Madison County v. Hopkins, 2001-CA-01152-SCT.

• Citation: 857 So.2d 43
• Decision Date: 19 June 2003
• Docket Number: No. 2001-CA-01152-SCT.,2001-CA-01152-SCT.
• Parties: MADISON COUNTY, Mississippi; Karl Banks, In His Official Capacity as Supervisor of Madison County, Mississippi and Individually; J.L. Mccullough, In His Official Capacity as Former Supervisor of Madison County, Mississippi; David Richardson, In His Official Capacity as Supervisor of Madison County, Mississippi and Individually; Louise Spivey, In Her Official Capacity as Former Supervisor of Madison County, Mississippi; Luther Waldrop, In His Official Capacity as Former Supervisor of Madison County, Mississippi; W.T. Bill Banks In His Official Capacity as Former Supervisor of Madison County, Mississippi and Individually; Mark Sharpe, In His Official Capacity as Supervisor of Madison County, Mississippi and Individually; and Paul Griffin, In His Official Capacity as Supervisor of Madison County, Mississippi and Individually, v. Jessie HOPKINS, In His Official Capacity as Sheriff of Madison County and Individually.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

857 So.2d 43

MADISON COUNTY, Mississippi; Karl Banks, In His Official Capacity as Supervisor of Madison County, Mississippi and Individually; J.L. Mccullough, In His Official Capacity as Former Supervisor of Madison County, Mississippi; David Richardson, In His Official Capacity as Supervisor of Madison County, Mississippi and Individually; Louise Spivey, In Her Official Capacity as Former Supervisor of Madison County, Mississippi; Luther Waldrop, In His Official Capacity as Former Supervisor of Madison County, Mississippi; W.T. Bill Banks In His Official Capacity as Former Supervisor of Madison County, Mississippi and Individually; Mark Sharpe, In His Official Capacity as Supervisor of Madison County, Mississippi and Individually; and Paul Griffin, In His Official Capacity as Supervisor of Madison County, Mississippi and Individually, v. Jessie HOPKINS, In His Official Capacity as Sheriff of Madison County and Individually.

No. 2001-CA-01152-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

June 19, 2003.

Rehearing Denied October 23, 2003.

Gary E. Friedman, Jackson, for Appellants.

William E. Spell, Clinton, for Appellee.

Before PITTMAN, C.J., WALLER and CARLSON, JJ.

CARLSON, Justice, for the Court.

¶ 1. Underlying this litigation is the all too familiar and unfortunate contentiousness which can exist between a county board of supervisors and a sheriff concerning budgetary constraints brought about by economic conditions which wreak havoc on a limited county budget and underpaid and overworked employees of the sheriff's department. We are called upon to consider today's case because Madison County has appealed to this Court as a result of an adverse judgment rendered by the Chancery Court of Madison County awarding Sheriff Jessie Hopkins partial reimbursement for legal fees incurred by him as a party in a federal court lawsuit. Finding that the special chancellor erred as a matter of law in awarding fees, we reverse the judgment entered in favor of Sheriff Hopkins and render judgment here in favor of Madison County.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 2. At the heart of this appeal is federal litigation commenced by fifty-three (53) employees of the Madison County Sheriff's Department on September 5, 1996, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi against Madison County and the individual members of the County's Board of Supervisors asserting violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"). The employees' main complaint was failure to pay overtime. The employees later amended their complaint to allege, inter alia, a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claim for violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. However, of significant import was that in this same amended complaint, the employees likewise included a claim against Jessie Hopkins in his official capacity as Madison County Sheriff.

¶ 3. Upon responding to the amended complaint, Madison County likewise filed a third-party complaint against Sheriff Hopkins seeking indemnification from the Sheriff individually on the theory that he was an employer or joint employer of the sheriff's department employees and thus, individually responsible for any unpaid overtime to which the employees may be entitled. Sheriff Hopkins, in turn, filed a counterclaim against Madison County alleging that the County's third-party claim against him was nothing short of retaliatory action due to his cooperation with the employees in their efforts to receive unpaid overtime via the judicial process. In fact, quite interestingly, after the employees amended their complaint to add Sheriff Hopkins as a defendant in his official capacity, the Sheriff's privately retained counsel filed an answer on behalf of the Sheriff in his official capacity, admitting all of the substantive allegations which had been made by the employees against the County, Supervisors and Sheriff.

