Doe v. Stegall

900 So. 2d 357, 2004 WL 868765
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedApril 15, 2004
Docket2001-CA-01674-SCT, 1998-CA-01058-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 900 So. 2d 357 (Doe v. Stegall) 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
Doe v. Stegall, 900 So. 2d 357, 2004 WL 868765 (Mich. 2004).

Opinion

900 So.2d 357 (2004)

Wonda DOE
v.
Gaines L. STEGALL, Individually and d/b/a Nottingham Place Apartments and Betty Stegall.

Nos. 2001-CA-01674-SCT, 1998-CA-01058-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

April 15, 2004.

Rick D. Patt, Shane F. Langston, Jackson, attorneys for appellant.

Jason Hood Strong, Robert S. Addison, Jackson, attorneys for appellees.

EN BANC.

CARLSON, Justice, for the Court.

¶1 This matter is before this Court, pursuant to M.R.A.P. 48C(b), on a motion filed by Wonda Doe to review the refusal of Court of Appeals Judge T. Kenneth Griffis to recuse himself from this case and the order of the Court of Appeals denying reconsideration of that refusal. Finding that a reasonable person knowing all the circumstances would not question the impartiality of Judge Griffis, we deny the motion.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶2 The facts of this personal injury case (involving an apartment tenant who was twice raped at knifepoint by a burglar over the course of a two-hour period) are adequately discussed in this Court's decision *358 in Doe v. Stegall, 757 So.2d 201, 202-04 (Miss.2000) (Doe I). In Doe I, we reversed the trial court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendants (the Stegalls) and remanded the case back for trial. After the trial court again granted the Stegalls' motion for summary judgment, the case came to us a second time on appeal (Doe II). Upon the second appeal, this case was initially retained by us for decision; however, on May 19, 2003, we deflected this case to the Court of Appeals for a decision on the merits.

¶3 On June 13, 2003, Doe's counsel filed a motion for recusal in the Court of Appeals requesting the recusal of Presiding Judge Leslie H. Southwick and Judge T. Kenneth Griffis.[1] Doe's basis for the requested recusal of Judge Southwick was that Judge Southwick was an officer in the Mississippi National Guard and that, as of the date of the filing of the motion, Doe and her counsel had a declaratory judgment action pending in state court against Mississippi Supreme Court Justice William L. Waller, Jr., challenging the constitutionality of Justice Waller's service as an officer in the Mississippi National Guard simultaneously with his service on this Court.[2] Presiding Judge Southwick entered an order on June 17, 2003, dismissing the recusal motion against him as moot inasmuch as he had already by that time voluntarily recused himself from the case prior to the filing of Doe's motion. Doe's basis for the requested recusal of Judge Griffis was that during the 2002 judicial campaign for the Court of Appeals, Judge Griffis, as a candidate, had distributed fliers critical of "personal injury lawyers."[3] On June 27, 2003, Judge Griffis entered an order denying Doe's request for his recusal. In this order, Judge Griffis stated inter alia that he was not required to recuse himself in this case, in considering "Article 6, Section 165 of the Mississippi Constitution of 1890, and consistent with the Code of Judicial Conduct, Canon 3E, and the recusal policy of [the Court of Appeals]."[4]

¶4 On July 10, 2003, Doe filed a motion requesting the Court of Appeals to take en banc action by reconsidering the recusal issue, vacating Judge Griffis's order denying recusal, and requiring Judge Griffis to recuse himself from further participation on the merits of this case. On August 22, 2003, the Court of Appeals, by a 4-1-5 vote, denied Doe's Motion for the Court of Appeals to Reconsider the Order Denying [Doe's] Motion to Recuse.[5]

¶5 On September 5, 2003, Doe's counsel filed a motion requesting this Court to review the Court of Appeals' order denying reconsideration of Judge Griffis's refusal to recuse himself in this case. However, while this Court had Doe's motion under consideration, Doe, on October 10, *359 2003, filed a motion with this Court requesting that then-Presiding Justice James W. Smith, Jr.,[6] then-Justice Kay B. Cobb,[7] and Justice George C. Carlson recuse themselves from participation in this case because they were among the justices who filed a complaint with the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance against then-Presiding Justice Charles R. (Chuck) McRae, the father-in-law of Doe's attorney.[8] Based on the filing of Doe's motion requesting three justices of this Court to recuse themselves from this case, it was necessary to delay consideration of the recusal issue pertaining to Judge Griffis until such time as the recusal motion against the justices of this Court had been resolved.

¶6 While the recusal issues pertaining to a Court of Appeals judge and three Supreme Court justices were under consideration by this Court, the Court of Appeals, on November 18, 2003, handed down a decision on the merits in Doe II.[9] In an opinion authored by Judge Bridges and joined by Presiding Judge King and Judges Thomas, Irving, Myers and Griffis (Chief Judge McMillin, Presiding Judge Southwick, and Judges Lee and Chandler not participating), the trial court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the Stegalls and against Doe was again reversed and remanded to the trial court. Judge Griffis wrote a separate concurring opinion offering additional considerations for the trial judge upon remand. Notwithstanding this favorable ruling from the Court of Appeals (again, one which was joined by Judge Griffis), and notwithstanding the pendency of Doe's previously filed motion for recusal of certain Supreme Court justices, Doe filed with the Court of Appeals a motion to strike Judge Griffis's special concurring opinion since the M.R.A.P. 48C(b) recusal issue on Judge Griffis was still pending before this Court. Of course, that issue was still pending before us because we could take no further action on it until we had resolved the recusal issue on three Supreme Court justices as raised by Doe. In any event, by en banc order signed by Presiding Judge King and entered on December 5, 2003, the Court of Appeals denied Doe's "Motion to Strike Concurring Opinion of Judge Griffis and Supplement to Motion to Strike Concurring Opinion of Judge Griffis."

¶7 Finally, by separate orders entered on February 5, 2004, by then-Presiding Justice Smith and then-Justice Cobb and Justice Carlson, Doe's motions for recusal as to each of these Justices were denied. Doe's motion for rehearing was also denied.

DISCUSSION

¶8 With this procedural backdrop, we now focus on the recusal issue relating to Judge Griffis. Again Doe's Motion for Recusal asking that Judge Griffis be recused from participating in this case focused on two incidents occurring during Judge Griffis's successful 2002 judicial campaign for the position he now occupies on the Court of Appeals. First, according to allegations in the recusal motion and *360 attached media documentation, Judge Griffis, during the weekend immediately prior to his election, distributed campaign fliers which stated, inter alia, that Judge Griffis "would `fight' the special interest groups-like the personal injury lawyers who have created the `lawsuit industry.'" Indeed, the Special Committee on Judicial Election Campaign Intervention (Special Committee)[10] did in fact issue a press release finding that Judge Griffis's distribution of these fliers with this language violated the applicable provisions of the Mississippi Code of Judicial Conduct.

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Bluebook (online)
900 So. 2d 357, 2004 WL 868765, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/doe-v-stegall-miss-2004.