Court Opinion

ID: 9471300
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 03:28:39.882385+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:42:20.600352
License: Public Domain

GARWOOD, Circuit Judge,
concurring:
Respecting the res judicata point, under 28 U.S.C. § 1738 we give the prior Mississippi judgments only such preclusive effect as Mississippi would. See Southern Jam, Inc. v. Robinson, 675 F.2d 94, 97, 98 (5th Cir.1982); Hicks v. Quaker Oats Co., 662 F.2d 1158, 1166 (5th Cir.1982). The only claim we hold Mrs. Brantley to have validly raised in this suit is her privacy right-liberty claim that she was discharged because of her son’s attendance at private school, and would not have been discharged otherwise. As to this claim, the Mississippi court decisions were primarily based on jurisdictional grounds, namely, that in each case the chancery court had no original jurisdiction. In such circumstance, Mississippi apparently does not give preclusive effect to alternative determinations on the merits. City of Jackson v. Creston Hills, Inc., 172 So.2d 215, 219 (Miss.1965). See Restatement (Second) of Judgments § 20, Comment e (last sentence) and Illustration 4 at 173. Therefore, res judicata is not available as to this claim. As to each of the other points presented by this appeal, I concur fully in the holdings and reasoning of the majority.