Opinion ID: 1684777
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Risk of Inconsistent Judgments

Text: ¶ 44. The majority opinion allows for multiple inconsistent judgments. This is a risk that no judicial system should take. While there may be fifty-six plaintiffs in the case sub judice, with a concurrent number of medical histories, facts, and eccentricities, there is one massive fact common to all: the drug Propulsid. The hazard we create today is that a defendant may not rely upon the courts of Mississippi for fear of inconsistent judgments. ¶ 45. This decision helps no one, defendant or plaintiff, and could profoundly impact our business communities and the economies dependent on them for survival. A defendant with even the most basically available product may suddenly find itself defending suits in every one of our eighty-two counties. Today we court this dilemma, which takes shape in the form of a race to the courthouse, at our peril. We risk a flood of litigation the likes of which even our statefamous, or infamous, for litigationhas never seen. For what happens in Lee County will have absolutely no bearing on what happens in Harrison County, or Issaquena County, or Lauderdale County. The doctrine of res judicata will be worth nothing. ¶ 46. The true danger of the majority's opinion is the risk of unsettled lawthat judges, juries, attorneys, parties, students, and citizens will not understand the procedures and policies of our court system. This undermines the very reason we adopted our Rules over twenty years agoto eradicate the old legal world that operated mysteriously, half in Latin, completely out of reach of most Mississippians. Parties suffer without settled procedure to guide them, and refusing to have class actions when every other state employs them is an imprudent adherence to an archaic doctrine that helps no one. ¶ 47. Today's decision does not deter frivolous litigation or the abuse of joinder, but actually encourages multiple litigation, for it might be reasoned that thirty wins in thirty counties, with ten losses in ten counties, is better than one huge loss in one county. Instead of a company defending itself in one action against fifty-six claims, aggregated in one county, there could be fifty-six claims in fifty-six counties. This does not promote judicial economy. ¶ 48. Nonetheless, despite the severe misgivings I have about today's decision, it reaches the correct result regarding the physician defendants. The sole reason I agree with the majority's ultimate decision to sever is the presence of the physician defendants in the instant case. The physicians were dragged across the state to sit in a foreign jurisdiction, in towns they had perhaps never visited beforeand which their patients may have never visited before, either. It simply seems that a better path could be taken; a path that alleviates the great and unnecessary stress we place on Rule 20. The correct path creates a class action procedure that will allow courts to fairly administer claims with numerous parties, protects the interests of both defendants and plaintiffs, and avoids inconsistent decisions. EASLEY, J., JOINS THIS OPINION.