Eubanks v. Aero Mayflower Transit Co.

175 So. 2d 169, 253 Miss. 159, 1965 Miss. LEXIS 978
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedMay 17, 1965
DocketNo. 43539
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 175 So. 2d 169 (Eubanks v. Aero Mayflower Transit Co.) 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
Eubanks v. Aero Mayflower Transit Co., 175 So. 2d 169, 253 Miss. 159, 1965 Miss. LEXIS 978 (Mich. 1965).

Opinion

Brady, Tom P., J.

This is an appeal from an order of the Circuit Court of Jackson County, Mississippi, dismissing the suit of the appellants against the corporate defendant, Aero Mayflower Transit Company, hereinafter called Aero, and ordering a change of venue for the individual defendants from Jackson County to Lowndes County, Mississippi, the county of their residence. Briefly stated, the pertinent facts are as follows:

Mrs. Agnes Pauline Eubanks, widow of John Malcolm Eubanks, Jr., instituted suit for herself and her two minor children, Timothy Malcolm Eubanks and Phillip Michael Eubanks, on account of an accident which occurred on January 24, 1964, in which a car being driven by the said John Malcolm Eubanks, Jr., collided with a truck belonging to McConnell Brothers Transfer and Storage, hereinafter called McConnell Brothers, a co-partnership composed of James E. McConnell, Jr., and James W. McConnell, in Jackson County, Mississippi, and operated by an employee, Mid Thomas, Jr. The declaration of the appellants charged negligence against [163]*163the three defendants, one as the tort-feasor and the other two as agents. The three individual defendants are residents of Lowndes County, Mississippi. The accident occurred in George County, Mississippi, and suit was instituted in Jackson County, Mississippi. The corporate defendant, Aero, domiciled in Indiana, had designated A. Y. Harper as its process agent, who resides and was served in Hinds County, Mississippi. None of the defendants was served by process from Jackson County, Mississippi.

The individual defendants, James E. McConnell, Jr., and James W. McConnell, doing business as McConnell Brothers Transfer and Storage, and Mid Thomas, Jr., each filed a motion to transfer the cause from the Circuit Court of Jackson County to the Circuit Court of Lowndes County, where they are all resident citizens, contending that Aero was in no way liable to the plaintiffs and had nothing whatsoever to do with the movement of the vehicle involved in the accident and was not interested in the cargo being moved at the time, and that Aero was improperly identified as a defendant, in an attempt to confer venue jurisdiction in Jackson County, Mississippi.

The defendant Aero likewise filed a motion for a change of venue to Lowndes County, where all individual defendants reside, and where there would be no question of venue jurisdiction or, in lieu thereof, to Hinds County, Mississippi, where Aero exists in Mississippi for service of process, or to George County, Mississippi, where the accident occurred. This motion was filed on April 3, 1964, and the motion of the individual defendants for a change of venue was filed on April 7, 1964. On April 9, 1964, the appellants filed an answer to the motion of Aero for a change of venue, alleging that Aero was an Indiana corporation and had designated Honorable A. Y. Harper in Hinds County as process agent, but asserted that under Mississippi Code [164]*164Annotated section 1434 (1956), and under the authority of the case of Continental Southern Lines, Inc. v. Williams, 226 Miss. 624, 85 So. 2d 179 (1956), proper venue jurisdiction existed in Jackson County, Mississippi.

On April 9, 1964 an answer was filed by Aero and paragraph IX thereof sets up the alleged facts that Aero had no interest in the shipment on the occasion complained of and was never used by McConnell Brothers except in interstate commerce; that this was not an interstate commerce movement; and that Mid Thomas, Jr. was an employee of McConnell Brothers and not of Aero, and that Aero had no interest in or control over the shipment of the cargo, or the driver, or any monetary benefit therefrom on the occasion of the accident. On April 9 there was also filed for Aero a motion for a separate hearing for disposition of the affirmative plea appearing in paragraph numbered IX of the answer, under the authority of Mississippi Code Annotated section 1475.5 (1956). The motion for a separate hearing was granted and the trial court dismissed Aero, one of the alleged principals, and original defendant, stating that no agency relationship existed and likewise ordering a change of venue as to the other defendants.

While the cause of action was pending in the court of Lowndes County, to which the case was removed, the appellants appealed to this Court, contesting both the dismissal and the change of venue. An agreed stipulation of facts was entered into between all interested parties and this stipulation concedes that the accident giving rise to the lawsuit occurred in George County, Mississippi; that the defendant, Aero, had a process agent named A. Y. Harper, of Hinds County, Mississippi, who was served with process in Hinds County, Mississippi; that Aero was a nonresident corporation of the State of Mississippi, but was doing business in the State of Mississippi; that the individual defendants, James E. McConnell, Jr., and James W. McConnell, [165]*165d/b/a McCoimell Brothers, and Mid Thomas, Jr., were all resident citizens of Lowndes County, Mississippi, and were served with process in Lowndes County, Mississippi. The other evidence produced at the hearing was oral and documentary and showed, without dispute, that Aero, a corporation, had nothing whatsoever to do with the vehicle involved in the accident, with the driver driving the vehicle involved in the accident, or with the movement of the cargo or with the cargo itself.

The appellants assign two errors to have been committed by the trial court:

1. The lower court erred in dismissing the defendant, Aero Mayflower Transit Company.
2. The controlling venue statute being Section 1434, rather than Section 1433, Mississippi Code Annotated, 1942, the lower Court erred, regardless of the propriety of the dismissal of Aero Mayflower Transit Company, in transferring this cause from Jackson County to Lowndes County.

The appellees contend that there is no final judgment entered in this cause by the trial court from which an appeal may be taken; that there is no right or authority in the appellants that an appeal be perfected to this Court; and that no appeal can be taken until the rights of the parties are finally determined in the Circuit Court of Lowndes County, Mississippi.

The basic question in issue here is: Does this Court have appellate jurisdiction under Mississippi Code Annotated section 1147 (1956) providing for an appeal from a final judgment? Stated conversely, is the judgment entered in the court below of such a final nature that an appeal therefrom will lie and therefore can be considered by this Court?

The principles of this case are determined by Bradley v. Holmes, 242 Miss. 247, 134 So. 2d 494 (1961); Mid-South Paving Co. v. State Highway Commission, 197 Miss. 751, 766, 20 So. 2d 834 (1945); Mulholland [166]*166v. Peoples Bank of Biloxi, 187 Miss. 608, 192 So. 308 (1939); Federal Land Bank v. Kimbriel, 174 Miss. 153, 163 So. 501 (1935); Dickerson v. Western Union Telegraph Co., 111 Miss. 264, 71 So. 385 (1916).

In Bradley v. Holmes, supra, we concluded that the judgment was not a final one and therefore the appeal was premature. On our own motion we dismissed the appeal. The similarity between that case and the case at bar is striking.

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Bluebook (online)
175 So. 2d 169, 253 Miss. 159, 1965 Miss. LEXIS 978, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/eubanks-v-aero-mayflower-transit-co-miss-1965.