Opinion ID: 1811569
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: whether a court may grant summary judgment without an oral hearing.

Text: ¶ 20. Adams filed her response to Cinemark's motion for summary judgment on June 1, 2001. A hearing on the motion was scheduled for June 11, 2001, but was later postponed and rescheduled for August 6, 2001, at Cinemark's request. The trial court entered summary judgment on July 24, 2001. As a result, Adams asserts that the trial court deprived her of a valuable right afforded under Rule 56(c) of the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure by granting Cinemark's motion for summary judgment without conducting a hearing. ¶ 21. A summary judgment may be entered if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. M.R.C.P. 56(c) (emphasis added). Based upon a review of Adams's itemization of undisputed facts and Cinemark's response thereto, the only disputed facts were those concerning the oral exchanges between Adams and Thomas and Adams and the two minor girls. Cinemark never disputed the fact that Thomas left her station in the box office and assaulted Adams or the fact that Adams was injured as a result. ¶ 22. We fail to see how the exact tenor and nature of the words exchanged prior to the assault are material as required by Rule 56(c) to a determination of whether Thomas was acting in the course and scope of her employment as a box office cashier. A fact is material if it tends to resolve any of the issues properly raised by the parties and matters in an outcome determinative sense. Wallace v. Town of Raleigh, 815 So.2d 1203, 1208 (Miss.2002); Armistead v. Minor, 815 So.2d 1189, 1192 (Miss.2002); Hudson v. Courtesy Motors, Inc., 794 So.2d 999, 1002 (Miss.2001); Robinson v. Cobb, 763 So.2d 883, 886 (Miss.2000); Powell v. City of Pascagoula, 752 So.2d 999, 1003 (Miss. 1999); Prescott v. Leaf River Prods., Inc., 740 So.2d 301, 309 (Miss.1999). Regardless of the oral exchanges made or even a lack thereof, Thomas clearly had no authority to leave her post in the box office, exit the double doors to the theater, and assault Adams. Furthermore, regardless of the oral exchanges made, we fail to see how such exchanges would assist in proving whether the assault was incidental to Thomas's employment. ¶ 23. Adams argues that the trial court's failure to grant a hearing was a procedural error which affected Appellant's substantial rights as a litigant. She submits that Rule 56(c) itself clearly contemplates that the trial court will conduct a hearing prior to entering a summary judgment. Rule 56(c) states in pertinent part the following: (c) Motions and Proceedings Thereon. The motion shall be served at least ten days before the time fixed for the hearing. The adverse party prior to the day of the hearing may serve opposing affidavits. The judgment sought shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. ¶ 24. We do not recognize an explicit or implicit right to a hearing under Rule 56(c) but do so under other rules. M.R.C.P. 78 provides: Each court shall establish procedures for prompt dispatch of business, at which motions requiring notice and hearing may be heard and disposed of; but the judge at any time or place and on such notice, if any, as he considers reasonable may make orders for the advancement, conduct, and hearing of such actions. To expedite business, the court may make provision by rule or order for the submission and determination of motions not seeking final judgment without oral hearing upon brief written statements of reasons in support and opposition. (emphasis added). In circuit court, motion practice is regulated by Uniform Circuit and County Court Rule 4.03. Paragraph 5 of Rule 4.03 states that [a]ll dispositive motions shall be deemed abandoned unless heard at least ten days before trial. (emphasis added). ¶ 25. We have yet to have a case definitively holding that a litigant has a right to an oral hearing on a motion for summary judgment. We have, however, held that such a right exists in the context of a default judgment. In King v. Sigrest, 641 So.2d 1158 (Miss.1994), the Sigrests brought an action to remove a cloud on title to real property. When no answer or responsive pleading was filed within 30 days, the Sigrests forwarded a request for entry of default which the chancery clerk subsequently signed and filed. Id. at 1160. The trial court entered a default judgment without notice of a hearing. Id. In reversing the trial court, we held that M.R.C.P. 55(b) provides, however, that where a person against whom default is sought has appeared, that party shall be served with notice of the application at least three days prior to the hearing of such application. This rule clearly contemplates that a hearing will be held and that the party against whom default is sought shall be notified of the hearing. Fortifying this view is our Rule 78, prescribing motion practice, which, unlike its federal counterpart, indicates that only