, 159 days after being allowed by the federal court to amend her federal court pleadings within 30 days, Lee opted to file this new action in the Circuit Court of Coahoma County. This cause was styled "Susan Renee Lee, General Guardian of Emily Renee Lawson, A Minor and Sole Wrongful Death Beneficiary of Randy Clay Lawson, Deceased, Plaintiff vs. Sheriff Andrew Thompson, Individually, Sheriff Andrew Thompson, in His Official Capacity as Sheriff of Coahoma County, The Coahoma County Sheriff's Department, Tracy A. Vance, Norman Harris, Jerry Hampton, Sammie Davis, Sabrea L. Broom, Addie Evans, Raechele D. Scott, and Everett L. Langdon, in Both Their Individual and Official Capacities, and John Does 8-10, In Both Their Individual and Official Capacities, Defendants," and was assigned cause number 14-CI-01-0028 on the docket of that court. ¶ 10. In this new circuit court complaint, Lee alleged, inter alia, intentional acts by the Coahoma County defendants to kill Lawson and to destroy evidence. More specifically Lee asserted in her complaint claims of (1) assault and battery; (2) wrongful death; (3) outrage and/or infliction of emotional distress; (4) civil conspiracy and state constitutional claims; (5) gross negligence; (6) punitive damages; and, (7) vicarious liability.⁵ A review of this complaint also reveals the following allegations:

41. Dr. Hayne noted that defensive posturing wounds could not be excluded as the cause of the wounds and that he had not been supplied with the ligature device alleged to have caused the injuries. Furthermore, there is no indication that Dr. Hayne was ever supplied with the orange jumpsuit, which Mr. Lawson was wearing at the time of his demise. In fact, this jumpsuit was suspiciously and wrongfully disposed of by the Sheriff's Department.

42. Dr. Hayne was also never supplied with the broken dental plate which was found next to Mr. Lawson's body. Both [two sheriff's deputies] specifically recall that this plate had the teeth smashed inward.

¶ 11. On April 23, 2001, all defendants joined together to file a motion to dismiss Lee's complaint.⁶ As grounds for the motion, the defendants asserted, inter alia, (1) that Lee's claims were exclusively governed by the MTCA; (2) that the claims were barred by the applicable statute of limitations; (3) that Lee failed to timely file this action pursuant to the MTCA; (4) that the defendants enjoyed sovereign immunity; (5) that Lee's claims were barred under the MTCA since Lawson was an inmate at the time of his death; (6) that the Coahoma County defendants were performing discretionary functions at the time of the relevant events, thus barring the claims under the MTCA; and that (7) Lee had failed to state any claim upon which relief could be granted to her. On December 13, 2001, the circuit judge entered his 4-page Order Granting Motion to Dismiss. In his order, the trial judge addressed, inter alia,...