Opinion ID: 1802185
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Service of process on Attorney General

Text: ¶ 9. EMSH is an institution operated under the jurisdiction and control of MDMH pursuant to Miss.Code Ann. Section 41-4-11(2) (Rev.2005). Further, MDMH was created as a department of the State in Miss.Code Ann. Section 41-4-5 (Rev.2005). M.R.C.P. 4(d)(5) provides that the summons and complaint shall be served together [u]pon the State of Mississippi or any one of its departments, officers, or institutions, by delivering a copy of the summons and complaint to the Attorney General of the State of Mississippi. We agree that the trial court was correct in holding this provision applied, rather than M.R.C.P. 4(d)(8), which applies to any governmental entity not mentioned above. We also agree that the trial court was correct when it determined process was insufficient because the plaintiffs served the Chief Executive Officers of MDMH and the EMSH rather than the Mississippi Attorney General, and there was no subsequent effort to correctly serve process on the Attorney General within 120 days of the filing of the complaint as required by M.R.C.P. 4(h). Defendants referred to M.R.C.P. 12(b)(4) (pertaining to insufficiency of process) and M.R.C.P. 12(b)(5) (pertaining to the insufficiency of service of process) in their answer and affirmative defenses, but did not specifically refer to M.R.C.P. 4(d)(5) until their motion to dismiss. But our inquiry does not end there.