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Scruggs12/13/2001
DATE OF JUDGMENT: 8/4/2000
TRIAL JUDGE: HON. WILLIAM G. WILLARD, JR.
COURT FROM WHICH APPEALED: COAHOMA COUNTY CHANCERY COURT
NATURE OF THE CASE: CIVIL - CONTRACT
DISPOSITION: REVERSED AND RENDERED - 12/13/2001
EN BANC.
. In September of 1997, Scruggs, Millette, Bozeman & Dent, P.A. ("SMBD") filed a lawsuit in the Jackson County Chancery Court against Merkel & Cocke, P.A. ("Merkel & Cocke"), Charles Merkel ("Merkel"), Cynthia Mitchell ("Mitchell"), William Roberts Wilson, Jr., P.A. ("Wilson") and Asbestos Group, P.A ("Asbestos Group"). Prior to SMBD bringing the Jackson County action, Scruggs assigned his interest in the Scott litigation over to SMBD. The lawsuit filed in Jackson County placed in issue the alleged mishandling of attorneys' fees received by Merkel & Cocke in 1994. These fees were derived from the Scott litigation, a wrongful death action against the asbestos industry.
. Approximately six (6) months later, on March 26, 1998, Merkel & Cocke filed the instant action in the Chancery Court of Coahoma County seeking to interplead a share of the 1996 and 1998 attorneys' fees received from the Scott litigation. SMBD responded by filing a motion to dismiss Merkel & Cocke's complaint, primarily stating that the complaint should be barred by the doctrine of priority jurisdiction as the attorneys' fees were already an issue in the Jackson County Chancery Court litigation. Richard F. Scruggs, Richard F. Scruggs, P.A., and Asbestos Group, P.A., (hereafter collectively referred to as "Scruggs") also filed a motion to dismiss upon similar grounds. The Coahoma County Chancery Court denied both motions to dismiss and granted the interpleader relief, finding Merkel & Cocke to be a disinterested stakeholder with respect to the $4,953.43 of attorneys' fees interpled. The Coahoma County Chancery Court also discharged Merkel & Cocke from any liability for the handling of the interpled funds and transferred the remaining dispute over entitlement to pending litigation in the Circuit Court of Hinds County. Additionally, the Coahoma Chancery Court ordered SMBD to pay Merkel & Cocke attorneys' fees pursuant to Miss. R. Civ. P. 11(b). Both SMBD and Scruggs timely perfected an appeal to this Court. This Court, in its opinion dated July 20, 2000, dismissed the appeal. This Court held that "in the absence of a Rule 54(b) certification, the orders are interlocutory and are not appealable as final judgments," and the appeal was dismissed. Scruggs, Millette, Bozeman & Dent, P.A. v. Merkel & Cocke, P.A., 763 So.2d 869 872 (Miss. 2000). From that ruling, Merkel & Cocke obtained certification of a final judgment pursuant to Rule 54(b) of the Coahoma County Chancery Court on August 4, 2000. This appeal is taken from the final judgment of the Chancery Court of Coahoma County.
STATEMENT OF ISSUES
I. WHETHER MERKEL & COCKE WERE REQUIRED TO FILE ITS CLAIM FOR INTERPLEADER RELIEF AS A COMPULSORY COUNTERCLAIM IN THE JACKSON COUNTY LITIGATION?
II. WHETHER MERKEL & COCKE'S ACCOUNTING ISSUES INJACKSON COUNTY CHANCERY COURT SHOULD BETRANSFERRED TO HINDS COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT?
III. WHETHER THE CHANCELLOR ERRED IN GRANTING THE INTERPLEADER AND RELIEVING MERKEL AND COCKE FROM LIABILITY?
IV. WHETHER THE CHANCELLOR ERRED IN AWARDING ATTORNEYS' FEES TO MERKEL & COCKE?
LEGAL ANALYSIS
I. Compulsory Counterclaim
. Scruggs and SMBD contend that the Coahoma County Chancery Court erred in accepting jurisdiction and granting the interpleader requested by Merkel & Cocke. Scruggs and SMBD
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