Prestage Farms, Inc. v. Norman
| Decision Date | 11 April 2002 |
| Docket Number | No. 2000-IA-01307-SCT.,2000-IA-01307-SCT. |
| Citation | 813 So.2d 732 |
| Parties | PRESTAGE FARMS, INC., A Non-Resident Corporation; James E. Blissard, d/b/a J & J Blissard Farm; Bobby Brooks, d/b/a Bobby Brooks Swine; Richard Moore, d/b/a Richard Moore Swine Farm; Jerry Milner d/b/a Jerry Milner Swine; Gone Hogwild, Inc., A Mississippi Corporation; Pig Palace, Inc., A Mississippi Corporation; and Pigs to Hogs, Inc., A Mississippi Corporation, v. Jim NORMAN and Barbara Norman; Larry Bennett and Peggy Bennett; Chester Brassfield and Robbie Brassfield; Johnny Buford; W.C. Carnathan and Mable Carnathan; Gwen Chrestman; Ruby Chrestman; Amanda Cockrell; Joe Colbert and Patricia Colbert; Warren Colbert and Stacy Colbert; Senora Cousin and Olivia Cousin; Charles Funderburk and Carolyn Funderburk; Kenneth Hardin and Gloria Hardin; William E. Hill and Pam Hill; L.C. Holoman; Burrell Hooper; Tony Hooper and Regina Hooper; James Ivy; Bryan K. Jernigan; Ann L. Lucius; David Lucius; Billy King and Peggy Sue King; Tena McCarty; John A. McClendon, Jr. and Pamela McClendon; Barry Martin; Terry L. Martin; Thomas O. Martin and Ruth Martin; Wayne Earl Munlin and Dovie Munlin; Lenastra Murry; George R. Norman and Charlotte A. Norman; George Orr; Laura G. Parker; Jamison Peden and Laura Peden; Lucius Prewett and Margaret Prewett; Loy V. Reeves and Lavanda Reeves; Bobby G. Smith and Betty Jean Smith; Luther W. Terry; Ruthie J. Thomas; Hilda C. Thompson; Terry Tunnell and Angie Tunnell; Joyce B. Vance; Burell Whitt and Hazel Whitt; Danny Whitt; Jewel F. Harrison and Edith Harrison; and Jimmy L. Kirkwood and Gertrude L. Kirkwood. |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
John Ernest Wade, Jr., Trudy D. Fisher, Gaye Nell Lott Currie, Jackson, attorneys for appellants.
William H. Liston, Jr., Danny E. Cupit, Jackson, attorneys for appellees.
EN BANC.
DIAZ, J., for the Court.
¶ 1. The plaintiffs filed their joint complaint and request for a bill of peace in the Chancery Court of Montgomery County, Mississippi, on January 4, 2000, against Prestage Farms, Inc. (Prestage), and seven of its contract hog growers (the defendant farmers) alleging (1) the creation, establishment, and maintenance of public nuisances consisting of nine large commercial hog confinement facilities containing hundreds of hogs for the purpose of feeding, growing, and raising hogs belonging to Prestage for sale by Prestage, (2) the creation of private nuisances, and (3) the intentional infliction of emotional distress. Plaintiffs seek damages and injunctive relief.
¶ 2. Each of the defendants filed separate answers to the complaint, all of which are substantially the same and all of which assert identical affirmative defenses incorporating common issues of fact and law.
¶ 3. On March 2, 2000, defendants filed a joint motion to sever parties under M.R.C.P. 21 raising the issue of joinder of plaintiffs and defendants under M.R.C.P. 20(a). After a hearing, the chancellor entered an order on June 27, 2000, denying the defendants' motion to sever.
¶ 4. On July 13, 2000, the defendants filed a motion for certification and interlocutory appeal and stay of trial court proceedings. The chancellor denied that motion on July 28, 2000. The defendants then filed their petition for interlocutory appeal and petition to stay proceedings with the clerk of this Court, which was granted on December 13, 2000.
¶ 5. The defendants raise the following issues on appeal:
¶ 6. Plaintiffs raise the following issues on cross-appeal:
FACTS
¶ 7. Plaintiffs allege that Prestage designed, established, set up, and operated the seven farms at issue. After the establishment and construction of each facility, Prestage provided hogs to each of its growers for the purpose of raising the hogs for marketing by Prestage. Prestage specified the facilities to be used, the manner of construction, and set the methods and procedures to be carried out by the growers in raising the hogs for market.
