Opinion ID: 1622521
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: whether the trial court erred in dismissing the complaint without conducting a hearing.

Text: ¶ 5. This Court has not addressed the question of whether a trial court may grant a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim without conducting an oral hearing. However, this question has been addressed in the context of a Rule 56(c) motion for summary judgment. Adams v. Cinemark USA, Inc., 831 So.2d 1156 (Miss.2002). In Adams, the trial court granted the defendant's motion for summary judgment without holding a hearing. On appeal, the plaintiff argued the trial court's failure hold a hearing was a procedural error, and the grant of summary judgment should have been reversed. This Court disagreed. While agreeing that the trial court's failure to conduct a hearing was error, we found that error was harmless. No error in either the admission or exclusion of evidence and no error in any ruling or order or in anything done or omitted by the Court or by any of the parties is ground for granting a new trial or for setting aside a verdict ... unless refusal to take such action appears to the Court inconsistent with substantial justice. The Court at every stage of the proceeding must disregard any error or defect in the proceeding which does not affect the substantial rights of the parties. Id. at 1164 n. 4 (citing M.R.C.P. 61) (emphasis in original). In Adams we determined the trial judge had all necessary information to make a ruling on the motion for summary judgment in his possession. Id. That being the case, the Court held the trial court's failure to conduct a hearing to be harmless error and affirmed the grant of summary judgment. ¶ 6. The reasoning in Adams applies to the case at bar. In its motion to dismiss, the City of Tupelo argued that Black's failure to file a notice of claim as required by the Mississippi Tort Claims Act, as well as the dismissal of his previous federal case, precluded his cause of action. Black filed two responses to the City's motion. Black's failure to file a notice of claim and the dismissal of his previous suit are not in dispute. The only remaining questions were ones of law. Thus, the failure of the trial court to hold a hearing prior to granting the motion to dismiss was harmless error.