Opinion ID: 1611487
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: whether nancy necaise has standing to pursue an action for charles freeman's personal injuries.

Text: ¶ 13. The central issue in this case is whether Necaise may maintain her deceased father's personal injury claim, either in her individual capacity, or in her capacity as executrix of her father's estate. Necaise claims that she can; Dr. Sacks and MOG claim that she cannot. Necaise chooses to support her position with claims of the applicability of Miss. R. Civ. P. 17(a) as it relates to joinder and substitution of the real party in interest; Miss. R. Civ. P. 19 as it relates to joinder of a party needed for just adjudication; and, Miss. R. Civ. P. 15 as it relates to liberal joinder and the relation-back provision, as well as certain case law. Necaise also attacks the lack of timeliness by the defendants in filing what turned out to be the dispositive motion to dismiss on the day of trial. On the other hand, Dr. Sacks and MOG cite certain statutes and case law to support their claims of Necaise's lack of standing to individually pursue her deceased father's personal injury claims; the running of the applicable statute of limitations; and, Necaise's late efforts to finally get it right by way of maintaining her deceased father's personal injury claims in the name of his estate. ¶ 14. Miss.Code Ann. § 91-7-233 (Rev. 1994) states, in pertinent part: Executors, administrators, and temporary administrators may commence and prosecute any personal action whatever, at law or in equity, which the testator or intestate might have commenced and prosecuted. ¶ 15. Miss.Code Ann. § 91-7-237 states, in pertinent part: When either of the parties to any personal action shall die before final judgment, the executor or administrator of such deceased party may prosecute or defend such action, and the court shall render judgment for or against the executor or administrator. Additionally, Miss.Code Ann. § 15-1-36 (Supp.2002) states that medical malpractice claims must be brought within two (2) years from the date of the alleged negligent act or omission, while the estate savings statute, Miss.Code Ann. § 15-1-55 (Rev.1995), provides that the estate of a person who dies before the expiration of the applicable statute of limitations may sue or be sued after the running of the applicable statute and within one (1) year after the death of the person. Stated succinctly, in citing these four statutes and the cases of Berryhill v. Nichols, 171 Miss. 769, 158 So. 470 (1935), and, Owen v. Abraham, 233 Miss. 558, 102 So.2d 372 (1958), Dr. Sacks and MOG assert that Freeman's personal injury claims could be maintained after his death only by Necaise as executrix of Freeman's estate, and since she never did so, the claims are now barred under both the general medical malpractice statute of limitations and the estate savings statute. ¶ 16. In Berryhill, the next of kin of a man who had been accidentally shot and later died brought a medical malpractice suit against the attending physician. This Court held that there was insufficient evidence to show that the death was proximately caused by any negligence on the part of the physician, but this Court went on to state: And as to any pain and suffering of the deceased endured by him between the injury and death and which may be shown was probably caused by the asserted negligence, that is an item which must be recovered, if at all, under section 1712, Code 1930, at a suit by the personal representative, not by the next of kin or heirs at law. [5] 158 So. at 471. In Owen, Mitchell Owen's wife sued him for divorce. After the hearing, the chancellor took the case under advisement for entry of a final decree in vacation. By the time the chancellor rendered his opinion, Owen had died. While the chancellor noted the fact of Owen's death in his opinion, the chancellor still awarded alimony to Owen's wife to be assessed against the defendant and/or the defendant's estate. Owen's counsel attempted an appeal to this Court, claiming that at the time of the chancellor's entry of the decree against Owen and his estate, there was already a named executor of his estate as duly appointed by the chancery court, and that Owen's wife had made no effort to properly revive the action against the executor. This Court found that it did not have jurisdiction to hear the appeal because the entry of the final decree and subsequent proceedings amount[ed] to a nullity. 233 Miss. at 561, 102 So.2d at 373. In reaching this conclusion, this Court quoted extensively from Griffith's Mississippi Chancery Practice and stated: Inasmuch as the defendant died before the chancellor reached a decision, the cause should have been revived against the duly acting executor. Griffith's Mississippi Chancery Practice, Section 591 says in part: `In order that there may be any decree for the complainant it must be shown in proof that he actually has the interest upon which he sues, and the defendant must be shown, at least by the pleadings, to have some germane litigious concern therein. It follows from this rule, even if there were no other, that litigation is not to be carried on by or against any deceased person. The impossibility of such a thing is apparent however upon its mere mention. There must be revivors in such suits or else further proceedings therein amount to nothing. Thus, if a defendant die during pendency of a suit and there is no revivor or amendment, but only an unwarranted effort to carry on the suit by substituting a new party to the suit,not one claiming by or under the former defendant,the proceeding is entirely erroneous.' Section 620 of the same text says in part: `And likewise a decree rendered against a defendant after his death is void, if he was the sole defendant or was an indispensable party to the suitalthough the interlocutory decree were rendered while he was alive.' 