Opinion ID: 1607598
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Amount of Money Damages Sought

Text: ś 74. Although the notices of claim did not specify the amount of money damages sought, they did include a list of the types of damages Price sought. Presumably, the Legislature included this requirement in Section 11-46-11(2) so that defendants would have more information regarding the nature of the claim in order to give them a general sense of whether settlement is desirable, and if so, the range of potential settlement amounts. Listing the various types of damages claimed adequately serves this purpose. Since Price provided a detailed list of the types of damages sought, she substantially complied with this statutory requirement. Therefore, I disagree with the majority's finding that the notices of claim did not satisfy this requirement set out in Section 11-46-11(2). Maj. Op. ś 21. ś 75. I am compelled to add, however, that I find the mere existence of this requirement, and this Court's enforcement of it, to be highly problematic. Requiring claimants to indicate the amount of damages sought in their notice of claim serves no purpose other than to create yet another hurdle in an effort to thwart viable claims against governmental entities and medical providers. Mississippi Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a) does not require plaintiffs to specify a monetary amount of damages in a pleading setting forth a claim for relief and only requires that a plaintiff include a demand for judgment for the relief to which he deems himself entitled. Miss. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2). More pertinent to this case is the fact that a plaintiff pursuing a negligence claim against medical providers is statutorily prohibited from specifying a damages amount in his or her complaint or counterclaim. Miss.Code Ann. § 11-1-59 (Rev.2002). Section 11-1-59 states, in relevant part: In any action at law against a licensed physician, osteopath, dentist, hospital, nurse, pharmacist, podiatrist, optometrist or chiropractor to recover damages based upon a professional negligence theory, the complaint or counterclaim shall not specify the amount of damages claimed, but shall only state that the damages claimed are within the jurisdictional limits of the court to which the pleadings are addressed.... Miss.Code Ann. § 11-1-59 (emphasis added). Thus, individuals pursuing claims against providers for medical negligence are not even permitted to specify the amount of money damages sought in their complaint or counterclaim, but are required to specify the amount of money damages sought in their notice of claim. This is absurd. There is no rational explanation for why claimants must specify a damages amount in their notice of claim when they are not permitted, much less required, to do so in their formal complaint or counterclaim. ś 76. Furthermore, the exact amount of money damages sought may be very difficult to calculate and may, in fact, require consultation with experts. Thus, it can be extremely burdensome for claimants to specify an amount of damages in their notice of claim â especially given the fact that they need not determine a specific damages amount to include in their complaint or counterclaim. In the instant case, Price is seeking damages for, inter alia, pain and suffering, mental and emotional distress, and loss of society. It would have been extraordinarily difficult for her to determine a specific amount of money damages for these types of damages in her notices of claim, which were required to be sent before litigation was commenced, and which were sent only approximately two weeks after her husband's death.