Opinion ID: 1772507
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Fowlers' request for an accounting properly raises equity jurisdiction.

Text: ¶ 27. In their amended complaint, the Fowlers requested an accounting of Ridgeland's liability coverage (which included its insurance and any funds which would be available for the remedies sought by the Fowlers). For an accounting to act as an independent grounds for equity jurisdiction, it must arise between the parties at suit. Tillotson, 551 So.2d at 214. The accounting for coverages arose between the parties presently at bar and was therefore legitimate. ¶ 28. The City of Ridgeland asserts that an accounting is improper and that discovery at the circuit court level is the better alternative for obtaining this information. At the hearing below, however, counsel for the Fowlers explained ongoing frustration with the City's lack of cooperation in obtaining information regarding insurance coverage during good faith settlement attempts. The relevant portion of the record reads as follows: I (Fowler's counsel) was seeking a resolution as I'm required to do under the statute of the state Tort Claims Act. I wrote a letter to the adjuster, and I said, Is there or is there not insurance covering the City of Ridgeland? And he sent me a flippant answer with a copy of the statute and said, All we will ever owe you is $250, 000 under the statute, and never told me yes or no ... Further, Counsel says that all thatunder the state Tort Claims Act, all that there could be is 250,000, so it doesn't matter if there was insurance or not and its' going to come under the municipal plan... So this is not asomething I just made up. This is not just some sort of ruse to get an accounting, I need to know if they've got insurance, and if they do, how much it is. I couldn't even find that out during attempting good faith settlement with the City's municipal liability plan prior to instituting this suit. I never found out. ¶ 29. The resulting request for an injunction seeking an accounting is valid. Contrary to the City's argument that circuit court discovery is the better route, and contrary to the majority's shirking of this issue, the Fowlers' request for an accounting properly raises equity jurisdiction.