Opinion ID: 1846461
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: severing glenn ainsworth from the case.

Text: ¶ 83. Finally, Coho and Cockrell argue that the trial court should have continued the trial rather than severing Ainsworth only days before the trial began. The trial court severed him because close to the time of the trial, counsel for Coho, Cockrell and Ainsworth discovered a potential conflict with representing Ainsworth and filed a motion to withdraw and for substitution of counsel. Coho and Cockrell cite Kiddy v. Lipscomb, 628 So.2d 1355, 1357-58 (Miss.1993), for the proposition that it is improper to sever joint tortfeasors where the actions involve the same nucleus of common facts and arise from the same transaction or occurrence. ¶ 84. McCarthy responds that Ainsworth was not a joint tortfeasor with Coho and Cockrell. Instead, Ainsworth was a hired consultant who was acting within the course and scope of his agency. As such, § 85-5-7(3) would prevent an apportionment of fault between Ainsworth, Cockrell or Coho. ¶ 85. The Stroos argue that Kiddy is factually inapposite to the case at bar because it involved two defendant doctors in a medical malpractice case. In Kiddy, one of the defendant doctors did not want to be joined at trial with the other defendant doctor because the latter had been indicted in a highly-publicized child pornography case. Kiddy, 628 So.2d at 1357. This Court held that the plaintiff had a right to have the two doctors joined in the same suit because to do otherwise would have allowed the doctors to divide and conquer, thus allowing each doctor to point at the empty chair and prevent the jury from hearing the entire case. Id. at 1358. The Stroos correctly argue that Kiddy does not stand for the proposition that multiple defendants have the right to always be joined in the same action. Regardless, even if Ainsworth had not been severed, he would not have separate liability apart from his employer. Thus, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in severing Ainsworth prior to the trial.