motions not seeking final judgment should by rule or order be disposed of without oral hearing. Miss. R. Civ. Pro. 78. (citation omitted & emphasis added). ¶ 26. Based upon the foregoing, the trial court in the instant case erred in granting summary judgment without an oral hearing. However, we find such error to be harmless. [4] In Sherrod v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co., 518 So.2d 640 (Miss.1987), we applied the harmless error test to a procedural error. The trial court in that case heard a summary judgment motion two days early, or eight days after filing. Id. at 644. Even though the time requirement of M.R.C.P. 56(c) is couched in the imperative, we held that [t]o be sure, the Court should not have heard the motion without full compliance with the ten day notice rule. But where ruling is withheld pending completion of discovery, violation of the time requirement of Rule 56(c) will often, as here, be harmless. Id. at 645. As in Sherrod, Adams had ample time for discovery prior to the entry of summary judgment. ¶ 27. The Eleventh Circuit also applied the harmless error test in a case in which a magistrate judge violated a mandatory summary judgment procedure rule. Restigouche, Inc. v. Town of Jupiter, 59 F.3d 1208 (11th Cir.1995). In Restigouche, a magistrate judge heard argument on the Town of Jupiter's motion for summary judgment at a pretrial status conference after giving the parties only two days' notice. Id. at 1213. The next day Restigouche filed a motion to supplement the summary judgment record. Thirteen days later, Restigouche's motion was denied and summary judgment entered for the Town. Id. Regarding the violation of the ten-day rule, the Eleventh Circuit held: Even if notice was insufficient under Rule 56(c), we find this error harmless.... The purpose of the 10-day notice rule is to give the non-moving party notice and a 10-day window of opportunity to marshal its resources and present any additional materials and arguments in opposition to the motion. We are convinced that we have before us, on de novo review of the summary judgment motion, all of the facts and arguments that Restigouche would have or could have presented had Restigouche been given the required notice. The magistrate court denied Restigouche's December 2 motion to supplement because Restigouche failed to identify the specific portions of the supplemental materials which would create material issues of fact. Moreover, our independent review of the proffered supplemental materials disclose no genuine issues which would prevent summary judgment.... Because Restigouche has not been deprived of the opportunity to present facts or arguments which would have precluded summary judgment in this case, any violation of the 10-day notice rule is harmless. Id. (citation omitted & emphasis added). See Lone Star Steel Co. v. Scott, 759 S.W.2d 144 (Tex.Ct.App.1988) (applying harmless error rule to errors involving the violation of procedural rules couched in mandatory language). ¶ 28. This position also has application in this case. Adams presented no evidence which would defeat Cinemark's motion for summary judgment. It is highly unlikely that any material or pertinent facts would have been disclosed at a summary judgment hearing had it been held. Adams would be ill-served by responding to Cinemark's motion and including 108 pages of exhibits and then waiting until an oral hearing to disclose material facts which would deliver a coup de grâce to Cinemark's motion. ¶ 29. In this case, a summary judgment hearing would have been centered around the oral exchanges prior to Thomas's assault of Adams. Such inquiries would have no bearing in this action alleging vicarious liability. We simply fail to see how the circuit court's grant of summary judgment without an oral hearing nearly two months after Adams's response to Cinemark's motion constituted reversible error when there were no material facts in dispute and a hearing would have been of no utility. ¶ 30. Although M.R.C.P. 78 differs from Fed.R.Civ.P. 78, M.R.C.P. 56(c) is identical to Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c), and federal courts have ruled that the decision to grant a summary judgment hearing [5] lies with the trial judge: Courts generally recognize the advisability of allowing oral argument on summary-judgment motions, but, even the Fifth Circuit now agrees that the court has the power to order summary judgment without a hearing if it feels that sufficient information is available in the pleadings and the papers in support of and opposition to the motion so that a hearing would be of no utility. 10A Charles Alan Wright, Arthur R. Miller & Mary Kay Kane, Federal Practice and Procedure: Civil § 2720.1, at 357 (3d ed.1998) (footnotes omitted & emphasis added). Given the facts of the instant case, an oral summary judgment hearing would have centered around legal arguments since all of the fact-centered issues were immaterial or undisputed.