McIntosh v. Victoria Corp.

877 So. 2d 519, 2004 WL 26604
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedJanuary 6, 2004
Docket2002-CA-01486-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 877 So. 2d 519 (McIntosh v. Victoria Corp.) 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
McIntosh v. Victoria Corp., 877 So. 2d 519, 2004 WL 26604 (Mich. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

877 So.2d 519 (2004)

Bobbie McINTOSH, Appellant,
v.
VICTORIA CORPORATION d/b/a The Nail Shop, Appellee.

No. 2002-CA-01486-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

January 6, 2004.
Rehearing Denied March 30, 2004.
Certiorari Denied July 15, 2004.

*520 Laurel G. Weir, Philadelphia, attorney for appellant.

Eric Foster Hatten, attorney for appellee.

Before McMILLIN, C.J., IRVING and MYERS, JJ.

MYERS, J., for the Court.

¶ 1. Bobbie McIntosh appeals from a summary judgment motion granted by the Lauderdale County Circuit Court in favor of Victoria Corporation d/b/a The Nail Shop. On August 4, 1999, McIntosh filed a negligence lawsuit against Victoria Corporation to recover for injuries she allegedly sustained after developing a fungus on her fingernails. On April 5, 2002, a motion for summary judgment was made by Victoria Corporation. McIntosh filed a motion for judgment against Victoria Corporation. The trial court granted summary judgment for Victoria Corporation after it determined that McIntosh failed to establish the applicable duty of care, breach of duty and causation of her injuries. The trial judge imposed $250 in sanctions on McIntosh for filing a frivolous motion. From the trial court's granting of Victoria Corporation's summary judgment motion and imposition of sanctions, McIntosh appeals and raises three issues.

*521 ISSUES PRESENTED

I. Did the trial court err by granting summary judgment for Victoria Corporation?
II. Did the trial court err by holding that discovery documents should not be filed with the court?
III. Did the trial court err by imposing sanctions on Bobbie McIntosh?

STATEMENT OF FACTS

¶ 2. Bobbie McIntosh was a patron of Victoria Corporation during March of 1998. During that time, nail technicians at Victoria Corporation placed artificial fingernails on McIntosh's fingers. Some time afterwards, McIntosh had the artificial nails removed from her fingers due to a fungus that developed under two of her nail beds. McIntosh sought medical treatment from two physicians because of the nail fungus. On August 4, 1999, McIntosh filed a complaint against Victoria Corporation alleging that Victoria Corporation was negligent in its application and treatment of the artificial nails. McIntosh specifically alleged that Victoria Corporation negligently used the same container of solution in treating her nails that it used on other customers.

¶ 3. On April 5, 2002, Victoria Corporation filed a summary judgment motion against McIntosh alleging that McIntosh failed to establish the applicable standard of care or a breach of the standard of care by Victoria Corporation. Victoria Corporation further alleged that McIntosh failed to provide any medical proof that would establish the cause of her injury. On August 2, 2002, the trial court held a hearing on the motion for summary judgment, and at that time, the trial judge granted McIntosh additional time to file an affidavit from a physician stating a medical opinion on the cause of McIntosh's nail fungus. McIntosh failed to file an affidavit signed by a licensed physician and instead chose to file a pleading in opposition to motion for summary judgment with a copy of her medical records attached. The medical records did not contain any information as to the cause of McIntosh's nail fungus.

¶ 4. On the date of the hearing on the motion for summary judgment, the trial court heard a motion for judgment filed by McIntosh against Victoria Corporation. The basis for McIntosh's motion was that Victoria Corporation did not answer her requests for discovery. Victoria Corporation answered that it did respond to discovery in August of 1999. Victoria Corporation attached copies of its responses, along with the notice of service of discovery that was filed with the court on October 14, 1999. Victoria Corporation asserted that McIntosh's motion was frivolous, lacked merit and should therefore be dismissed. Victoria Corporation requested $1,500 in sanctions against McIntosh for attorney's fees incurred responding to her motion.

¶ 5. The trial court granted Victoria Corporation's motion for summary judgment on the ground that McIntosh failed to present any evidence, medical or otherwise, proving that Victoria Corporation breached any duty it owed to McIntosh or that such breach caused McIntosh's injury; consequently, there were no genuine issues of material fact. The trial court found McIntosh's motion for judgment against Victoria Corporation to be frivolous and without merit. During the hearing, McIntosh asserted that the basis for her motion was that discovery documents were not filed with the court. The trial judge took judicial notice of Rule 5(d) of the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure which states that "discovery papers need not be filed until used with respect to any proceeding. Proof of service of any paper shall be upon certificate of the same." The trial court *522 found that Victoria Corporation complied with Rule 5(d) and McIntosh was fined $250 which represented a portion of the amount of attorney's fees expended to defend the motion.

¶ 6. McIntosh appeals the trial court's granting of summary judgment for Victoria Corporation and the court's imposition of sanctions against her. McIntosh also raises the question of whether the trial court erred by holding that discovery documents need not be filed with the court. Finding no genuine issue of material fact and that the defendant is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law, we affirm the trial court's grant of summary judgment for Victoria Corporation. We find that the trial court was correct in its interpretation of Rule 5(d) of the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure. We also affirm the trial court's imposition of sanctions in the amount of $250.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 7. When reviewing a lower court's granting of summary judgment, this court employs a de novo standard of review. Young v. Wendy's Int'l, Inc., 840 So.2d 782, 783(¶ 3) (Miss.Ct.App.2003) (citing Hudson v. Courtesy Motors, 794 So.2d 999, 1002(¶ 7) (Miss.2001)). Summary judgment is appropriate when "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." Piggly Wiggly of Greenwood, Inc. v. Fipps, 809 So.2d 722, 725(¶ 9) (Miss.Ct.App.2001) (citing M.R.C.P. 56(c); Singleton v. Ratliff, 757 So.2d 1098(¶ 6) (Miss.Ct.App.1999)). The burden rests on the moving party to show that no genuine issue of material fact exists, while the benefit of reasonable doubt is given to the non-moving party. Young, 840 So.2d at 784. Also, "the trial court must view all the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-movant." Id. (citing Brown v. Credit Ctr., Inc., 444 So.2d 358, 363 (Miss.1983)). The non-moving party cannot sit back and produce no evidence. To survive summary judgment, the non-moving party must offer "significant probative evidence demonstrating the existence of a triable issue of fact." Id. (citing Newell v. Hinton, 556 So.2d 1037, 1041-42 (Miss.1990)).

LEGAL ANALYSIS

I. DID THE TRIAL COURT ERR BY GRANTING SUMMARY JUDGMENT FOR VICTORIA CORP.?

¶ 8. McIntosh asserts that the trial judge improperly granted summary judgment for Victoria Corporation. McIntosh argues she made out a prima facie case of negligence and as such should have been afforded a jury trial.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
877 So. 2d 519, 2004 WL 26604, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcintosh-v-victoria-corp-missctapp-2004.