Sauvage v. Meadowcrest Living Center, LLC
| Decision Date | 25 February 2010 |
| Docket Number | No. 2008-CA-02116-SCT.,2008-CA-02116-SCT. |
| Citation | 28 So.3d 589 |
| Parties | Don SAUVAGE and Gene Sauvage, Individually and as Personal Representatives of the Estate of Aranka Abadie Sauvage, Deceased v. MEADOWCREST LIVING CENTER, LLC., Steve Yancovich, Administrator of Meadowcrest Living Center, LLC., Transition Health Services of Louisiana, LLC., Robert R. Bates, Corporate President of Transition Health Services of Louisiana, LLC., New Orleans Tours, Inc., and James E. Smith, Jr., Representative for New Orleans Tours, Inc., John Does 1-25. |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
Stephen W. Mullins, Ocean Springs, attorney for appellants.
Corey Donald Hinshaw, Clifford B. Ammons, Jackson, attorneys for appellees.
EN BANC.
¶ 1. Don Sauvage and Gene J. Sauvage (the Sauvages), individually, and as the personal representatives of the estate of Aranka Abadie Sauvage (Aranka), filed a wrongful-death lawsuit in the Circuit Court of Hinds County against Meadowcrest Living Center, LLC (Meadowcrest), Steve Yancovich, Transition Health Services of Louisiana, LLC, Robert Bates, New Orleans Tours, Inc., James E. Smith, Jr., and John Does 1-25. The complaint alleged that Meadowcrest was a nursing home in the City of Gretna, Louisiana, and that, on August 28, 2005, the eve of Hurricane Katrina, Meadowcrest evacuated its elderly residents to a church camp in Raymond, Mississippi. The complaint alleged that Aranka was one of the evacuated residents, and that she died on September 1, 2005, as the result of inadequate medical care at the church camp. The Sauvages filed an almost identical action in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. The circuit court dismissed the complaint based on lack of personal jurisdiction over the defendants, or alternatively, forum non conveniens, and the Sauvages appeal from the dismissal.
¶ 2. On appeal, the Sauvages argue that the circuit court erred by dismissing the case for lack of personal jurisdiction or forum non conveniens. The defendants address these issues and make the additional argument that dismissal was proper because the pendency of an action is a bar to a second action involving the same parties and subject matter. We find that under our wrongful-death statute and interpretive caselaw, the Mississippi action was properly dismissed due to the pendency of the prior-filed Louisiana wrongful-death action. Miss.Code Ann. § 11-7-13 (Rev.2004). Therefore, we affirm.
¶ 3. The Sauvages filed the complaint on October 3, 2007, asserting their status as Aranka's grandchildren and the personal representatives of her estate. The complaint identified the individual defendants as: Meadowcrest Living Center, LLC, a Louisiana limited-liability company doing business in Gretna in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; Steve Yancovich, the signatory and administrator of Meadowcrest; Transition Health Services of Louisiana, LLC, a Texas limited-liability company that managed Meadowcrest Living Center; Robert R. Bates, the corporate president of Transition Health Services; New Orleans Tours, Inc., which transported the elderly residents to the church camp in Raymond, Mississippi; James E. Smith, a representative of New Orleans Tours, and John Does 1-25.
¶ 4. The Sauvages averred that Aranka was a Louisiana resident at the time of her death, and that the Sauvages and all the defendants were Louisiana residents. The Sauvages claimed that on August 25, 2005, Robert Bates became aware that Hurricane Katrina was gathering strength over the Gulf of Mexico and it had the ability to impact or destroy Meadowcrest's nursing home, yet Meadowcrest made no attempt to evacuate its residents until August 28, 2005, when the hurricane was less than twenty-four hours from landfall. The Sauvages claimed that, pursuant to Meadowcrest's evacuation plan, 102 elderly, bedridden residents were transported in three tour buses to the United Pentecostal Church (UPC) Camp located in Raymond, Mississippi, a location which actually was in the path of Hurricane Katrina. According to the Sauvages, the UPC Camp consisted of a "large metal building with a concrete floor." Hurricane Katrina struck the area early the next day, on August 29, 2005. The Sauvages claimed that in Hurricane Katrina's wake, the UPC Camp lost electrical power, and the building in which Aranka and the others were confined became "very hot, humid[,] and smelled of human waste." They claimed that Aranka and at least one other elderly resident died as a result of these conditions.
