Namihira v. Bailey
| Docket Number: | 2003-IA-02479-SCT | |
| Supreme Court: | Opinion Link Opinion Date: 01-20-2005 Opinion Author: Dickinson, J. Holding: PETITION FOR INTERLOCUTORY APPEAL GRANTED; REVERSED AND REMANDED |
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| Additional Case Information: |
Topic: Personal injury - Venue - Section 11-11-3 - M.R.C.P. 82(e) Judge(s) Concurring: Smith, C.J., Waller and Cobb, P.JJ., and Carlson, J. Non Participating Judge(s): Diaz and Randolph, JJ. Dissenting Author : Graves, J. Dissenting Author : Easley, J. Procedural History: Interlocutory Appeal Nature of the Case: CIVIL - OTHER |
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| Note: | Petition for Interlocutory Appeal filed by Yoshinobu Namihira, M.D., is granted. | |
| Party Name: | Attorney Name: | |||
| Appellant: | Yoshinobu Namihira, M.D. |
CLIFFORD C. WHITNEY, III |
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| Appellee: | Cinder Louise Bailey | RON M. FEDER T. ROE FRAZER, II |
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| Topic: | Personal injury - Venue - Section 11-11-3 - M.R.C.P. 82(e) |
| Summary of the Facts: | Frances Fleming, filed suit in her home county of Claiborne, against Johnson & Johnson, Inc., and Janssen Pharmaceutica, Inc., both foreign corporations who manufacturer the drug, Propulsid and Yoshinobu Namihira, M.D., a resident of Warren County. The plaintiff requested a transfer of venue to Hinds County, claiming the inability to seat an impartial jury in Claiborne County. Dr. Namihira requested that the action be transferred to Warren County, where he lives and practices medicine. The judge granted the plaintiff’s motion, and Dr. Namihira filed a petition for interlocutory appeal. |
| Summary of Opinion Analysis: | This civil action should have been filed in Warren County which is the only county of appropriate venue. Section 11-11-3(1), the general venue statute at the time this action was filed, provided that civil actions shall be commenced in the county where the defendant resides or in the county where the alleged act or omission occurred or where the event that caused the injury occurred. Warren County is the only county in Mississippi in which a defendant resides. The permissive language of the statute, “may also be commenced in the county in which the plaintiff resides” applies only where there is no resident defendant. Transfer of venue to a “convenient county” must always be made, if possible, to a county where the case could be commenced. Both M.R.C.P. 82(e) and section 11-11-3(4)(a) (both recently enacted) require transfer to a county of proper venue which, here, would be Warren County. Therefore, the petition for interlocutory appeal is granted. |
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