¶ 4. Not to be outdone, Madison County filed a motion to strike the Sheriff's answer (filed in his official capacity) admitting the employees' allegations, and the County likewise filed an answer on behalf of the Sheriff in his official capacity thereby denying the substantive claims of the employees. There's more—Sheriff Hopkins, through his privately retained counsel, moved to disqualify Madison County's attorney from representing the Sheriff due to a conflict of interest. The Sheriff claimed that in representing the County and its individual Supervisors as well as the Sheriff, in his official capacity, and in further suing the Sheriff individually for indemnification of the County and its Supervisors in the event of an adverse judgment in favor of the employees, Madison County's attorney had less than undivided loyalty to Sheriff Hopkins. Indeed, the same attorney represented the County and the Sheriff in his official capacity throughout the federal district court trial and the subsequent appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The federal district court eventually denied the Sheriff's motion to disqualify the County's counsel and entered an order striking the Sheriff's answer which he had filed in his official capacity through his privately retained counsel.

¶ 5. As the federal litigation gained force, the state courts were not by any means ignored. Eighty-one (81) days after the federal court litigation had been commenced by the employees of the Madison County Sheriff's Department, Sheriff Hopkins, both in his official and individual capacity, filed this action in Madison County Chancery Court against Madison County and the members of the Madison County Board of Supervisors, both in their official and individual capacities. Sheriff Hopkins's attorney for this state court litigation was the same attorney the Sheriff had privately retained to represent him in the federal court litigation. In this state court action, the Sheriff sought chancery court relief by way of an order (1) directing the Supervisors, in their official capacity, to approve and pay for an attorney to represent the Sheriff in the federal court action; or (2) requiring, alternatively, that the Supervisors reimburse Madison County for all monies paid by the County to the attorney representing the Supervisors in the federal court litigation, and enjoining the County from payment of any further expenses incurred by the Supervisors for their legal representation in the federal court action.

¶ 6. As the state court action proceeded in a normal fashion by way of the filing of amended pleadings and discovery, the federal court action was likewise moving forward. On November 20, 1997, the federal district court, Honorable William H. Barbour, Jr., presiding, entered an opinion and order which found, inter alia, that both Madison County, through the Board of Supervisors, and Sheriff Hopkins, in his official capacity and individually, were joint employers of the sheriff's department employees pursuant to the FLSA; that the employees were not entitled to summary judgment on their FLSA liability claim, thus allowing the Madison County defendants the opportunity to present rebuttal evidence concerning overtime work; that the retaliation claims of the employees and Sheriff Hopkins would be dismissed; and, that the employees' 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claims would be dismissed.¹ The federal court order provided that the Madison County defendants' motion for partial summary judgment would be granted in part and denied in part; that Sheriff Hopkins's third-party defendant motion for partial summary judgment would be denied; that the employees' motion for partial summary judgment would be denied; and, that Sheriff Hopkins's third-party defendant motion to strike testimony would be denied. Barfield v. Madison County, Miss., 984 F.Supp. 491, 510 (S.D.Miss.1997).

¶ 7. Having previously bifurcated the proceedings as to liability and damages, the federal district court commenced a bench trial on the liability issue on March 23, 1998, and on March 25, 1998, the district court found, inter alia, that Madison County had violated the FLSA by its refusal to pay the sheriff's department employees overtime; that the employees were due an award of liquidated damages; that application of Mississippi common law to the County's third-party claim against Sheriff Hopkins resulted in the Sheriff being primarily responsible for the unpaid overtime; and, that Sheriff Hopkins must indemnify Madison County for any monetary judgment subsequently entered against the County in favor of the employees due to the FLSA violations. Prior to the commencement of the damages phase of the bench trial, Madison County settled with the sheriff's department employees for $750,000. Consistent with its prior indemnification ruling, the federal district court entered judgment in favor of Madison County and against Sheriff Hopkins for $750,000. After the County filed a motion for attorneys' fees and expenses, the federal district court, relying once again on Mississippi common law, granted the County's motion for attorneys' fees and expenses in the amount of $264,430.32.

¶ 8. On appeal, the Fifth Circuit exonerated Sheriff Hopkins by finding that there was no support in the Mississippi common law for holding an employee of a Mississippi governmental entity liable in "tort type indemnity;" therefore, the Court of Appeals reversed the district court's judgment for Madison County and rendered judgment in favor of Sheriff Hopkins on the County's third-party indemnification claim and the County's claim for attorneys' fees and expenses. Barfield v. Madison County, Miss., 212 F.3d 269, 273 (5th Cir.2000). Sheriff Hopkins had assigned four errors on appeal from the adverse district court judgment: "(1) he was not an `employer' under the FLSA, 29 U.S.C. § 203(d); (2) the FLSA preempts the application of Mississippi common law indemnification; (3) the district court misapplied Mississippi indemnity law; and (4) the...