Opinion ID: 1709406
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: liability of administrators and licensees

Text: ¶ 53. Mariner maintains that the trial court erred in granting jury instructions Eleven and Twenty, which instructed the jury that the two nursing home licensees and the three nursing home administrators owed a duty of care to the residents of the home. We have recently ruled that nursing home licensees and administrators owe duties to their employers, but that they owe no common-law or statutory duty to the residents of the home. See Howard v. Estate of Harper, 947 So.2d 854 (Miss.2006). In light of Howard v. Harper, the licensees and administrators must be dismissed from the suit. ¶ 54. Mariner argues that the improper joinder of the licensees and administrators requires reversal. However, under Mississippi Code Annotated Section 11-3-37 (Rev.2002), one of several appellants shall not be entitled to a judgment of reversal because of an error in the judgment or decree against another, not affecting his rights in the case.  (Emphasis added). Mississippi has a paucity of cases addressing the impact of the dismissal of one or more parties on appeal on the interests of the remaining parties. However, the misjoinder of the licensees and administrators did not in any way prejudice Mariner. Though this Court held in Howard that licensees and administrators do not owe a duty of care to the residents, they do owe a duty to their employer. As such, the parties could have been called by Edwards's estate to provide relevant testimony. Furthermore, the record demonstrates that all of the licensees and administrators did not testify, and those who did said little that advanced the case against Mariner. While the licensees and administrators must be dismissed from the suit on remand, no tenable basis exists for dismissing the complaint against Mariner. The assignment of error is correct as to the individual administrators and licensees, but is without merit as to Mariner.