Willie Kinzie v. Belk Department Stores, L.P., Belk, Inc.

164 So. 3d 974, 2015 Miss. LEXIS 128, 2015 WL 1069180
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 12, 2015
Docket2012-CT-01176-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 164 So. 3d 974 (Willie Kinzie v. Belk Department Stores, L.P., Belk, Inc.) 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
Willie Kinzie v. Belk Department Stores, L.P., Belk, Inc., 164 So. 3d 974, 2015 Miss. LEXIS 128, 2015 WL 1069180 (Mich. 2015).

Opinions

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI

KITCHENS, Justice,

for the Court:

¶ 1. Willie Kinzie sued Belk Department Stores, L.P., Belk, Inc., David Flowers, [975]*975Shanay Grant, Kathy Coffey, Donald Smith, Ñikki Daggins, Ray Faja, Staff-mark Investment, LLC, and John Does 1-5 (Belk Defendants) for injuries he sustained while unloading a trailer that had transported merchandise to a Belk retail store. The trial court dismissed Kinzie’s lawsuit with prejudice, finding that Kinzie had misrepresented his injuries during discovery. The Court of Appeals reversed the judgment of the trial court and remanded the case, holding that Kinzie had not misrepresented his injuries and that the ultimate sanction of dismissal with prejudice was not warranted. Having granted certiorari, we affirm, in part, the judgment of the Court of Appeals; we reverse and remand the judgment of the Circuit Court of the First Judicial District of Hinds County.

FACTS 1 AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Kinzie, a truck driver for twenty-eight years, was employed by Triangle Trucking at the time of the injuries at issue. Triangle trucking had dispatched Kinzie as a truck driver for Belk since 2007. At the time of his injury, Kinzie’s job required him to pick up a loaded trailer of Belk cargo from the Belk distribution center in Byram, Mississippi, and unload it at other Belk locations throughout the United States.

On July 14, 2009, Kinzie picked up a loaded trailer at the Belk distribution center in Byram and traveled to a Belk facility in Cullman, Alabama. In the course of unloading his truck, which contained approximately 2,161 cases of cargo, weighing a total of 18,2292 pounds, Kinzie injured his back. Shortly after he received his injury, an ambulance transported Kinzie to the emergency room, where physicians diagnosed him with a central-disc protrusion, disc desiccation, and disc .bulging.

Kinzie initially engaged in a nonsurgical, conservative treatment. Then, on January 4, 2010, Kinzie underwent a bilateral L4-5 hemilaminectomy and discectomy surgery. On May 25, 2010, Kinzie’s treating physician, Dr. Howard Holaday, explained that Kinzie possessed the capability to perform sedentary to light duty work, with a lifting restriction of no greater than twenty pounds, and restrictions on frequent stooping and bending. Although Kinzie claimed to need a cane for stability and assistance, Dr. Holaday provided no recommendation for Kinzie to use a cane. Kinzie asserted that Dr. Holaday also warned him to wean himself off of the cane. The results of functional capacity evaluations (FCEs) performed on April 20, 2010, and May 13, 2010, showed that Kinzie could perform work on a sedentary-physical demand level only. The FCEs also showed Kinzie possessed a dysfunctional sacroiliac (SI) joint.

On October 21, 2010, Kinzie filed suit against the Appellees, alleging that his back injury resulted from the Appellees’ negligent loading of light cargo items on the bottom of the trailer and heavy cargo items on the top, as well as failure to secure the cargo. Kinzie submits that a medical éstimate projects his future medical expenses will,total $117,406.90. He also submits that his past medical expenses, lost wages, future medical expenses, and future lost wages amount to [976]*976$664,890.87. During discovery, Kinzie, through counsel, provided responses to interrogatories and also provided deposition testimony, all of which responded to questions relating to his injury and explaining his present physical limitations resulting from his injury.

Interrogatory 5 inquired about any opinions rendered by a doctor or medical provider regarding Kinzie’s injuries. Kinzie objected to interrogatory 5 as being outside the permissible scope of discovery, but answered by explaining that he had been “assigned permanent work restrictions of no lifting greater than twenty pounds,” was prohibited from “frequent stooping or bending,” and “had been told that [he] can only perform work in the sedentary physical demand level at eight hours a day, five days a week.” Kinzie further stated in his response that he had “been told that [he has] a ten percent whole person impairment rating.” Interrogatory 11 stated: “Describe all activities you were able to perform or participate in prior to July 14, 2009, that you cannot perform or participate in now.” Kinzie answered the interrogatory by stating:

As a result of the injuries sustained in this accident, I have the following limitations: not able to cut grass or take care of the lawn, unable to perform house cleaning, not able to drive but for very short periods of time, unable to stand or walk for long period[s] of time, cannot lift or carry objects or even groceries, difficulty engaging in usual sexual activities, unable to play and hold grandchildren, and other activities as before the incident. Unbeknownst to Kinzie or his counsel, the Appellees hired an investigator to perform surveillance of Kinzie during the period of August 19, 2011, to September 22, 2011 (thirty-four days). Of the thirty-four day period surveillance, twenty-five minutes of excerpts of video footage were provided. The excerpts provided were edited and are not a complete video of the entire thirty-four-day time period. As acknowledged, excerpts of the footage provided show snapshots in time during the thirty-four-day surveillance period. The investigator prepared a report of Kinzie’s activities during the period.’ The excerpts of the video footage reveal Kinzie driving and walking to the post office and his attorney’s office, and working with another man on his shed in the backyard of his house. In response to the video evidence, Kinzie claims that he never violated his physician’s restrictions, nor did he perform any task that he stated in his discovery responses that he could not perform, even while working on his shed.

Kinzie v. Belk Dep’t Stores, 2014 WL 3417612, *2, 164 So.3d 1020, 1022 (Miss.Ct. App. July 15, 2014), cert. granted, 146 So.3d 981 (Miss.2014).

¶ 2. Staffmark Investment filed a motion to dismiss pursuant to Mississippi Rule of Civil Procedure 37(e),3 claiming that Kinzie had made misrepresentations under oath while responding to interrogatories and during his deposition. This motion later was joined by the remaining Belk Defendants. The trial court agreed and dis[977]*977missed the case with prejudice on July 5, 2012. The trial court concluded:

Based on the plaintiffs false representations made in his interrogatory response and in his deposition, along with the video surveillance the defendants obtained on him, this Court finds that the plaintiffs cause of action should be dismissed with prejudice as a sanction for his conduct. This Court further finds that no lesser sanction is appropriate under the circumstances.

¶ 3. Kinzie appealed, and we assigned the case to the Court of Appeals, which held: “Based on the foregoing, we find no evidence of misrepresentation by Kinzie in his responses to the interrogatories and deposition questions. As stated, we review Kinzie’s response to interrogatory 11 in the context of all of the interrogatory responses.... ” Kinzie, 2014 WL 3417612, at *7, 164 So.3d at 1027. We granted cer-tiorari to clarify that, though Kinzie did commit a discovery violation, the ultimate sanction of dismissal .with prejudice was not warranted.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
164 So. 3d 974, 2015 Miss. LEXIS 128, 2015 WL 1069180, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/willie-kinzie-v-belk-department-stores-lp-belk-inc-miss-2015.