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Richardson v. Sara Lee Corp.6/5/2003
ils to identify any statute or case that placed a duty on Sara Lee to preserve the Orderpicker. "The failure to cite any authority can be treated as a procedural bar, and this Court is under no obligation to consider the assignments." Smith v. Dorsey, 599 So.2d 529, 532 (Miss. 1992).
. Notwithstanding the procedural bar, this Court is not persuaded that the November 14, 1994, letter was sufficient to place an affirmative duty on Sara Lee to preserve the Orderpicker. There is nothing further in the record addressed to Sara Lee concerning the Orderpicker until the June 18, 1996, Subpoena Duces Tecum, nearly nineteen months later. We find this letter insufficient to establish a duty by Sara Lee to preserve the Orderpicker for use in litigation by Richardson.
. For these reasons, this issue is without merit, and the trial court's actions were thus proper.
II. WHETHER A CLAIM FOR INTENTIONAL AND/OR NEGLIGENT DESTRUCTION OF EVIDENCE IS A WORK RELATED INJURY BARRED BY THE EXCLUSIVE REMEDY PROVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI WORKERS' COMPENSATION ACT.
. Because the decision on the first issue is dispositive, there is no need to address this second issue.
CONCLUSION
. We affirm the trial court's grant of Sara Lee's Motion to Dismiss or, in the Alternative, Motion for Summary Judgment. In Dowdle, this Court refused to recognize a separate tort for intentional spoliation of evidence against either first or third party spoliators, and this Court's reasoning in Dowdle certainly undergirds our decision today in refusing to recognize a separate tort for negligent spoliation of evidence. We further hold that under a general negligence theory, Sara Lee was not under any duty to preserve the Orderpicker for the benefit of any litigation in which Richardson may be involved.
. AFFIRMED.
PITTMAN, C.J., SMITH, P.J., WALLER, COBB AND GRAVES, JJ., CONCUR.
DIAZ AND EASLEY, JJ., DISSENT WITHOUT SEPARATE WRITTEN OPINION. McRAE, P.J, NOT PARTICIPATING.
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