Opinion ID: 1800200
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Authority of this Court to Create a Medical Monitoring Cause of Action.

Text: ¶ 23. Defendants also argue that the creation of a new cause of action is an improper task for this Court but, instead, proper only for the Legislature. Defendants cite statements in Gunter v. Gray, 876 So.2d 315, 317 (Miss.2004), and Mauldin v. Branch, 866 So.2d 429, 435 (Miss. 2003), to support the proposition that only the state legislature can create law and decide when a law should be created. As this proposition and the cases given in support are irrelevant here and contrary to law, we should reject Defendants' proposition. ¶ 24. In each of these cases this Court's decision was subject to a statute which clearly and directly regulated the disputes. Gunter, a domestic case, involved a dispute over termination of parental rights, which was governed by a specific statute. 876 So.2d at 317. Therefore, the Court found that it must defer to the legislature as its decision was dictated by the statute. Similarly, in Mauldin, the Court held that congressional redistricting must be left to the legislature as that is specifically what the pertinent statute requires. 866 So.2d at 435. That is not the case here. There is no statute concerning medical monitoring or the allowance of tort recovery on the grounds of fear of a future illness. This is the type of case in which the Court has held that the common law is malleable, particularly so in the area of torts, and thus this Court can create and discontinue torts in common law. See Saunders v. Alford, 607 So.2d 1214, 1219 (Miss.1992) (holding that the Mississippi Supreme Court created the tort of criminal conversation and had the authority to decide to end recognition of that tort in Mississippi).