Knight v. Newton County

806 F. Supp. 105, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17715, 1992 WL 334050
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Mississippi
DecidedSeptember 23, 1992
DocketCiv. A. No. E92-0010(L)(C)
StatusPublished

This text of 806 F. Supp. 105 (Knight v. Newton County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Knight v. Newton County, 806 F. Supp. 105, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17715, 1992 WL 334050 (S.D. Miss. 1992).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

TOM S. LEE, District Judge.

This cause is before the court on the motion of third-party defendant United States Fidelity & Guaranty Company (USF & G) to dismiss, pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the complaint of defendant/third-party plaintiff Newton County, Mississippi. Newton County has responded to the motion and the court has considered the memoranda of authorities together with-attachments submitted by the parties in ruling on the motion. For the reasons that follow, the court is of the opinion that USF & G’s motion is well taken and should be granted.

[106]*106FACTS

Jackie Knight, a former deputy sheriff with the Newton County Sheriffs Department, brought this action against Newton County to recover unpaid overtime compensation allegedly due under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. Newton County thereafter filed a third-party complaint against Marion A. (Bud) Miles, the sheriff of Newton County at the time of Knight’s employment as a deputy sheriff, and USF & G, the surety which issued Miles’ public official’s bond.1 According to the third-party complaint, Miles, as Knight’s former employer, “was responsible for the proper keeping of personnel and payroll records and supervision of his personnel so that his office would comply with the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act_” Newton County therefore alleges that since USF & G was the .surety under Miles’ public official’s bond, USF & G is liable to Newton County for any judgment awarded to Knight for the payment of unpaid overtime compensation under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.

DISCUSSION

In considering USF & G’s Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, this court is necessarily mindful of the fact that it must construe the third-party complaint in the light most favorable to Newton County, and in so doing, must accept the allegations contained in the complaint as true. See Mitchell v. McBride, 944 F.2d 229, 230 (5th Cir.1991). Only if it appears to a certainty that Newton County would not be entitled to recover under any set of facts which could be proved in support of its claim can this court dismiss the third-party complaint against USF & G for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. See Larry R. George Sales Co. v. Cool Attic Corp., 587 F.2d 266, 270 (5th Cir.1979). Of course, in assessing the allegations of Newton County’s state law claim in light of USF & G’s motion to dismiss, this court is Erie-bound to apply the law as “declared by [the Mississippi] Legislature in a statute or by its highest court.” Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins, 304 U.S. 64, 78, 58 S.Ct. 817, 822, 82 L.Ed. 1188 (1938). Thus, if the Mississippi Supreme Court has rendered a decision on point, this court must apply that decision to the case sub judice.

USF & G contends, and the court agrees, that the Mississippi Supreme Court decision in Poole v. Brunt, 338 So.2d 991 (Miss.1976) (Poole I), is controlling in this case. In Poole I, plaintiff brought a personal injury action against the sheriff of Quit-man County, Mississippi and USF & G, the surety on the sheriff’s public official’s bond. Id. at 992. Plaintiff sought to recover against both defendants damages she sustained in an automobile accident allegedly caused by a deputy sheriff while driving a department vehicle. Id. With respect to plaintiff’s claim against the sheriff, the court determined that the sheriff could be held personally liable for the negligent acts of his deputies. Id. at 994. However, the court further held that plaintiff could not assert a claim against USF & G as surety on the sheriff’s bond since the Mississippi Legislature did not intend for the sheriff’s bond to serve as an automobile accident liability policy. Id. at 994-95. In so holding, the court reasoned:

The bond on which suit was brought in this case is required by Mississippi Code Annotated section 19-25-1 (1972), and is conditioned as provided by the general statute covering public officers, section 25-1-15, the condition being “if he shall faithfully perform all the duties of said office during his continuance therein, then the obligation to be void.” This bond is conditioned that the sheriff “will faithfully discharge the duties of the office.” In the same chapter on sheriffs requiring the fidelity bond, the Code provides in section 19-25-13 that “the budget [sheriff’s] shall include amounts for compensating the deputies and other em[107]*107ployees of the sheriffs office, for insurance providing protection for the sheriff and his deputies in case of disability, death, and other similar coverage, for travel and transportation expenses of the sheriff and his deputies.... ”
It was not intended by the Legislature that this bond [public official’s] was to_ serve as an automobile liability policy, else it would not have provided in another section that the budget of the sheriff “shall include amounts for insurance protection of the sheriff and his deputies.”
The statute makes it mandatory that the budget of the sheriff shall provide insurance protection to the sheriff and his deputies. This protection obviously runs in favor of the injured person. This being so, there is no valid reason for making the sheriffs bondsmen to be liable for automobile accident liability.

Id. (emphasis added).

In the case at bar, Newton County asserts that USF & G should be held liable under Sheriff Miles’ public official’s bond for the payment of compensation to a former Newton County deputy. Just as did the plaintiff in Poole I, Newton County thus seeks to place liability on the surety for something specifically provided for in Miss.Code Ann. § 19-25-13.2 In applying Poole I to the instant case, the court concludes that the Mississippi Legislature did not intend that the sheriff’s bond serve as a source of compensation for deputy sheriffs, else it would not have provided in Miss.Code Ann. § 19-25-13 that the budget of the sheriff “shall include amounts for compensating the deputies.” Id. at 994-95. The court is therefore of the opinion that Poole I dictates that Newton County’s third-party action be dismissed as not being properly actionable pursuant to the bond issued by USF & G.

As was Poole I, the instant case is one of first impression. The court in Poole I recognized that “most of the cases in Mississippi [pertaining to sheriff’s public official’s bonds] deal with liability for the acts of a deputy in assaulting, shooting or killing an individual,” i.e., law enforcement functions. Poole I, 338 So.2d at 993-95. Thus, with respect to the precise issue presented in Poole

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806 F. Supp. 105, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17715, 1992 WL 334050, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/knight-v-newton-county-mssd-1992.