233 Miss. at 561, 102 So.2d at 373 (citations omitted). ¶ 17. Dr. Sacks and MOG also direct this Court to Wilks v. American Tobacco Co., 680 So.2d 839, 843 (Miss.1996), wherein this Court held in a wrongful death suit that the decedent's wrongful death heirs were not entitled to recover the decedent's life-time damages because they failed to alternatively pursue such a claim under Miss.Code Ann. § 91-7-233. ¶ 18. However, this case turns on a case decided by this Court just last year. In Richardson v. Methodist Hospital of Hattiesburg, Inc., 807 So.2d 1244 (Miss.2002), this Court was confronted with the propriety of the circuit judge's grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendants as to the plaintiff's suit for personal injury and wrongful death. In Richardson, Vivian Wheeless was admitted to the hospital with a diagnosis of an intestinal hemorrhage, and she suffered a fatal stroke. Thereafter, Wheeless's daughter, Linda Richardson, brought a personal injury and wrongful death action against the hospital. The suit was styled Linda Richardson, Individually and on Behalf of the Wrongful Death Heirs of Vivian Wheeless, Deceased v. Methodist Hospital of Hattiesburg, Inc., Now Known as Wesley Health Center. In Richardson, we readily acknowledged our holding in Wilks, and in so doing, stated: Wesley argues that the claim for the pain and suffering as an element of the wrongful death action should likewise be denied pursuant to Wilks v. American Tobacco Co., 680 So.2d 839 (Miss.1996). In Wilks, the jury found that cigarette smoking did not proximately cause the decedent's death. The heirs contended on appeal they were at least entitled to the decedent's lifetime damages that the heirs believed were overwhelmingly proven to be caused by cigarette smoking. The heirs' cause of action was exclusively under Mississippi's wrongful death statute. We held the personal injury action could not be maintained where it was not alternatively claimed under Mississippi's survival statute. Id. at 843. 807 So.2d at 1247. We went on to hold in Richardson that the circuit judge appropriately granted summary judgment on Richardson's wrongful death claim because Richardson's designated expert was not qualified to testify as to causation relating to Wheeless's death and any alleged deviations in nursing care; however, we likewise held that the circuit judge inappropriately granted summary judgment on Richardson's personal injury claim relating to Wheeless's pain and suffering prior to her death. Accordingly, we reversed the trial court judgment in favor of the hospital on Richardson's claim for Wheeless's pain and suffering and remanded that claim to the circuit court for a jury trial. 807 So.2d at 1247-48. ¶ 19. The facts of the case sub judice are similar to the facts in Richardson. In our case today, Freeman, Necaise's father, allegedly suffered chemical burns during chemotherapy treatment while under Dr. Sacks's care at MOG, and commenced, during his lifetime, a personal injury/medical malpractice suit against Dr. Sacks and one of his nurses. While the actions of Necaise, or at least those of her attorneys, were legitimately a cause of some consternation on the part of Dr. Sacks and MOG and their attorneys when amended pleadings started reflecting the phrase wrongful death beneficiaries, and while Necaise did equivocate somewhat in deposition and interrogatory responses to the extent that she at least opined that there may have been some connection between the defendants' alleged negligent actions and her father's death, for the most part, Necaise, through her attorney, repeatedly informed the trial court and counsel, orally and in writing, basically that there is not and never has been a wrongful death claim asserted herein. After Freeman had commenced his medical malpractice suit, and subsequent to his death in January, 1999, the circuit court, in the same cause of action, signed an agreed order on March 3, 1999, directing that Nancy Necaise, individually and on behalf of the wrongful death beneficiaries of Charles Freeman is hereby substituted as the party plaintiff in this civil action. In September, 1999, the chancery court found as a fact that Freeman's estate consisted solely of his cause of action for personal injuries and/or wrongful death, and that Necaise was Freeman's sole survivor; therefore, Freeman's will was admitted to probate and Necaise was appointed as executrix of her deceased father's estate. Subsequent to this chancery court action, in the same month, Necaise then filed her first amended complaint in the same circuit court action initially commenced by her father during his lifetime. ¶ 20. Based on our decision in Richardson, admittedly rendered subsequent to the learned trial judge's dismissal of this action, we find that Necaise is able to maintain this suit which was commenced by her father during his lifetime. Accordingly, we reverse the trial court's grant of the defendants' motion to dismiss pursuant to Miss. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). ¶ 21. Because our decision as to Issue I is dispositive, we need not discuss the remaining issues.