Williamson Ex Rel. Williamson v. Keith

786 So. 2d 390, 2001 WL 624972
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedJune 7, 2001
Docket1999-CA-01870-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by69 cases

This text of 786 So. 2d 390 (Williamson Ex Rel. Williamson v. Keith) 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
Williamson Ex Rel. Williamson v. Keith, 786 So. 2d 390, 2001 WL 624972 (Mich. 2001).

Opinion

786 So.2d 390 (2001)

Kelli L. WILLIAMSON, a minor, by and through her legal and natural guardian, mother and next friend, Cynthia D. WILLIAMSON and Cynthia D. Williamson, individually
v.
James A. KEITH.

No. 1999-CA-01870-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

June 7, 2001.

*391 Paul E. Rogers, Jackson, Attorney for Appellant.

Robert Lewis Gibbs, Jackson, Attorney for Appellee.

EN BANC.

*392 PITTMAN, Chief Justice, for the Court:

¶ 1. Kelli L. Williamson, a minor, by and through her legal and natural guardian, mother and next friend, Cynthia D. Williamson (the "Williamsons"), filed a complaint in the Circuit Court of Madison County against James A. Keith ("Keith") and Beth Richmond ("Richmond"). The complaint alleged that there was an abuse of process, violation of due process and invasion of privacy when Keith and Richmond subpoenaed Kelli's medical records from the Shea Clinic in Memphis, Tennessee.

¶ 2. Richmond filed a motion to dismiss. Later the Williamsons voluntarily dismissed Richmond and continued proceedings only against Keith. Keith subsequently filed a motion for summary judgment asserting that the Williamsons had failed to provide evidence of the existence of elements necessary to their claims of abuse of process and invasion of privacy. Keith's motion also contended that the due process clause of the federal and state constitutions cannot be invoked against Keith because he is a private citizen. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Keith, dismissing the complaint.

¶ 3. The Williamsons timely perfected this appeal.

FACTS

¶ 4. Kelli is a special education student enrolled in the Madison County School District (the "School District"). In April, 1994, Kelli received a cochlear implant (a surgically implanted assistive hearing device) before she enrolled in the Madison County School District months later. In 1998, Kelli lost the magnet, coil, and cord components of her cochlear implant somewhere between school and home. The Williamsons demanded reimbursement from the School District for the lost components on the ground that the implant was an assistive technology device, in conformity with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. §§ 1400-87, which enabled Kelli to receive the full benefit of her education. The School District denied that the implant was an assistive technology device, but rather a personal device, and refused to provide compensation for the missing components.

¶ 5. As a result of the School District's decision not to pay for the lost components, the Mississippi Protection and Advocacy System, Inc. ("P & A") requested a due process hearing on behalf of Kelli to challenge the School District's refusal to compensate. Keith was hired as attorney for the School District, and Beth Richmond was appointed as hearing officer for the due process hearing.

¶ 6. After the request for the due process hearing, attorney Becky Floyd of P & A indicated to Keith that she planned to call a representative of the Shea Clinic, the facility where Kelli's implant procedure was performed, as a witness. During this conversation with Floyd, Keith mentioned that he wished to subpoena Kelli's Shea Clinic medical records in preparation for the hearing. Thereafter, the Williamsons provided a witness list for the hearing that showed that Elizabeth Domico, an audiologist with the Shea Clinic, was to be called to testify.

¶ 7. Keith requested issuance of a subpoena for Kelli's medical records. Richmond, acting as hearing officer, issued the subpoena. Keith then served the subpoena on the custodian of records at the Shea Clinic. No copies of Keith's request for the subpoena or the subpoena were served on P & A. Shea Clinic subsequently provided Kelli's medical records to Keith. These documents covered the period of March 10, 1993, to September 8, 1994, and *393 contained information regarding Kelli's hearing loss, cochlear implant, and general medical history.

¶ 8. The Madison County due process hearing never took place because the School District and the Williamsons entered into a Settlement Agreement resolving the dispute. In an affidavit sworn by Cynthia Williamson, Kelli's mother, Cynthia stated that the Williamsons did not become aware of Keith's request for Kelli's records until several months after the matter was settled. Subsequently, the Williamsons filed suit against Keith and Richmond alleging that there was an abuse of process, violation of due process and invasion of privacy when Keith and Richmond subpoenaed Kelli's medical records from the Shea Clinic in Memphis, Tennessee. Richmond was eventually dismissed from the suit.

¶ 9. Keith, in his sworn affidavit, explained that he never used the Shea Clinic records and did not disclose or publish them, or any information contained therein to anyone other than his legal assistant and the School District's Special Education Services Director in preparation for the due process hearing. Keith also stated in his affidavit that he did not become aware that he had not served a copy of the subpoena request or the subpoena to P & A until he reviewed his file after the Williamsons had filed suit.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 10. This Court has a well-established standard of review of a trial court's grant of summary judgment:

Our appellate standard for reviewing the grant or denial of summary judgment is the same standard as that of the trial court under Rule 56(c) of the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure. This Court employs a de novo standard of review of a lower court's grant or denial of summary judgment and examines all the evidentiary matters before it—admissions in pleadings, answers to interrogatories, depositions, affidavits, etc. The evidence must be viewed in the light most favorable to the party against whom the motion has been made. If, in this view, there is no genuine issue of material fact and, the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law, summary judgment should forthwith be entered in his favor. Otherwise, the motion should be denied. Issues of fact sufficient to require denial of a motion for summary judgment obviously are present where one party swears to one version of the matter in issue and another says the opposite. In addition, the burden of demonstrating that no genuine issue of fact exists is on the moving party. That is, the non-movant should be given the benefit of the doubt.

Heigle v. Heigle, 771 So.2d 341, 345 (Miss. 2000) (quoting McCullough v. Cook, 679 So.2d 627, 630 (Miss.1996)).

DISCUSSION

I. WAS SUMMARY JUDGMENT DISMISSING THE ABUSE OF PROCESS CLAIM PROPER?

¶ 11. The Williamsons claim that Keith's requesting of a subpoena to obtain Kelli's medical records without sending their attorneys at P & A a copy of the request resulted in an abuse of process. The Williamsons assert that there existed genuine issues of material fact which should have precluded the trial court from granting summary judgment in favor of Keith.

¶ 12. This Court, in State ex. rel. Foster v. Turner, 319 So.2d 233 (Miss.1975), defined the action of abuse of process:

The action of abuse of process consists in the misuse or misapplication of a legal *394 process to accomplish some purpose not warranted or commanded by the writ.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
786 So. 2d 390, 2001 WL 624972, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/williamson-ex-rel-williamson-v-keith-miss-2001.