In Briere v. South Central Regional Medical Center a unanimous Mississippi Supreme Court reversed the trial court’s dismissal of a wrongful death action because an earlier filed action was voluntarily dismissed and the wrongful death statute states that there can be only one wrongful death action. Here is the key language:
We clarify Long and hold that the wrongful-death statute does not require that a second suit be dismissed solely because it was, at some point, pending at the same time as a previously filed suit.
The Court also rejected Defendants’ claim that the pre-suit notice letter was inadequate because it did not adequately describe the Plaintiff’s claims. Here is the key language:
We hold that Briere’s first notice letter complied with the notice requirements of the
MTCA. The broad language in the first letter put SCRMC on notice of all of the claims of which Briere was aware at the time. If suit already had been filed, Briere certainly would have been able to amend her complaint to include the new information, pursuant to Mississippi Rule of Civil Procedure 15.
I have seen a trend in the last year or two of Defendants pushing Long v. McKinney and pre-suit notice arguments beyond logic. Some of these “creative” defense claims are now being decided and rejected by the Court.