Opinion ID: 1708277
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Whether the Trial Court Erred in Denying the Defendants' Motion to Transfer Venue?

Text: ¶ 12. The Edmondses filed their complaint in this action on July 15, 2002. Thus, the amendments to the venue statute which went into effect on January 1, 2003, are not applicable to the case sub judice as per Section 16 of 2002 Miss. Laws, 3d Ex.Sess., ch. 4, which states: This act shall take effect and be in force from and after January 1, 2003, and shall apply to all causes of action filed on or after that date. The applicable venue statute, prior to that amendment, read in pertinent part: Civil actions of which the circuit court has original jurisdiction shall be commenced in the county in which the defendant or any of them may be found or in the county where the cause of action may occur or accrue and, if the defendant is a domestic corporation, in the county in which said corporation is domiciled or in the county where the cause of action may occur or accrue, except where otherwise provided.... Miss.Code Ann. § 11-11-3(1) (Supp.2001) (emphasis added). As amended, the section omits the accrual language. ¶ 13. An application for a change of venue is addressed to the discretion of the trial judge, and his ruling thereon will not be disturbed unless it clearly appears that there has been an abuse of discretion or that the discretion has not been justly and properly exercised under the circumstances of the case. Beech v. Leaf River Forrest Prods., Inc., 691 So.2d 446, 448 (Miss.1997) (quoting Miss. State Highway Comm'n v. Rogers, 240 Miss. 529, 128 So.2d 353, 358 (1961)). Additionally, the trial court must give the plaintiff the benefit of reasonable doubt with respect to venue selection, and this Court must do the same on appeal. Pisharodi v. Golden Triangle Reg'l Med. Ctr., 735 So.2d 353, 354 (Miss.1999). It is well-established that the plaintiff is entitled to choose between any of the permissible venue options where credible evidence or factual basis supports the venue selected. See Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Johnson, 807 So.2d 382, 387 (Miss.2001); Earwood v. Reeves, 798 So.2d 508, 513 (Miss.2001); Forrest County Gen. Hosp. v. Conway, 700 So.2d 324, 325 (Miss.1997). A substantial component of the claim must have taken place in the county for venue to exist where the alleged act or omission occurred. See Flight Line, Inc. v. Tanksley, 608 So.2d 1149, 1157 (Miss.1992). See also Earwood, 798 So.2d at 513 (holding that Covington County, where receipt of the check for an allegedly insufficient amount occurred, would be a substantial component of the claim); Conway, 700 So.2d at 325. ¶ 14. In Tanksley, an airplane was improperly loaded in Warren County, Mississippi. Tanksley, 608 So.2d at 1153-54. The plane flew to Chicago, Illinois, where Tanksley was injured while unloading the plane. Id. Tanksley's injury was the result of the improper loading. Id. This Court found venue to be proper in Warren County finding that the injury could not have occurred without the negligent loading. Id. at 1156-57. We stated: In the final analysis, venue is about convenience. The legislative prescription implies a legislative finding counties meeting certain criteria will generally be more convenient to the parties. The use of occur makes sense because important witnesses will often be accessible where the action occurs. Yet, there is nothing in the phrase where the cause of action may occur ... that limits the judicial search for but a single county. Torts arise from breaches of duties causing injuries, and it is common experience that breach and causation and impact do not all always happen at once. At the very least, the word occur connotes each county in which a substantial component of the claim takes place, and this may include, in the present context, the negligent conduct which substantially undergirds Tanksley's claim. Tanksley, 608 So.2d at 1157. See also Earwood, 798 So.2d at 513 (quoting Tanksley, 608 So.2d at 1157). ¶ 15. As correctly stated by the trial court, Miss.Code Ann. § 11-11-3 (Supp.2001), the governing Mississippi venue statute, as it existed when the suit was filed is applicable in this case. For venue purposes, a cause of action accrues either where the actual tortious conduct occurs or where the plaintiff suffers actual injuries from the negligence. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Johnson, 807 So.2d 382, 387 (Miss.2001). This Court defined and distinguished the occur and accrue language found in Flight Line, Inc. v. Tanksley, 608 So.2d 1149, 1156 (Miss.1992), by stating: `Occur' and `accrue' are not synonymous, legally or otherwise, as the disjunctive connector forthrightly suggests. We read accrual in its formalistic sense. A cause of action accrues when it comes into existence as an enforceable claim, that is, when the right to sue becomes vested ... this may well mean the moment injury is inflicted, that point in space and time when the last legally significant fact is found ... ¶ 16. Here, the trial court found that the correspondences, documents, phone calls, and personal contact between plaintiffs, defendants, and defendants' employees all occurred in Kemper County during the course of the representation. Although Holmes and Neshoba Counties are also proper venues for this action, the plaintiff is afforded the right to choose among permissible venues and this choice must be sustained unless in the end there is no credible evidence supporting the factual basis for the claim of venue. Tanksley, 608 So.2d at 1155. ¶ 17. To support their claim for breach of contract and breach of the duties of loyalty and care, the Edmondses rely upon conversations and correspondence carried out or received in Kemper County, their county of residence. Although Williamson now claims only a few documents were mailed and one was delivered to the Edmondses in Kemper County, Williamson admitted there was a lot of things sent to Ms. Edmonds in Kemper County and everything that was of interest in the case was sent to Ms. Edmonds in Kemper County. The information sent to Kemper County is central to the Edmondses' allegations of breach of the duties of loyalty and care by their attorney. Williamson further admits that when the Edmondses failed to sign the release to settle the claims in his Neshoba County office, his assistant Glinda Bowles, more commonly known as Kookie, was sent to hand-deliver the release the very next day. The Edmondses refused to sign the release because Williamson only showed Lisa the release and structured settlement and he settled