Shareholders Bobby Stephenson and Madison Taylor recently obtained a 9-0 decision from the Mississippi Supreme Court reversing the trial court and rendering judgment in their client’s favor in a personal injury case.
The Supreme Court granted permission for an interlocutory appeal after the trial court denied two motions to dismiss for insufficient service of process. On appeal, the unanimous Supreme Court held that the plaintiff did not “prove good cause or even cause” for not serving the defendant within the 120-day period. Accordingly, the trial court erred in granting the plaintiff’s motion for enlargement of time and in denying the defendant’s motions to dismiss. Critically, the Supreme Court also agreed that the Complaint should be dismissed with prejudice since the statute of limitations began to run again after the 120-day period in the absence of a proper order enlarging the time to serve process.
You can read the opinion here.