Sparks v. Kim

701 So. 2d 1113, 1997 WL 703106
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 13, 1997
Docket94-CA-00948-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by29 cases

This text of 701 So. 2d 1113 (Sparks v. Kim) 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
Sparks v. Kim, 701 So. 2d 1113, 1997 WL 703106 (Mich. 1997).

Opinion

701 So.2d 1113 (1997)

Pat SPARKS, individually and on behalf of The Heirs at Law and Wrongful Death Beneficiaries of Will Holmes, Deceased, and Kimberly Taylor, a minor, by and Through Cathy Taylor, her natural Mother and Guardian
v.
Myung KIM, Juan Santos, John Dial, John Berry, William Tumlinson, Medical Doctors; John Doe, Betty Doe, Richard Roe, Unknown Medical Doctors, Nurses, Officers and/or Employees of Mississippi Department of Corrections; Leroy Black, Commissioner of Mississippi Department Of Corrections; and Steve Puckett, individually and a Superintendent of the Mississippi State Penitentiary.

No. 94-CA-00948-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

November 13, 1997.

Ellis Turnage, Cleveland, for Appellants.

*1114 Michael C. Moore, Attorney General, John L. Clay, Special Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for Appellees.

En Banc.

PRATHER, Presiding Justice, for the Court:

I. STATEMENT OF THE FACTS AND CASE

¶ 1. Will Holmes, an inmate in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, died of meningitis at Parchman Hospital on November 18, 1991. He became ill on November 7, 1991 and was allowed by the prison doctors to absent himself from work. Holmes was given Tylenol and other relatively minor treatments, which failed to improve his condition. Holmes was taken to Parchman hospital on November 15, 1991 and again on November 18, 1991, where he died that evening.

¶ 2. Holmes' wrongful death beneficiaries and heirs at law, Pat Sparks, individually and on behalf of the heirs at law and wrongful death beneficiaries of Will Holmes, deceased and Kimberly Taylor, a minor, by and through Cathy Taylor, her natural mother and guardian, filed suit in the Sunflower County Circuit Court on November 18, 1993. The suit sought both compensatory and punitive damages against Myung Kim, Juan Santos, John Dial, John Berry, William Tumlinson, medical doctors; John Doe, Betty Doe, Richard Roe, unknown medical doctors, nurses, officers and/or employees of Mississippi Department of Corrections; Leroy Black, Commissioner of Mississippi Department of Corrections; and Steve Puckett, Individually and a Superintendent of the Mississippi State Penitentiary who were prison doctors and other prison medical personnel and also named as defendants Leroy Black, Commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, and Steve Puckett, Superintendent of the Mississippi State Penitentiary.[1]

¶ 3. On July 18, 1994, Myung Kim, Juan Santos, John Dial, John Berry, and Steve Puckett filed a motion to dismiss, or in the alternative, a motion for summary judgment, raising the defenses of "qualified, absolute, official and sovereign immunities." The Circuit Judge, finding that Miss. Code Ann. § 11-46-9 provided immunity to the defendants, granted the motion to dismiss on August 23, 1994. Sparks timely filed an appeal from said ruling.

II. LAW

¶ 4. Will Holmes died in 1991. Sparks' beneficiaries therefore assert that the circuit court erred in basing its order of dismissal upon the 1993 amendments to Miss. Code Ann. Section 11-46-1 et. seq., most particularly those made to § 11-46-9(1)(m). Section 11-46-9(1)(m) effectively cuts off a prison inmate's right to bring a negligence or wrongful death action against the State or its employees, but no such statute was in effect at the time the present cause of action arose.

¶ 5. Kim and the other appellees argue, however, that the Legislature has expressed an intent that the 1993 amendments to this State's sovereign immunity statutes be applied retroactively. Specifically, Kim cites Miss. Code Ann. § 11-46-3(1), which provides in part that:

(1) The Legislature of the State of Mississippi finds and determines as a matter of public policy and does hereby declare, provide, enact, and reenact that the "state" and its "political subdivisions," as such terms are defined in Section 11-46-1, are not now, have never been and shall not be liable, and are, always have been and shall continue to be immune from suit at law or in equity... .

Kim argues that "the language of this statute is clear that legislative sovereign immunity shielded these Defendants from tort liability for negligent acts committed even before the passage date of this act."

¶ 6. This Court agrees with Sparks that the trial judge erred in dismissing the lawsuit based on a retroactive application of Miss. Code Ann. § 11-46-9(1)(m). Section 11-46-9 clearly states that it is effective from and after its passage, and the statute indicates *1115 that paragraph (m) was rewritten in 1994. It is also clear that state prison doctors and other prison medical personnel were not protected by the doctrine of sovereign immunity as it existed in 1991 because, at that time, sovereign immunity did not provide protection to individuals, but rather to the State and its political subdivisions.[2] The statement of legislative intent in Miss. Code Ann. § 11-46-3(1) is thus inapplicable to the present suit against doctors and other medical personnel, none of whom are properly considered to constitute the "state" or its "political subdivisions."

¶ 7. After careful consideration, however, this Court concludes that prison doctors and other prison medical personnel such as those involved in the present suit should be protected by qualified public official immunity and that this Court's decision in Womble v. Singing River Hospital, 618 So.2d 1252 (Miss. 1993) should not be extended to situations involving medical treatment decisions made by doctors working in the jails and prisons of this State. In Womble, this Court overruled then-existing Mississippi law which held that physicians engaged in the public service are qualifiedly immune from suit for medical treatment decisions made during the course of that service. Thus, prior to Womble, the plaintiffs in the present case would have been barred from suing the defendants herein under state law based upon authority such as Marshall v. Chawla, 520 So.2d 1374 (Miss. 1988) and Hudson v. Rausa, 462 So.2d 689 (Miss. 1984), both of which were overruled by this Court in Womble.[3]

¶ 8. A review of the rationale for this Court's holding in Womble indicates that said rationale is not applicable to doctors working in prisons and jails. The first rationale offered by this Court in support of the holding in Womble is that:

None of these considerations undergirding common law qualified immunity are applicable to medical treatment decisions. First of all, there is nothing inherently governmental about decisions regarding individual medical treatment. They do not involve the formulation of public policy in any respect. Therefore, the notion of promoting governmental decisions that are in the public good is completely inapplicable.

Womble at 1263. The medical treatment afforded to prisoners involves governmental and public policy considerations to a greater degree than similar treatment issues involving non-inmates.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
701 So. 2d 1113, 1997 WL 703106, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sparks-v-kim-miss-1997.