IN THE SUPREME COURT OF MISSISSIPPI
NO. 2017-IA-01558-SCT
LIBERTY MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY
v.
STATE OF MISSISSIPPI EX REL. JIM HOOD
DATE OF JUDGMENT: 10/24/2017
TRIAL JUDGE: HON. TOMIE T. GREEN
TRIAL COURT ATTORNEYS: CECIL MAISON HEIDELBERG
GEORGE W. NEVILLE
BENJAMIN GILBERT BRYANT
LUCIEN SMITH
WILLIAM E. COPLEY
WILLIAM L. SMITH
JACQUELINE H. RAY
CRYMES G. PITTMAN
CLIFFORD KAVANAUGH BAILEY, III
GREGG A. CARAWAY
MARY JO WOODS
GEOFFREY C. MORGAN
AUGUST J. MATTEIS, JR.
MATTHEW S. KRAUSS
SEAN J. WILLIAMS
COURT FROM WHICH APPEALED: CIRCUIT COURT OF THE FIRST JUDICIAL
DISTRICT OF HINDS COUNTY
ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLANT: GREGG A. CARAWAY
CLIFFORD KAVANAUGH BAILEY, III
JUDY Y. BARRASSO
STEPHEN L. MILES
CHLOE M. CHETTA
ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE: GEORGE W. NEVILLE
DONALD L. KILGORE
JACQUELINE H. RAY
WILLIAM L. SMITH
W. LUCIEN SMITH
BENJAMIN GILBERT BRYANT
CRYMES G. PITTMAN
WILLIAM E. COPLEY
CECIL MAISON HEIDELBERG
NATURE OF THE CASE: CIVIL - INSURANCE
DISPOSITION: VACATED AND REMANDED - 08/22/2019
MOTION FOR REHEARING FILED:
MANDATE ISSUED:
EN BANC.
MAXWELL, JUSTICE, FOR THE COURT:
¶1. This is a sister appeal to Safeco Insurance Company of America v. State, No. 2017-
IA-01554-SCT (Miss. Aug. 22, 2019) (Safeco).1 But unlike Safeco, there is no issue of case
reassignment from one judge’s docket to another. The only issue in this appeal is the trial
court’s appointment of a special master.
¶2. The order appointing the special master to the case against Liberty Mutual Insurance
Company is almost verbatim to the appointment order in Safeco. Thus, this order also falls
outside the discretionary bounds of Mississippi Rule of Civil Procedure 53. For the same
reasons articulated in Safeco, we vacate the order appointing the special master and remand
this case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
¶3. Liberty Mutual also asks this Court to appoint a special judge to preside over this case.
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This appeal previously had been consolidated with two other appeals—Safeco, No.
2017-IA-01554-SCT, and Vinod Khosla et al. v. State, No. 2017-IA-01637-SCT (Miss.
Aug. 22, 2019) (Cannon). But by separate order, the three appeals have been de-
consolidated.
2
But a majority of this Court does not find the record before us sufficient for this Court to
invoke Mississippi Code Section 9-1-105(2) (Rev. 2014) in this case. On remand, if Judge
Green is convinced additional judicial resources are necessary, Section 9-1-105(2)2
authorizes her to request the Chief Justice appoint a special judge to preside in this case or
to assist the Hinds County Circuit Court in the prompt administration of justice.
¶4. VACATED AND REMANDED.
RANDOLPH, C.J., COLEMAN, BEAM, CHAMBERLIN, ISHEE AND
GRIFFIS, JJ., CONCUR. KING, P.J., DISSENTS WITH SEPARATE WRITTEN
OPINION JOINED BY KITCHENS, P.J.
KING, PRESIDING JUSTICE, DISSENTING:
¶5. For the reasons stated in the dissenting portion of my opinion in Safeco Insurance Co.
of America v. State, No. 2017-IA-01554-SCT (Miss. Aug. 22, 2019), I respectfully dissent.
KITCHENS, P.J., JOINS THIS OPINION.
2
Subsection (2) of Section 9-1-105 reads as follows:
Upon the request of the Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals, the senior judge
of a chancery or circuit court district, the senior judge of a county court, or
upon his own motion, the Chief Justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court, with
the advice and consent of a majority of the justices of the Mississippi Supreme
Court, shall have the authority to appoint a special judge to serve on a
temporary basis in a circuit, chancery or county court in the event of an
emergency or overcrowded docket. It shall be the duty of any special judge so
appointed to assist the court to which he is assigned in the disposition of
causes so pending in such court for whatever period of time is designated by
the Chief Justice. The Chief Justice, in his discretion, may appoint the special
judge to hear particular cases, a particular type of case, or a particular portion
of the court’s docket.
Miss. Code Ann. § 9-1-105(2).
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