¶ 8. Each of the facilities contains one or more buildings or barns where large numbers of hogs are periodically brought by Prestage. The hogs are kept in constant confinement in these barns where they are fed specially mixed and formulated diets specified by Prestage, which permits their rapid and intense growth over a limited period of time until they become large enough for sale to a slaughter house. During their confinement, these hogs discharge vast amounts of bodily waste and excrement that falls through slats in the flooring of the hog barns into a holding area under the flooring. The buildings are aerated through large ventilation fans which draw the air out of the barns and into the open atmosphere while fresh air is pumped into the buildings. Periodically, the liquid and solid waste from the hogs is flushed or drained by gravity from under the barns through pipes to a nearby anaerobic open sewer lagoon where anaerobic bacteria living in the lagoon digest the solids in the waste, leaving liquid to be pumped out and sprayed into the open air and onto nearby fields, purportedly as fertilizer.
¶ 9. Plaintiffs assert that the creation, establishment and operation of each farm owned by Prestage and the defendant farmers constitutes public and private nuisances because the plaintiffs have suffered loss of their use and enjoyment of their property. The plaintiffs also allege that the actions of Prestage and the defendant farmers constitute intentional infliction of emotional distress.
LEGAL ANALYSIS
I. WHETHER THE CHANCELLOR ABUSED HIS DISCRETION BY DENYING THE M.R.C.P. RULE 21 MOTION TO SEVER.
¶ 10. The defendant farmers argue that plaintiffs in this case are improperly joined and that the trial court abused its discretion in denying defendants' motion to sever. Plaintiffs argue that the trial court did not err and that its ruling falls under the exercise of sound discretion.
¶ 11. The standard of review applicable to a trial court's ruling based on the exercise of sound discretion is abuse of discretion. American Bankers Ins. Co. v. Alexander, 2001 WL 83952, at *4, ___ So.2d ___, ___ (Miss.2001); Bobby Kitchens Inc., v. Mississippi Ins. Guar. Ass'n, 560 So.2d 129, 135 (Miss.1989). When the standard of review is abuse of discretion, this Court must first determine if the court applied the correct legal standard and, if so, the trial court's determination will be affirmed unless it committed a clear error of judgment. Wood v. Biloxi Pub. Sch. Dist., 757 So.2d 190, 192 (Miss. 2000). When the question of abuse of discretion arises, this Court will not reverse the trial court unless it is shown that prejudice resulted to the complaining party by the ruling. Lamar Hardwood Co. v. Case, 143 Miss. 277, 107 So. 868, 871 (1926). Courts are given "broad discretion" to determine when and how claims are tried under M.R.C.P. 20 and 42. First Investors Corp. v. Rayner, 738 So.2d 228, 238 (Miss.1999). An appellate court cannot substitute its own view for the findings of a trial court regarding joinder. American Bankers, 2001 WL 83952, at *4 (citing Bobby Kitchens, Inc., 560 So.2d 129).
¶ 12. M.R.C.P. 20 provides that "[a]ll persons may join in one action as plaintiffs if they assert any right to relief .... arising out of the same transaction, occurrence, or series of transactions or occurrences, and if any question of law or fact common to all these persons will arise in the action...." As pointed out in American Bankers, 2001 WL 83952, at *2 the official comment to Rule 20 defines its intent as:
The general philosophy of the joinder provisions of these Rules is to allow virtually unlimited joinder at the pleading stage but to give the Court discretion to shape the trial to the necessities of the particular case.
M.R.C.P. 20 cmt.
¶ 13. Here, the plaintiffs' claims arise out of an alleged private nuisance. A private nuisance is an interference with the use and enjoyment of land. Leaf River Forest Prods., Inc. v. Ferguson, 662 So.2d 648, 662 (Miss.1995). The defendant farmers argue that Lambert v. Matthews, 757 So.2d 1066 (Miss.Ct.App.2000), is dispositive of this issue. Lambert quotes Alfred Jacobshagen Co. v. Dockery, 243 Miss. 511, 517, 139 So.2d 632, 634 (1962) as follows: "Each [nuisance] case must be decided upon its own peculiar facts, taking into consideration the location and the surrounding circumstances." Lambert, 757 So.2d at 1069. Joinder was not the issue before the Court in either Lambert or Jacobshagen and is not considered by this Court to be precedent as to the issue of joinder. We must next discuss whether the requirements of Rule 20 have been met in this case.
A. Same transaction or occurrence.
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