Johnson v. Sysco Food Serv., et al.


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Docket Number: 2011-WC-01086-SCT
Linked Case(s): 2011-WC-01086-SCT ; 2011-WC-01086-COA

Supreme Court: Opinion Link
Opinion Date: 05-03-2012
Opinion Author: Dickinson, P.J.
Holding: DIRECT APPEAL ASSIGNED TO THE COURT OF APPEALS

Additional Case Information: Topic: Workers' compensation - Constitutionality of section 71-3-51 - Appellate jurisdiction - Miss.Const. Art. 6, Sec. 146
Judge(s) Concurring: Randolph, Lamar, Pierce and King, JJ.
Judge(s) Concurring Separately: Randolph, J., Specially Concurs With Separate Written Opinion Joined by Dickinson, P.J., Lamar and Pierce, JJ.
Procedural History: Admin or Agency Judgment
Nature of the Case: CIVIL - PERSONAL INJURY

Trial Court: Date of Trial Judgment: 07-01-2011
Appealed from: Hinds County Workers' Compensation Commission
Judge: Liles B. Williams
Disposition: Denied Appellant's benefits.
Case Number: 0805029-K-0863-E

  Party Name: Attorney Name:   Brief(s) Available:
Appellant: Joseph Dewayne Johnson




CARLOS EUGENE MOORE TANGALA LANIECE HOLLIS



 

Appellee: Sysco Food Services and New Hampshire Insurance Company PAMELA S. RATLIFF JEFFERSON PINCKNEY W. SKELTON  

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Topic: Workers' compensation - Constitutionality of section 71-3-51 - Appellate jurisdiction - Miss.Const. Art. 6, Sec. 146

Summary of the Facts: A 2011 amendment to Section 71-3-51 provides that, “from and after July 1, 2011,” decisions of the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission may be appealed directly to the Supreme Court, rather than to the circuit court, as required under the previous version of the statute. After receipt of this workers’ compensation appeal, the Court – on its own motion – ordered the parties to brief the questions of whether Article 6, Section 146 of the Mississippi Constitution prohibits direct appeals from the Commission to the Court, and whether the Court has jurisdiction over such direct appeals.

Summary of Opinion Analysis: The Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission – unlike other commissions and agencies in state government – makes the final factual determination in a particular case; there is no trial de novo. Appellate jurisdiction necessarily implies that the subject matter must have been acted upon by a tribunal whose judgment or proceedings are to be reviewed. And the Commission’s judgments may be – and often are – reviewed. The Commission’s judgments are filed in the circuit clerk’s judgment roll; they do not pass through the circuit court or any other court. They are pursued and executed upon exactly the same as judgments rendered by the circuit court. Also compelling is that the Commission alone determines the facts of a workers’ compensation case. Before the amendment to section 71-3-51, the Commission’s final decisions were appealed directly to circuit court which sat as an appellate court. And after the brief pause in circuit court, the cases were appealed to the Supreme Court. Upon receipt, the Court reviewed the Commission’s decision, not the circuit court’s. Thus, pursuant to Article 6, Section 146 of the Mississippi Constitution, the Legislature is constitutionally empowered to confer appellate jurisdiction on the Supreme Court over direct appeals from the Commission and as with all workers’ compensation cases appealed to the Court, this case is assigned to the Court of Appeals for decision, and the Clerk of Court is directed to issue a merits briefing schedule.


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