Hickman v. Citibank (South Dakota), N.A.

89 So. 3d 691, 2012 WL 1918812, 2012 Miss. App. LEXIS 303
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedMay 29, 2012
DocketNo. 2010-CP-02034-COA
StatusPublished

This text of 89 So. 3d 691 (Hickman v. Citibank (South Dakota), N.A.) 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
Hickman v. Citibank (South Dakota), N.A., 89 So. 3d 691, 2012 WL 1918812, 2012 Miss. App. LEXIS 303 (Mich. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

IRVING, P.J.,

for the Court:

¶ 1. On July 16, 2009, Citibank (South Dakota), N.A. fíled a complaint in the Marshall County Circuit Court against Jonathan Hickman, seeking recovery of a delinquent credit card debt totaling $2,299.20. Citibank also sought post-judgment interest at a rate of 8%, attorney’s fees of $766.40, and all court costs. On May 5, 2010, Citibank filed a motion for summary judgment. The circuit court granted the motion, awarding Citibank the principal amount of $2,299.20; plus post-judgment interest at a rate of 8% per year; and all court costs. ' The circuit court also awarded $2,000 in attorney’s fees, which exceeded the amount requested in Citibank’s complaint.

¶ 2. Feeling aggrieved, Hickman appeals and raises several issues on appeal. In the interest of clarity, we have consolidated the issues as follows: (1) whether the circuit court erred in granting summary judgment and (2) whether the circuit court abused its discretion in awarding additional attorney’s fees.

¶ 3. Based on the facts of this case, the circuit court did not err in granting summary judgment or in awarding attorney’s fees. However, the amount of attorney’s fees awarded was unreasonable. Therefore, we affirm' the circuit court’s judgment as modified.

FACTS

¶ 4. The style of the case in Citibank’s complaint listed Hickman as the defendant; however, the complaint’s prayer for relief erroneously listed “Jonathan Carpenter” as the defendant.1 Hickman filed an answer and a motion to dismiss, arguing for the dismissal of Citibank’s complaint based on the typographical error in the prayer for relief. Following a hearing, the circuit court denied Hickman’s motion to dismiss.

¶ 5. On April 7, 2010, Citibank served Hickman with discovery in the form of interrogatories, requests for production of documents, and requests for admissions. Hickman failed to respond to any of Citibank’s discovery requests. Having received no response to its discovery requests, Citibank filed a motion for summary judgment. It also filed a motion to amend its complaint and attached a copy of the proposed amended complaint as an exhibit. In the proposed amended complaint, Citibank changed the name in the prayer to “Jonathan Hickman.” The [693]*693proposed amended complaint was identical to the original complaint in all other respects.

¶6. On October 14, 2010, the circuit court held a hearing on Citibank’s motion to amend its complaint and its motion for summary judgment. Hickman appeared pro se and stated that he had received a copy of the proposed amended complaint. However, he stated that he believed that Citibank’s amendment of the complaint meant that his case “startled] over brand new,” entitling him to additional time to prepare his defense and respond to discovery. The court acknowledged that it had continued the case to allow Citibank to amend its complaint.2 However, the court explained that its continuation of Hickman’s case for the limited purpose of amending the complaint did not effect the deadlines for responding to discovery.

¶ 7. The circuit court ruled in favor of Citibank based on Hickman’s failure to respond to discovery. The court also awarded attorney’s fees of $2,000, which was in excess of the amount requested in Citibank’s complaint. The court stated that the additional amount was intended to compensate the attorney for time spent traveling to hearings and other matters during the pendency of the case.

¶ 8. Additional facts, as necessary, will be related in our analysis and discussion of the issues.

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF THE ISSUES

1. Summary Judgment

¶ 9. An appellate court reviews a circuit court’s decision to grant or deny a motion for summary judgment de novo. Young v. Smith, 67 So.3d 732, 741 (¶ 18) (Miss.2011). Summary judgment is appropriate where “the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories[,] and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Id. (quoting M.R.C.P. 56(c)).

¶ 10. Hickman argues that the circuit court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of Citibank based on his failure to respond to discovery requests. Specifically, Hickman contends that the circuit court’s continuation of the case meant that he' did not have to respond to the discovery requests until after Citibank filed its amended complaint. We disagree.

¶ 11. Citibank amended its complaint for the sole purpose of correcting a party-name error in the complaint’s prayer for relief. The Mississippi Supreme Court has consistently recognized that “the doctrine of misnomer allows parties to correct party-name errors if doing so would not result in prejudice.” Scaggs v. GPCH-GP, Inc., 23 So.3d 1080, 1083 (¶ 9) (Miss.2010) (citations omitted). “If the effect of an amendment of a pleading is merely to correct the name of a person, and the proper party is actually in court, as where process has actually been served on the true defendant, or he has appeared and defended or otherwise submitted himself to the jurisdiction of the court, there is no prejudice.” Id. (quoting 67A C.J.S. Parties § 237 (2002)). “In sum, under Mississippi law, an amendment is permitted so long as the evidence does not suggest that the misnomer misled the parties into thinking that [694]*694another party was meant.” Rich v. Nevels, 578 So.2d 609, 612 (Miss.1991) (internal citations and quotations omitted).

¶ 12. It is undisputed that the style of the complaint correctly identified Hickman as the defendant. Additionally, Citibank’s statement of account, which'was attached as an exhibit to the complaint, lists Hickman as the account holder. Finally, the summons issued correctly identified Hickman as the defendant, and Hickman appeared in court to defend his case. Based on these facts, we fail to see how the misnomer in the prayer could have misled Hickman. The style of the complaint, the exhibits, and the summons all correctly identified Hickman as the defendant and were sufficient to notify him that he was being sued by Citibank.

¶ 13. The circuit court’s decision to continue the case for the limited purpose of allowing Citibank to amend its complaint to correct the misnomer in the prayer did not extend the discovery deadlines or hold discovery in abeyance. Additionally, Hickman cites no authority for his argument that the circuit court’s continuance of the case to allow Citibank to amend its complaint automatically tolled the time limit for responding to discovery, and we are aware of none.3

¶ 14. Because Hickman failed to respond to Citibank’s requests for admissions, the circuit court deemed the subject requests admitted. See M.R.C.P. 36(a). Matters admitted are “conclusively established unless the court on motion permits withdrawal or amendment of the admission[s].” M.R.C.P. 36(b). Hickman never filed a motion to withdraw or amend the admissions. Consequently, Hickman admitted that he had applied for a credit card with Citibank, made charges on the account, and failed to pay the outstanding balance of $2,299.20. Our supreme court has stated that “a matter that is deemed admitted does not require further proof.” Young, 67 So.3d at 742 (¶ 22) (quoting DeBlanc v. Standi, 814 So.2d 796, 801 (¶25) (Miss.2002)).

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Bluebook (online)
89 So. 3d 691, 2012 WL 1918812, 2012 Miss. App. LEXIS 303, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hickman-v-citibank-south-dakota-na-missctapp-2012.