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Mississippi Department of Public Safety v. Stringer6/3/1999
DATE OF JUDGMENT: 01/08/1997
TRIAL JUDGE: HON. JAMES W. BACKSTROM COURT FROM WHICH APPEALED: GEORGE COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT
NATURE OF THE CASE: CIVIL - OTHER DISPOSITION: REVERSED AND RENDERED
EN BANC.
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
. On June 20, 1994, appellee Olur V. Stringer was involved in an automobile accident with Marty Davis, an employee of the Mississippi Department of Public Safety. Following the accident, Stringer filed an accident report with the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol and sent a letter to the state claims investigator but filed no notice of claim as required by Miss. Code Ann. § 11-46-11 (Supp. 1993). On June 19, 1996, Stringer filed his complaint in the Circuit Court of George County against appellants Mississippi Department of Public Safety and Marty Davis. The Department of Public Safety and Davis filed a motion to dismiss the action which was denied by the Circuit Court on January 8, 1997. This Court granted the Department and Davis permission to prosecute an interlocutory appeal. They now raise the following issues:
I. DID THE LOWER COURT PROPERLY DENY THE STATE'S MOTION TO DISMISS WHERE THE COMPLAINT WAS FILED AFTER THE APPLICABLE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS HAD RUN?
II. DID THE LOWER COURT PROPERLY DENY THE STATE'S MOTION TO DISMISS WHERE THE JURISDICTIONAL NOTICE OF CLAIM PROVISIONS OF MISS. CODE ANN. § 11-46-11 WERE NOT STRICTLY COMPLIED WITH?
STANDARD OF REVIEW
. This Court conducts de novo review of questions of law raised by Rule 12(b)(6) motions. Wells v. Panola County Bd. of Educ., 645 So.2d 883, 888 (Miss.1994); Tucker v. Hinds County, 558 So.2d 869, 872 (Miss.1990); UHS-Qualicare, Inc. v. Gulf Coast Community Hospital, Inc., 525 So.2d 746, 754 (Miss.1987). Well-pleaded facts must be taken as true, and dismissal should be granted only where it appears beyond a reasonable doubt that the Plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of a claim that entitles him to relief. Weeks v. Thomas, 662 So.2d 581, 585 (Miss.1995); Overstreet v. Merlos, 570 So.2d 1196, 1197 (Miss.1990).
DISCUSSION
I. OLUR STRINGER FILED HIS COMPLAINT AGAINST THE STATE AFTER THE LIMITATIONS PERIOD ALLOWED BY MISS. CODE ANN. § 11-46-11 HAD LAPSED.
. The threshold inquiry in the present case is whether the action was commenced within the time period allowed pursuant to the Mississippi Tort Claims Act, Miss. Code Ann. § 11-46-1 to -23 (Supp.1993). Section 11-46-11(3) provides the applicable statute of limitations in actions against the state or its political subdivisions, and reads as follows:
"All actions brought under the provisions of this chapter shall be commenced within one (1) year next after the date of the tortious, wrongful, or otherwise actionable conduct on which the liability phase of the action is based, and not after; provided, however, that the filing of a notice of claim as provided by subsection (1) of this section shall serve to toll the statute of limitations for a period of ninety-five (95) days. The limitations period here shall control and shall be exclusive in all actions subject to and brought under the provisions of this chapter, notwithstanding the nature of the claim, the label or other characterization the claimant may use to describe it, or the provisions of any other statute of limitations which would otherwise govern the type of claim or legal theory if it were not subject to or brought under the provisions of this chapter." Miss. Code Ann. § 11-46-11 (3) (Supp. 1998).
. The one year limitations period allowed by the statute may be extended for a period of ninety-five days provided a pre-suit noti
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