Case Name: Mickey HARALSON v. STATE of Mississippi
Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Mississippi
Decision Date: 1975-02-10
Citations: 308 So. 2d 222
Docket Number: No. 48447
Parties: Mickey HARALSON v. STATE of Mississippi.
Judges: All Justices concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 308
Pages: 222–225

Head Matter:
Mickey HARALSON v. STATE of Mississippi.
No. 48447.
Supreme Court of Mississippi.
Feb. 10, 1975.
J. K. Henry, Union, for appellant.
A. F. Summer, Atty. Gen., by John C. Ellis, Special Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.

Opinion:
INZER, Justice:
ON MOTION
This case is before the Court on motion of the State to strike the court reporter's notes for the failure of appellant to give notice to the court reporter as required by Section 9-13-33, Mississippi Code 1972 Annotated.
The record reflects that this case was filed in this Court on September 14, 1974, and appellant's brief was filed on November 22, 1974. The motion to strike the court reporter's notes was not filed until December 6, 1974. Appellant was represented in the trial court and is represented on appeal by counsel retained by him. A copy of this motion was served on counsel for appellant, but counsel has not seen fit to answer the motion; thus, in effect he has confessed it.
An examination of the record reveals that the court reporter requested and was granted by the trial court two additional extensions of time within which to transcribe the notes, making it apparent that some type of notice was given. However, the record does not reflect that any written notice was ever given and in the absence of an answer by appellant, we are constrained to sustain the motion. In so doing, we recognize that it is unfair for an appellee to sit idly by and neglect or fail to file a motion to strike the transcript until after the appellant has briefed the case. Furthermore, in recent months we have had many motions such as the one before us filed after the appellant has briefed the case. While we have sustained the motions, our concern for fairness has moved us to re-examine the statute and our decisions construing it.
While the statute is purely procedural and in reality an invasion by the legislature of the rule-making power of this Court, we have followed it for many years; thus, adopting it as a rule of this Court. Newell v. State, No. 48,076 decided January 27, 1975. Not only have we followed this statute but we have misconstrued its effect by holding that it is jurisdictional. This expression first appeared in Mayflower Mills v. Breeland, 168 Miss. 207, 149 So. 787 (1933), wherein the writer of the opinion stated: "In legal effect, the notes are not officially the notes of the court reporter, because he was given no legal notice, and the giving of this notice is jurisdictional." It is obvious that this was error. This Court's jurisdiction of an appeal is in no wise dependent upon the giving of the notice to the court reporter to transcribe the trial notes. In McBee & Gossett v. Cahaba Construction Co., 125 Miss. 227, 87 So. 481 (1921), we said: "The motion to dismiss the appeal would have to be overruled, even though the motion to strike the transcript from the record be sustained, for the absence of a transcript of the evidence does not bar an appeal on the record proper." We have consistently followed this holding in numerous cases since that time.
This obvious error next appears in McGee v. State, 203 Miss. 609, 35 So.2d 628 (1948), citing Mayflower Mills v. Breeland, supra. Since that time we have compounded the error in numerous cases by stating that the giving of the notice is jurisdictional without giving any thought to the effect of the statement. After reconsidering the statute we are of the unanimous opinion that insofar as Mayflower Mills v. Breeland, supra, and all other cases which followed it hold that the giving of the notice to the court reporter as required by Section 9-13-33 is jurisdictional, they should be and are hereby overruled. By this holding we are not changing the rule that the notice must be given as heretofore required, but we are holding that it is procedural and as such may be waived by the litigants.
Inasmuch as requirements as to giving notice to the court reporter may be waived, we are of the opinion that if an appellee desires to take advantage of the requirements of the statute, it must be done by filing a timely motion to strike the court reporter's notes, and the failure to do so will constitute a waiver. In order to implement this holding and to promote justice and fairness, on January 22, 1975, we adopted the following rule which is self explanatory:
It is ordered that Rule 16 of the Rules of the Supreme Court of Mississippi shall be and the same is" amended by adding as subparagraph (d) as follows:
(d) All motions to strike the court reporter's notes for failure to give notice to the court reporter as required by the provisions of Section 9-13-33, Mississippi Code 1972 Annotated, shall be filed not later than ten (10) days after the record in the cause is filed in this Court. The failure to file such motion within the specified time will be considered as a waiver of the defect, and a motion to strike filed after the expiration of ten (10) days will not be considered by the Court.
For the reasons stated the motion to strike the court reporter's notes is sustained, and appellee is granted fifteen days additional time in which to file its brief.
All Justices concur.