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[W] Dodson v. Singing River Hospital System12/5/2002
NATURE OF THE CASE: CIVIL - MEDICAL MALPRACTICE
DISPOSITION: REVERSED AND REMANDED - 12/05/2002
EN BANC.
. Dottie P. Dodson sued Singing River Hospital System and Singing River Hospital for injuries she allegedly sustained after a surgery. The Jackson County Circuit Court, sitting without a jury pursuant to Miss. Code Ann. § 11-46-13(1) (2002) of the Mississippi Tort Claims Act, held in favor of Singing River, entered judgment accordingly, and denied Dodson's post-trial motion to alter or amend or for a new trial. Dodson appeals contending that Judge Dale Harkey should have recused himself. We agree, and we reverse and remand.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
. On October 13, 1997, Dottie P. Dodson, a sixty-eight-year-old woman, underwent back surgery at Singing River Hospital in Pascagoula. She alleged that on October 21, 1997, a wheelchair transfer attendant ran the wheelchair in which she was riding into a door facing thereby giving her a severe jolt. Dodson was subsequently diagnosed with a non-displaced pelvic fracture which her doctors linked to the wheelchair incident. According to Dodson, she incurred over $27,000 in medical expenses.
. Dodson pursued an administrative claim against Singing River pursuant to the Mississippi Tort Claims Act, Miss. Code Ann. § 11-46-1 to -23 (2002). When no action was taken by the hospital, Dodson filed a complaint in Jackson County Circuit Court seeking $250,000 in damages. The case proceeded to non-jury trial on March 27, 2000, before Judge Dale Harkey who took the case under advisement at the close of the trial the next day.
. On September 14, 2000, Judge Harkey issued a decision and entered judgment on September 22, 2000, in favor of Singing River. Dodson filed a motion to alter, amend and void the judgment or alternatively for a new trial on October 4, 2000, based on an alleged violation of Scott v. Flynt and that Judge Harkey should have recused himself.
. Dodson alleges that after Judge Harkey took her case under advisement, there came to light evidence of a prior relationship between Judge Harkey and the law firm of Colingo, Williams, Heidelberg, Steinberger & McElhaney (Colingo Williams), counsel for Singing River. Specifically, Karl Steinberger from Colingo Williams represented Judge Harkey when he was serving as executor of his mother's estate. The representation concluded on January 13, 1999. James Heidelberg also represented Judge Harkey and his wife in a residential construction action which was filed on May 25, 1995. A stipulation of dismissal was entered in that action on January 13, 1999. Judge Harkey was not charged for the services provided in either case. It was also established that James Heidelberg of Colingo Williams served as campaign treasurer of the Dale Harkey Campaign Committee in 1998 and that Colingo Williams hired three of Judge Harkey's assistant district attorneys after then-District Attorney Harkey was elected as a Circuit Judge.
. After Judge Harkey had taken Dodson's case under advisement but before entering a decision, he, on August 11, 2000, recused himself sua sponte from a pending case in Jackson County Circuit Court, Wesley v. Jackson County Bd. of Supervisors. Heidelberg represented the Jackson County Board of Supervisors. Judge Harkey's reason for recusal was his relationship with Heidelberg and his reading of our decision in Aetna Casualty & Surety Co. v. Berry, 669 So. 2d 56 (Miss. 1996). That same day, Judge Harkey went to Heidelberg's office at Colingo Williams to discuss the Berry case and the recusal issue. While there, Joe Colingo, Heidelberg's partner, went into Heidelberg's office and made
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