Lynn Wirtz v. Adams County Board of Supervisors

CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedApril 16, 2019
Docket2018-CP-00031-COA
StatusPublished

This text of Lynn Wirtz v. Adams County Board of Supervisors (Lynn Wirtz v. Adams County Board of Supervisors) 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
Lynn Wirtz v. Adams County Board of Supervisors, (Mich. Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI

NO. 2018-CP-00031-COA

LYNN WIRTZ APPELLANT

v.

ADAMS COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS APPELLEES AND H.W. BARNETT

DATE OF JUDGMENT: 09/14/2017 TRIAL JUDGE: HON. LILLIE BLACKMON SANDERS COURT FROM WHICH APPEALED: ADAMS COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT: LYNN WIRTZ (PRO SE) ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEES: SCOTT FLETCHER SLOVER BRUCE M. KUEHNLE JR. NATURE OF THE CASE: CIVIL - OTHER DISPOSITION: AFFIRMED IN PART, VACATED IN PART, AND REMANDED: 04/16/2019 MOTION FOR REHEARING FILED: MANDATE ISSUED:

EN BANC.

TINDELL, J., FOR THE COURT:

¶1. At the July 5, 2017 meeting of the Adams County Board of Supervisors (the Board),

Lynn Wirtz asked the Board to take certain action against his neighbor, Dr. H.W. Barnett.

Specifically, Wirtz asked that the Board request for Dr. Barnett to explain his removal,

beginning in 2008, of timber and soil from a right of way on Dr. Barnett’s property.

Following the Board’s refusal to send Dr. Barnett a letter, Wirtz, acting pro se, filed a bill of

exceptions in the Adams County Circuit Court on July 14, 2017. Wirtz named both the

Board and Dr. Barnett as defendants in the proceeding. The Board and Dr. Barnett filed separate motions to dismiss. After a hearing on the parties’ various motions and filings, the

circuit court dismissed Dr. Barnett from the proceedings for lack of personal and subject-

matter jurisdiction. The circuit court further dismissed Wirtz’s appeal against the Board for

lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.

¶2. On appeal to this Court, Wirtz raises various assignments of error, which we restate

as follows: (1) the circuit court erred by dismissing Dr. Barnett from the proceedings; (2) the

circuit court erred by awarding Dr. Barnett attorney’s fees and by holding Wirtz in contempt

for failing to pay the fees; and (3) the circuit court erred by dismissing Wirtz’s appeal against

the Board.

¶3. Upon review, we affirm the circuit court’s dismissal of Dr. Barnett from the

proceedings for lack of personal and subject-matter jurisdiction. We also affirm the

dismissal of Wirtz’s appeal against the Board, though we do so on the ground that Wirtz’s

refusal to include the Board’s meeting minutes in his bill of exceptions provided an

insufficient record upon which the circuit court could not intelligently act. See Stroud v.

Progressive Gulf Ins., 239 So. 3d 516, 526 (¶31) (Miss. Ct. App. 2017) (“This Court may

affirm a circuit court if the correct result is reached, even if the circuit court reached the

correct result for the wrong reasons.” (internal quotation mark omitted)). We do, however,

vacate the circuit court’s award of attorney’s fees to Dr. Barnett and remand for further

consideration consistent with this opinion. As a related matter, we find our disposition on

the issue of attorney’s fees now renders Wirtz’s argument moot regarding the circuit court’s

order of contempt.

2 FACTS

¶4. According to Wirtz’s bill of exceptions, Dr. Barnett began in 2008 to remove timber

and soil from a right of way located on Dr. Barnett’s property. Taking issue with Dr.

Barnett’s actions, Wirtz stated in his bill of exceptions that he first presented the matter to

the Board at the Board’s June 13, 2008 meeting. Wirtz further stated, however, that the

Board failed to take action and thereafter refused his requests to reconsider its decision or to

meet to discuss the matter.

¶5. Almost nine years later, at the Board’s July 5, 2017 meeting, Wirtz asked the Board

to send Dr. Barnett a letter that requested an explanation for Dr. Barnett’s removal of the soil

and timber. After the Board failed to grant his request, Wirtz filed his bill of exceptions,

signed by the Board’s president, and sought judicial review of the Board’s decision. The

Board submitted proposed corrections to the bill of exceptions and requested that Wirtz

amend it to include certain additional facts and documents, including a copy of the minutes

from the Board’s July 5, 2017 meeting. Following Wirtz’s refusal to amend his bill of

exceptions, the Board sought to dismiss Wirtz’s appeal for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.

According to the Board, Wirtz’s omission of pertinent facts and documents created a fatally

defective record upon which the circuit court could not intelligently act. The Board argued

dismissal under Mississippi Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and Mississippi Code

Annotated section 11-51-75 (Rev. 2012) was therefore proper.

¶6. Several days later, Dr. Barnett filed his own motion to dismiss. Although Wirtz

sought judicial review of the Board’s decision, he had named Dr. Barnett as one of the

3 defendants on appeal. Dr. Barnett contended, however, that though his actions were the

subject of Wirtz’s complaint before the Board, he was never actually a party to those

proceedings. As a result, Dr. Barnett argued Wirtz improperly added him as a party to the

appeal of the Board’s decision. Dr. Barnett asked the circuit court to dismiss him for lack

of personal and subject-matter jurisdiction. Based on the Mississippi Litigation

Accountability Act, he also requested attorney’s fees for the costs he incurred in defending

himself against Wirtz’s bill of exceptions.

¶7. On September 14, 2017, the circuit court held a hearing on the parties’ various

motions. The circuit court issued a bench ruling in which it dismissed Dr. Barnett from the

proceedings and awarded him $1,000 in attorney’s fees. Turning next to the Board’s

motions, the circuit court granted both the Board’s motion to dismiss and its motion to strike

certain allegations Wirtz made in his bill of exceptions.

¶8. On the same day as the hearing, the circuit court entered its final judgment on Dr.

Barnett’s motion to dismiss. In the final judgment, the circuit court reiterated its bench ruling

and found it possessed neither personal nor subject-matter jurisdiction over Dr. Barnett. As

a result, the circuit court dismissed Dr. Barnett from the proceedings. In addition, the circuit

court ordered Wirtz to pay Dr. Barnett $1,000 for the attorney’s fees Dr. Barnett incurred in

defending against the proceedings related to Wirtz’s bill of exceptions. The circuit court

stated that its decision to dismiss Dr. Barnett from the appeal disposed of all claims and

issues between Wirtz and Dr. Barnett and that the decision was therefore a final judgment

from which Wirtz could appeal.

4 ¶9. On September 22, 2017, Wirtz filed a “Request for Findings of Fact and Law”

pursuant to Mississippi Rule of Civil Procedure 52 and a “Motion for Rehearing” pursuant

to Mississippi Rule of Civil Procedure 59 (Rule 52 and Rule 59 motions). Wirtz challenged

the circuit court’s September 14, 2017 bench rulings to dismiss Dr. Barnett from the

proceedings and to dismiss Wirtz’s appeal against the Board. Pursuant to Rule 52, Wirtz

asked the circuit court to “issue written findings of fact and law for its rulings made in open

court on September 14, 2017 . . . .” Further, pursuant to Rule 59, Wirtz asked the circuit

court to “vacate its rulings made in open [c]ourt on 9/14/17” and “amend its judgment in

conformity with the law and evidence . . . .”

¶10. On October 31, 2017, the circuit court entered its order granting the Board’s motion

to dismiss.

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Lynn Wirtz v. Adams County Board of Supervisors, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lynn-wirtz-v-adams-county-board-of-supervisors-missctapp-2019.