Case Name: Drew Allen RAYNER v. RAYTHEON COMPANY
Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Mississippi
Decision Date: 2003-10-16
Citations: 858 So. 2d 132
Docket Number: No. 2002-CP-00413-SCT
Parties: Drew Allen RAYNER v. RAYTHEON COMPANY.
Judges: SMITH, P.J., WALLER, COBB, CARLSON AND GRAVES, JJ., CONCUR. McRAE, P.J., DISSENTS WITH SEPARATE WRITTEN OPINION JOINED BY EASLEY, J. DIAZ, J., NOT PARTICIPATING.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 858
Pages: 132–139

Head Matter:
Drew Allen RAYNER v. RAYTHEON COMPANY.
No. 2002-CP-00413-SCT.
Supreme Court of Mississippi.
Oct. 16, 2003.
Drew Allen Rayner, Pro se, appellant.
David C. Goff, Gulfport, Peyton S. Irby, Jackson, attorneys for appellee.

Opinion:
ON MOTION FOR REHEARING
PITTMAN, Chief Justice,
for the Court.
¶ 1. The motion for rehearing is denied. The prior per curiam affirmance is withdrawn, and this opinion is substituted therefor.
¶2. Representing himself, Drew Allen Rayner sued Raytheon Company in the Circuit Court of Stone County alleging that Raytheon breached a contract in which it agreed not to withhold federal income taxes from his retirement account. Based on diversity of citizenship and federal question jurisdiction, Raytheon removed the case to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi. Rayner filed a motion to remand. The federal district court entered a Final Judgment and Memorandum Opinion on August 14, 2001, dismissing the case for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and denying the motion to remand.
¶ 3. Rayner then filed an application for default judgment, petition for summary judgment and supporting brief in the same action in the Circuit Court of Stone County. After a hearing, the circuit court ruled that the federal district court had determined all rights and liabilities of the parties and that the circuit court lacked subject matter jurisdiction. Therefore, the circuit court dismissed with prejudice. On appeal, we modify the dismissal by the circuit court to be for lack of jurisdiction and affirm it as so modified.
DISCUSSION
¶4. Jurisdictional questions are subject to de novo review. Sorrells v. R & R Custom Coach Works, Inc., 636 So.2d 668, 670 (Miss.1994). When faced with jurisdictional issues, this Court sits in the same position as a trial court, with all facts as set out in the pleadings or exhibits, and may reverse regardless of whether the error is manifest. McCain Builders, Inc. v. Rescue Rooter, LLC, 797 So.2d 952, 954 (Miss.2001).
I. WHETHER THE CIRCUIT COURT ERRED IN DISMISSING RAY-NER'S LAWSUIT FOR LACK OF JURISDICTION.
¶ 5. The circuit court properly denied Rayner's application for default judgment and dismissed the action for lack of jurisdiction. The circuit court lacked jurisdiction over this case once it was removed to federal district court.
¶ 6. The effect of removing an action to federal court is specified in 28 U.S.C. § 1446(d), which provides in part:
Promptly after the filing of such notice of removal of a civil action the defendant or defendants shall give written notice thereof to all adverse parties and shall file a copy of the notice with the clerk of such State court, which shall effect the removal and the State court shall proceed no further unless and until the case is remanded.
28 U.S.C. § 1446(d) (emphasis added). Thus, once removed to federal court, a case remains within the jurisdiction of the federal courts until an order is entered remanding the matter back to the state court.
¶ 7. Previously, this Court considered this same issue and stated:
This Court held in Bean v. Clark, 226 Miss. 892, 85 So.2d 588 (1956) that, when a case is removed to a Federal District Court under 28 U.S.C.A. § 1446, the state court shall not proceed after defendants give written notice of removal to all adverse parties and file a copy of the petition of removal with the clerk of such state court. We also held that any action taken in the state court thereafter before remand, had no force or effect.
Miss. Power Co. v. Luter, 336 So.2d 753, 755 (Miss.1976) (footnote omitted). See also Moore v. Interstate Fire Ins. Co., 717 F.Supp. 1193, 1195 (S.D.Miss.1989).
¶ 8. In the instant case, the district court denied Rayner's motion to remand. Rayner v. Raytheon, Co., Civ. A. No. l:00cv547GR (S.D.Miss.2001). Without a remand by the federal court, the circuit court lacked jurisdiction to proceed further. 28 U.S.C. § 1446(d).
¶9. We modify the decision of the circuit court only to the extent that dismissal was with prejudice. Generally, a dismissal with prejudice connotes an adjudication on the merits. See generally Foundry Sys. & Supply, Inc. v. Indus. Dev. Corp., 124 Ga.App. 589, 185 S.E.2d 94, 95 (1971) (The phrase "with prejudice" in [the context of when an action is dismissed with prejudice] means an "adjudication on the merits and final disposition, barring the right to bring or maintain an action on the same claim or cause. Pulley v. Chicago, R.I. & P.R., 122 Kan. 269, 251 P. 1100 (1927). Black's Law Dictionary, 4th ed., p. 555"). Thus, lacking jurisdiction, the circuit court was without authority to address the merits. The circuit court should have simply dismissed this case for lack of jurisdiction.
¶ 10. Because this case is in the federal courts, Rayner's only remedy in this case was to appeal the order of the district court to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. As a matter of law, until there is a remand order, the state court cannot proceed in a case that has been removed to federal court.
CONCLUSION
¶ 11. Until remanded, this case remains in the jurisdiction of the federal court. We modify the dismissal by the Circuit Court of Stone County to be for lack of jurisdiction and affirm the dismissal as so modified.
¶ 12. AFFIRMED AS MODIFIED.
SMITH, P.J., WALLER, COBB, CARLSON AND GRAVES, JJ., CONCUR. McRAE, P.J., DISSENTS WITH SEPARATE WRITTEN OPINION JOINED BY EASLEY, J. DIAZ, J., NOT PARTICIPATING.