¶ 5. The Sauvages asserted negligence claims against all defendants, alleging that confining Aranka to the metal building without adequate medical care proximately caused Aranka's death, and that the defendants knew or should have known that the UPC camp was unfit housing for the elderly residents. They claimed that the defendants were negligent in failing to formulate and implement a contingency plan for the evacuation, despite advance knowledge that the UPC camp was in the path of Hurricane Katrina. They claimed that the defendants' actions breached the standard of reasonable care. They further claimed New Orleans Tours was negligent in failing to ensure the residents were transported to a proper and safe location. The Sauvages also asserted breach-of-contract claims against Meadowcrest and New Orleans Tours. The Sauvages asserted that the defendants' conduct constituted gross negligence and willful and wanton disregard for Aranka's welfare, and they requested compensatory and punitive damages.
¶ 6. On December 14, 2007, Meadowcrest, Yancovich, Transition, and Bates answered and moved to dismiss for reasons including lack of personal jurisdiction and forum non conveniens.1 On January 3, 2008, they filed a separate "Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction or Based on Forum Non Conveniens." These defendants asserted that on January 27, 2006, the Sauvages had filed another, similar action that was pending in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. They attached a copy of the complaint in the Jefferson Parish action, in which the Sauvages asserted wrongful-death claims against Meadowcrest and Transition based upon the same conduct described in the Mississippi complaint. They requested class-certification status, to include all Meadowcrest residents who were present on August 28, 2005, who suffered damages, including those who were evacuated and transported to Mississippi.
¶ 7. The defendants asserted a lack of personal jurisdiction, noting that no party to this case is a Mississippi resident and all allegedly negligent decisions concerning the evacuation occurred in Louisiana. Alternatively, the defendants argued that the case should be dismissed under the doctrine of forum non conveniens because Mississippi is an inconvenient forum for trial, and Jefferson Parish is the more appropriate forum.
¶ 8. The Sauvages filed a response, asserting that personal jurisdiction was proper under Mississippi's long-arm statute, and that Mississippi's assertion of jurisdiction over the defendants comported with due process. In a response to the defendants' rebuttal, they additionally argued that the case should not be dismissed under the doctrine of forum non conveniens. At the hearing on the motion to dismiss, the Sauvages stated that if the circuit court denied the motion to dismiss and allowed the case to proceed, they would dismiss the Jefferson Parish action.
¶ 9. The circuit court dismissed the complaint on July 11, 2008. The circuit court found that Mississippi's long-arm jurisdiction did not extend to the defendants because "the torts alleged, which concerned lack of reasonable care as to planning and/or carrying out evacuation plans, occurred primarily in the State of Louisiana." The court further found that, even if jurisdiction were proper under the longarm statute, the defendants lacked minimum contacts with the State of Mississippi and assertion of jurisdiction over them would be unconstitutional. Alternatively, the circuit court dismissed the action under the doctrine of forum non conveniens because Louisiana was a more appropriate forum. In support of this finding, the court noted that the Sauvages previously had commenced the Jefferson Parish action concerning the same set of facts, that all defendants are nonresidents of Mississippi, that Meadowcrest is a Louisiana LLC doing business in Louisiana, and that the evacuation plan was put into effect in Louisiana. The trial court denied the Sauvages' motion for reconsideration.
¶ 10. The Sauvages have timely appealed, arguing that the circuit court erred by dismissing their complaint.
¶ 11. The parties' arguments primarily focus upon the circuit court's alternative grounds for dismissal, lack of personal jurisdiction and forum non conveniens. The defendants also argue that, although the circuit court did not find that the prior Louisiana lawsuit was a bar to this Mississippi lawsuit, the court correctly dismissed this lawsuit because the pendency of a prior action is a bar to a second action involving the same parties and the same subject matter. Although we adopt a somewhat different analysis than that promulgated by the defendants, we find this issue to be dispositive of this appeal. Therefore, we do not discuss the issues raised by the Sauvages.
¶ 12. The defendants cite Abiaca Drainage District of Leflore, Holmes & Carroll Counties v. Albert Theis & Sons, Inc., 185 Miss. 110, 187 So. 200, 201 (1939), in which the Court held: "[t]he pendency of a prior suit between the same litigants and involving the same subject matter constitutes a bar unless adequate relief is not attainable in the prior suit." Abiaca Drainage concerned competing lawsuits involving the same parties and subject matter that were filed in chancery court and in circuit court, respectively. The case of Smith v. Holmes, 921 So.2d 283, 286 (Miss.2005), states that Abiaca articulated the rule for priority...
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