Owens v. Mai


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Docket Number: 2002-CT-01338-SCT
Linked Case(s): 2002-CA-01338-COA ; 2002-CT-01338-SCT ; 2002-CT-01338-SCT ; 2002-CA-01338-COA

Supreme Court: Opinion Link
Opinion Date: 01-13-2005
Opinion Author: Graves, J.
Holding: Reversed and Rendered

Additional Case Information: Topic: Wrongful death - Failure to serve process - Savings statute - Section 15-1-69 - M.R.C.P. 4(h) - Statute of limitations
Judge(s) Concurring: Smith, C.J., Waller, P.J., Easley, Carlson, Dickinson and Randolph, JJ.,
Non Participating Judge(s): Diaz, J.
Concurs in Result Only: Cobb, P.J.
Procedural History: Dismissal
Nature of the Case: CIVIL - WRONGFUL DEATH

Trial Court: Date of Trial Judgment: 06-14-2002
Appealed from: Copiah County Circuit Court
Judge: Lamar Pickard
Disposition: The trial court dismissed the suit for defective service of process pursuant to Rule 4(h) of the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure.
Case Number: 2001-0637

Note: THE JUDGMENT OF THE COURT OF APPEALS IS REVERSED, AND THE JUDGMENT OF THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COPIAH COUNTY IS AFFIRMED

  Party Name: Attorney Name:  
Appellant: Jackie Owens, Individually and on Behalf of All Other Death Beneficiaries of Terry Owens




JOYCE W.C.N. FUNCHES MICHAEL S. ALLRED OTTOWA E. CARTER, JR.



 

Appellee: Paul Mai d/b/a Crystal Springs Mobile Home Parks WILLIAM E. READY, JR.  

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Topic: Wrongful death - Failure to serve process - Savings statute - Section 15-1-69 - M.R.C.P. 4(h) - Statute of limitations

Summary of the Facts: Jackie Owens, a mobile home resident, filed a wrongful death suit against Paul Mai, the mobile home park owner. The court dismissed the suit for defective service of process. Prior to dismissal of the first action, Owens filed an identical second action which was dismissed by the court on the grounds that the statute of limitations had expired. Owens appealed, and the Court of Appeals reversed the trial court and held that the dismissal of the first action for lack of personal jurisdiction due to defective service fell within the purview of the savings statute and that dismissal of the second suit was improper. The Supreme Court granted certiorari.

Summary of Opinion Analysis: The Court of Appeals found that the savings statute, section 15-1-69, applies when a case is dismissed for failure to serve process because the ultimate point is one of jurisdiction, and lack of jurisdiction is a matter of form for purposes of the savings statutes. Dismissal of a suit for failure to serve process is not a jurisdictional matter for purposes of the savings statute. To allow otherwise would seriously undermine the legal effect behind M.R.C.P. 4 as well as the legislative intent of the savings statute since it would essentially allow plaintiffs who fail to serve process under Rule 4 to utilize the savings statute to preserve their claims and/or extend the life of their claims. Therefore, when a case is dismissed because a defendant was not properly served within 120 days as mandated by M.R.C.P. 4(h), such a dismissal is not a matter of form that comes within the intent of section 15-1-69. In addition, Owens’s failure to properly serve Mai with process caused the statute of limitations to resume running. Because of this, the statute of limitations some fourteen months prior to Mai’s motion to dismiss the first action and some nineteen months prior to Owens’s filing the second action. Thus, when Owens filed the second action, the three year statute of limitations had run.


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