Estate of Spiegel v. Western Surety Co.

908 So. 2d 859, 2005 Miss. App. LEXIS 525, 2005 WL 1870181
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedAugust 9, 2005
DocketNo. 2004-CA-00796-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 908 So. 2d 859 (Estate of Spiegel v. Western Surety Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Estate of Spiegel v. Western Surety Co., 908 So. 2d 859, 2005 Miss. App. LEXIS 525, 2005 WL 1870181 (Mich. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

MYERS, J.,

for the Court.

¶ 1. On December 28, 2002, the personal representative of the Estate of Lawrence Spiegel (“Spiegel”), filed a complaint against Western Surety Company, Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland, Gayle Parker, Circuit Clerk of Harrison County, Mississippi, and Webb L. Lee, former Circuit Clerk of Harrison County, Mississippi, and Gail Nicholson in the Circuit Court of the First Judicial District of Harrison County. Western Surety Company and Fidelity Deposit Company were joined as defendants in the case because they were sureties for the circuit clerk and former circuit clerk on their official bonds. The complaint alleged that the circuit clerk failed to properly enroll a foreign judgment held by Spiegel and that this failure ultimately caused Spiegel to be unable to execute the judgment.

¶ 2. On October 31, 2003, the circuit court granted the appellees’ motion to dismiss, or, in the alternative, for judgment on the pleadings, finding that Spiegel’s action was barred by the statute of limitations. Spiegel filed a motion for reconsideration, which was denied on March 12, 2004. Also on March 12, 2004, the court entered an amended order, specifically finding that Spiegel’s action was time-barred because it accrued on or before June 9, 1997. A judgment of dismissal with prejudice was also entered on March 12, 2004. Gail Nicholson had been dismissed from the suit on December 22, 2003, pursuant to an agreed order of dismissal.

¶ 3. Aggrieved by the judgment of the circuit court, Spiegel now appeals, raising the following single issue:

DID THE CIRCUIT COURT ERR IN FINDING SPIEGEL’S ACTION TO BE BARRED BY THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS?

¶ 4. Finding no error, we affirm the judgment of the circuit court.

FACTS

¶ 5. On March 19, 1990, Lawrence Spie-gel was awarded a joint and several judgment against Fay Yeager and Lydia Ann Rayner by the United States District Court for New Jersey. The amount of the judgment was roughly $3,000,000. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed this judgment. On or about May 2, 1990, Gail Nicholson was hired by Spiegel to enroll the New Jersey judgment in Harrison County, Mississippi, the known residence of Lydia Ann Rayner. For reasons that are not entirely clear from the record, the judgment was not properly enrolled by the circuit clerk. On or about May 3, 1990, Nicholson also registered the New Jersey judgment in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi. Spiegel eventually became aware that his judgment did not appear on the judgment rolls of Harrison County, in spite of Nicholson’s delivering of the New Jersey judgment to the circuit clerk for enrollment. Because of this, on June 9, 1997, another attorney in Mississippi re-enrolled the judgment on behalf of Spiegel, and this time the judgment was actually enrolled by the clerk.

¶ 6. On April 29, 1999, Lawrence Spiegel departed this life, and on December 5, 2000, an estate was opened in Monmouth County, New Jersey for the purpose of administering Spiegel’s estate. A little over two years later, as noted above, on December 23, 2002, the personal representative of the estate (hereinafter “Spiegel”) filed the complaint, alleging that the circuit clerk caused him damage by failing to [861]*861enroll the judgment when first presented for enrollment on May 2,1990.

¶ 7. Previous to the filing of Spiegel’s complaint, on June 21, 2000, Rayner filed for bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Mississippi. It was this bankruptcy proceeding that led to the decisions on September 30, 2002 and August 20, 2003, which Spiegel argues to be the dates upon which his action accrued. On September 30, 2002, the bankruptcy court held that Spiegel’s New Jersey judgment was unenforceable in Mississippi, and on August 20, 2003, the United States District Court affirmed the decision of the bankruptcy court. Because of this, Spiegel argues that he was unable to collect any of the judgment he held against Rayner. Several months later, as noted, Spiegel instituted the instant suit, claiming that the circuit clerk’s error destroyed his chances of collecting on the judgment against Rayner and that the circuit clerk should, therefore, have to pay him the value of the judgment for this error.

LEGAL ANALYSIS

DID THE CIRCUIT COURT ERR IN FINDING SPIEGEL’S ACTION TO BE BARRED BY THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS?

¶ 8. Spiegel actually states two separate issues in his brief; however, both of the issues he states turn upon this single issue regarding the circuit court’s finding on the statute of limitations. Because of this, we have combined the two issues stated by Spiegel into one, and we will discuss the issue accordingly.

¶ 9. Spiegel makes a number of arguments and sub-arguments, but the main thrust of Spiegel’s argument is that his cause of action did not accrue until either September 30, 2002 or August 20, 2003, because one of these two dates is when he actually suffered an actionable injury. He argues that this is so because he was not injured by the circuit clerk’s failure to enroll his foreign judgment until the bankruptcy court rendered its decision or when the district court affirmed the decision of the bankruptcy court. In other words, Spiegel argues that he suffered no actual loss until September 30, 2002 or August 20, 2003, and that any action he may have brought before those dates would have been premature (of course, an obvious problem with this argument is that his complaint was filed on December 23, 2002; thus, if his action did not accrue until August 20, 2003, his complaint was prematurely filed and his own argument would bear this out).

¶ 10. The appellees argue that Spiegel’s action accrued at the latest on June 9, 1997, because that is the latest date upon which Spiegel can be said to have discovered or known of the clerk’s error. Having discovered the error at least on this date (if not earlier), his cause of action based upon that error accrued on this date. Because of this, the appellees argue that Spiegel’s claim is time-barred under the applicable statute of limitations. According to the appellees, the applicable statute of limitations is the one year statute of limitations under the Mississippi Tort Claims Act (“MTCA”), Mississippi Code Annotated § 11-46-11 (Rev.2002). The appellees also argue that Spiegel did not comply with the statutory notice of claim requirements of the MTCA and that, therefore, Spiegel’s action was not only time-barred under the statute of limitations, but also procedurally barred under the MTCA. Miss.Code Ann. § 11-46-11.

¶ 11. The appellees finally argue that even if this action does not fall under the MTCA, then the action is still barred by the general three year statute of limita[862]*862tions under Mississippi Code Annotated § 15-1-49 (Rev.2003).

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 12. We employ de novo review in analyzing challenges to a trial court’s rulings on issues of law, such as statute of limitations issues. Alexander v. Womack, 857 So.2d 59, 62 (¶ 10) (Miss.2003). We also employ de novo review in determining issues relating to the proper application of the MTCA. City of Jackson v. Brister, 838 So.2d 274, 278 (¶ 13) (Miss.2003).

DISCUSSION

Applicability of the Mississippi Tort Claims Act

¶ 13.

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908 So. 2d 859, 2005 Miss. App. LEXIS 525, 2005 WL 1870181, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/estate-of-spiegel-v-western-surety-co-missctapp-2005.