Purdue Pharma, L. P. v. Estate of Jocelyn Heffner


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Docket Number: 2003-IA-01287-SCT

Supreme Court: Opinion Date: 10-07-2004
Opinion Author: Cobb, P.J.
Holding: Reversed and Remanded

Additional Case Information: Topic: Personal injury - Joinder - M.R.C.P. 20
Judge(s) Concurring: Smith, C.J., Waller, P.J., Carlson and Dickinson, JJ.
Non Participating Judge(s): Diaz, Graves and Randolph, JJ.
Dissenting Author : Easley, J.
Procedural History: Interlocutory Appeal
Nature of the Case: CIVIL - PERSONAL INJURY

Trial Court: Date of Trial Judgment: 06-02-2003
Appealed from: Holmes County Circuit Court
Judge: Jannie M. Lewis
Disposition: Denied petitioners’ motion to sever and transfer.

  Party Name: Attorney Name:  
Appellant: PURDUE PHARMA, L. P., PURDUE PHARMA INC., THE PURDUE FREDERICK COMPANY AND WINSTON T. CAPEL, M.D.




STEVE J. ALLEN CHRISTOPHER A. SHAPLEY ROBERT L. GIBBS LAWRENCE ELVIN ALLISON, SR. CHRIS J. WALKER JOHN LEWIS HINKLE, IV



 

Appellee: ESTATE OF JOCELYN HEFFNER, JENNIFER BURROUGH AND EDWARD SOFFRA WILLIAM ROGER SMITH, III JAMES MICHAEL TERRELL ROBERT GORDON METHVIN  

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Topic: Personal injury - Joinder - M.R.C.P. 20

Summary of the Facts: Three plaintiffs filed suit in the Holmes County Circuit Court for injuries allegedly sustained after using the prescription drug OxyContin. Jocelyn Heffner was a resident of Holmes County; Jennifer Burrough is a resident of Yazoo County; and Edward Soffra is a resident of Hancock County. They filed suit against non-resident defendants Purdue Pharma and Abbott, the makers and marketers of OxyContin. Plaintiffs also named as a defendant Dr. Winston Capel, a resident of Madison County, who treated Jennifer Burrough in Hinds County. Purdue Pharma removed the case to federal district court, arguing that Dr. Capel was fraudulently joined. Ruling that a Mississippi state court might find Dr. Capel properly joined, the federal court remanded the case back to circuit court. Purdue Pharma then filed a Motion to Sever and/or Transfer Venue, which was denied. Purdue Pharma filed a petition for interlocutory appeal which was granted.

Summary of Opinion Analysis: The recent case of Janssen Pharmaceutica, Inc. v. Armond, 866 So.2d 1092 (Miss. 2004), controls the disposition of this case based on improper joinder of parties. The mere taking of the same prescription drug does not supply plaintiffs with the same transaction or occurrence, or same series of transactions or occurrences, as required by M.R.C.P. 20. Heffner’s suit may proceed against Purdue Pharma and Abbott in Holmes County. However, plaintiffs Burrough and Soffra are improperly joined with Heffner as to claims against any physician defendants, including Dr. Capel and any yet to be named physicians. Thus, Burrough’s and Soffra’s claims must be severed and their cases transferred. The plaintiffs’ argument that the federal district court’s determination that Dr. Capel was not fraudulently joined is determinative of proper joinder under M.R.C.P. 20 is without merit since a finding against fraudulent joinder is not the same as a finding for proper joinder.


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