Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz, P.C. v. Seay

42 So. 3d 474, 2010 Miss. LEXIS 291, 2010 WL 2305817
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedJune 10, 2010
Docket2008-IA-00768-SCT, 2008-IA-00999-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by36 cases

This text of 42 So. 3d 474 (Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz, P.C. v. Seay) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz, P.C. v. Seay, 42 So. 3d 474, 2010 Miss. LEXIS 291, 2010 WL 2305817 (Mich. 2010).

Opinions

RANDOLPH, Justice, for the Court:

¶ 1. Sam Seay and William Reed began a lifelong friendship at age eight. In January 2003, following termination from his employment with BancorpSouth, Sam alleges that Reed, an attorney and then-president and chief operating officer (“COO”) of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, P.C. (“Baker Donel-son”), undertook legal representation of Sam in the ensuing conflict. Reed acknowledges that Sam “asked me to look at some specific [legal] issues.... ” In late October or early November 2003, Reed participated in an extramarital affair with Sam’s then-wife, Rebecca Seay. In January 2004, Sam filed a complaint against Ban-corpSouth using other counsel. While Sam concedes that Reed was never counsel of record in the case, he maintains that Reed agreed to advise him “behind the scenes.... ” According to Sam, Reed provided legal advice through October 26, [477]*4772004. Reed’s affair with Rebecca ended between August and October 2004.

¶ 2. The date when Sam learned of the affair is disputed. In deposition testimony, Sam swears the date was August 2, 2004. Subsequently, Sam went to Reed’s office and threatened suit if his demand for $3 million from Reed and Baker Donelson was not met within two weeks. There is no evidence in the record that anyone at Baker Donelson other than Reed was aware of the affair prior to Sam’s demand in November 2004. When the demand was not met, Sam filed suit in the Circuit Court of Hinds County, Mississippi. The complaint included separate counts of negligent infliction of emotional distress, alienation of affections, and breach of fiduciary duty as to Reed, and counts of breach of fiduciary duty, empowerment, negligent failure to supervise, and vicarious liability as to Baker Donelson. Subsequently, the circuit court entered orders denying Reed’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment and Baker Donelson’s Motion for Summary Judgment. From those rulings proceeds part of this consolidated interlocutory appeal. The other parts pertain to two admissibility rulings of the circuit court, both adverse to Reed; and the circuit court’s denial of Reed and Baker Do-nelson’s Motion to Compel Physical and Mental Examination.

FACTS

¶ 3. Sam and Reed were lifelong friends.1 According to Sam, Reed was one of his “go-to guys that, day or night, whenever your ox was in the ditch, that’s who you called.” Sam noted that he “had no reservation ... discussing anything with [Reed,]” and that, likewise, Reed had “always been very ... open with me.... ”

¶4. Sam was a vice-president and director of Pittman, Seay & Turner Insurance and Bonding, Inc. On October 10, 2000, Sam and his partners sold their agency to BancorpSouth, and Sam entered into a five-year employment agreement with BancorpSouth.2

¶ 5. In September 2001, Sam was diagnosed with “situational depression,” which he related to his work environment at BancorpSouth. Sam testified that “the doctors prescribed several antidepressants that all had sexual side effects, making me impotent and gave me erectile dysfunction.” In an effort to self-medicate, Sam began abusing alcohol and was subsequently admitted to the Betty Ford Clinic from February 2002 to April 2002.3

¶ 6. Sam’s employment issues with Ban-corpSouth persisted and, in early January 2003, Sam testified that Reed told him “that, ‘[w]e,’ meaning Baker Donelson, ‘will make [BancorpSouth’s] life miserable if they terminate you.’ ” Specifically, Sam testified that:

[i]t was [Reed], myself and his wife and my wife, and we had discussed ... the case over dinner. And then I talked to him that night and ... he said, “We’ll handle this for you and we will make BancorpSouth’s life miserable. I will [478]*478guarantee you that. And it will be at no charge.” [4]

According to Sam, this offer of free services was “a result of the reciprocal relationship we had had for years, of all the business I had sent over there ... and had cultivated his career over the years.”5

¶ 7. On January 13, 2003, Sam was declared totally and permanently disabled by the Social Security Administration. That same day, Sam was terminated by Ban-corpSouth. Sam’s severance package included one year’s salary. According to Sam, his disability status “had to do with mental illness, nothing to do with alcohol.”

¶ 8. Following his termination, Sam understood that Reed commenced “official representation” of him on January 17, 2003. Reed admits that Sam “asked me to look at some specific [legal] issues.... ” Regarding his January 17, 2003, memo to Sam, Reed stated that he:

looked at ... [Sam’s] contract, ... the scope of the non-compete, it was pretty broad.... And ... I said, “You don’t want to be involved in any kind of dispute over this while they’re paying you a severance. But if you eventually get into litigation with them and they contend that you violated your non-compete, a material breach of the contract by them might be a defense to that.”

Subsequently, Reed “opened a pro bono file” on the “non-compete anti-piracy provision[s]” in Seay’s employment agreement with BancorpSouth. On March 4, 2003, Reed sent a letter on Baker Donelson letterhead to counsel for BancorpSouth, which provided that “[w]e represent Sam Seay [,]” and that “[w]hile Mr. Seay has complied and will continue to comply with the applicable terms of his contract with your institution, your characterizations of the restrictions imposed by that contract are incorrect. Any future communications regarding the contract should be directed to my attention.” (Emphasis added.) Reed acknowledged that he subsequently e-mailed counsel for BancorpSouth “essentially [stating], ‘Sam Seay has been trying to speak to someone about his benefits including COBRA. Would someone please call him.’ ” Additionally, Reed admitted that Sam:

brought some medical records to our office to be faxed to someone. My secretary faxed them, and for some period of time [the medical records] were in his file because he couldn’t keep up with anything. He kept asking for copies of the same materials. So [Reed’s secretary] stuck them in the file. I didn’t read them.... And I don’t recall having any financial information.

¶ 9. In October 2003, Reed and Rebecca engaged in what Reed referred to as “alcohol-related kissing” in Rosemary Beach, Florida. It is undisputed that Reed and Rebecca commenced an affair in either late October or early November 2003, and it ended between August and October 2004.6 [479]*479During the course of the affair, Reed denied having any conversations with Rebecca about matters involving Sam’s legal dispute with BaneorpSouth.7 According to Reed, the affair was “purely personal.”

¶ 10. On December 9, 2003, Reed emailed counsel for BaneorpSouth, as “Sam was apparently owed an expense reimbursement check and had not gotten it and asked me to check on it.” On January 6, 2004, Reed e-mailed the human resources department of counsel for BaneorpSouth that “ 7m]y client [Sam] has been attempting to speak to you about several important insurance and tax issues.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
42 So. 3d 474, 2010 Miss. LEXIS 291, 2010 WL 2305817, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/baker-donelson-bearman-caldwell-berkowitz-pc-v-seay-miss-2010.