for less than the amount previously discussed and agreed upon. The Edmondses allege Williamson threatened to drop Lisa's case and proceed with his attorney lien on any lawsuit in the future, telling Lisa she wouldn't be able to find another attorney to take her case. In addition to delivering the release to the Edmondses in Kemper County, the Edmondses allege that after their conversation with Kookie, combined with discussions and correspondences had directly with Williamson, they decided to sign the agreement and did so at the Williamson office in Neshoba County soon after Kookie's visit. Williamson also admitted that Kookie was responsible for certain aspects of his operation and described Kookie's relationship as more of the contact person. ¶ 18. The Edmondses' complaint specifically alleges Williamson induced Lisa to sign a release agreement retroactively accepting and approving his actions. Although Williamson stated that explaining all the settlement documents and their implications was not Kookie's job, when asked whether he was aware that Kookie had a conversation with Lisa concerning the document and all aspects of the settlement in Kemper County when she delivered the settlement release papers to the Edmonds home, Williamson replied: Well, I'm sure knowing Kookie, she had a conversation with Ms. Edmonds, yes. In telephone conversations and correspondences, the Edmondses dealt primarily with Kookie. Williamson downplays Kookie's role in his operation. However, it was Kookie who did all the leg work in obtaining clients for Williamson. When Lisa received medical treatment for her heart condition, the receptionist at the doctor's office came back with Kookie's name. She didn't give ... you know, Williamson law firm. She just said Kookie. Call her at this number. When Lisa contacted Kookie, Lisa testified: Kookie told me that I might have to live on oxygen. And that I could possibly die from pulmonary hypertension. And that I needed to do something immediately or I would lose my rights. There's a time frame you have. And she suggested that I come and meet with her. She said she could be in the office the next day on a Saturday. Lisa testified that she knew little about her condition and that Kookie went into further detail with me. The complaint alleges and the depositions of the Edmondses show that Kookie played a far greater role than acknowledged by Williamson. The allegations of the complaint as supported through the Edmondses' depositions satisfactorily establish credible evidence of a factual basis to support their selection of venue in Kemper County. As such, the trial court did not act unjustly or improperly. The trial court clearly acted within the bounds of its authority in denying Williamson's venue challenge. ¶ 19. Most important in establishing where accrual or substantial components of the claim took place, however, is Kookie's visit to Kemper County. The Edmondses expressed their dissatisfaction with the alleged unauthorized settlement amount and left the Neshoba County office without signing the documents one day before Kookie's visit to Kemper County. According to Larry, Kookie's understanding that a contribution to the Mississippi Trial Lawyers Association ... was one of the conditions for receiving the settlement amount Lisa had initially agreed to allegedly influenced their decision to sign the release and settle their claims. The Edmondses, who had walked out on Williamson the day before refusing to sign the release, talked with Kookie during her visit to their home and were ready to sign. Therefore, the visit, conversation, and representations are pivotal to the Edmondses' new claims, particularly as they pertain to the breach of duty of care and loyalty claims alleged. Much like the facts in Tanksley, the Edmondses claim that their injury was at least substantially, if not wholly, the result of Kookie's visit to Kemper County and conversation with the Edmondses. Kookie's visit and conversation with the Edmondses were the last legally significant facts. See also Earwood v. Reeves, 798 So.2d at 513 (quoting Tanksley, 608 So.2d at 1157). This case substantially occurred or accrued when the alleged tortious inducement by Williamson through Kookie took place in Kemper County. The injury did not occur due to the mere entry of the consent judgment. The Edmondses allege they were injured because they were not informed of all the details of the settlement, were misled, or were outright lied to by Williamson and/or his agent, Kookie. Without the visit and conversation with Kookie and Williamson through contacts with the Edmondses in Kemper County, no consent judgment would exist as to the Edmondses. The consent judgment compounded the underlying injury suffered by the Edmondses as a result of the alleged misrepresentations, communications, and/or contacts they had with Kookie and Williamson via in-person contact, telephone conversations, and correspondences received in Kemper County. Thus, venue in Kemper County is proper. ¶ 20. In a breach of contract, duty of loyalty, and duty of care case, it is not unreasonable to infer that the communications between an attorney and his client are a substantial component of the claims. All correspondence was sent to Kemper County. Additionally, the content of the correspondences between the Edmondses and Williamson characterize the attorney-client relationship and directly put into play the question of whether the Edmondses were given full disclosure and were indeed made aware of the specifics of the settlement agreement. Although a part of their claim occurred in Holmes County where the consent judgment was entered, the cause of action did not accrue upon its entry but accrued during the conversation in Kemper County which influenced the Edmondses to sign the release. Even assuming that the Edmondses' causes of action did not accrue during their conversation with Kookie in Kemper County, substantial components of their claims occurred through correspondences, documents, phone calls, and personal contacts. What the Edmondses were told about the settlement in Kemper County via telephone, mail, and personal contact are all substantial components of their claims. The components, which occurred in Kemper County, are indeed the factual bases of their claims. ¶ 21. We hold that the trial court correctly applied the statute in this case and found credible evidence suggesting that the Edmondses' causes of action accrued and/or occurred in Kemper County such that venue was proper therein. As such, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying Williamson's motion to change the venue.