Grenada attorney Carlos Moore won’t have to pay penalties after all in the Greenwood Pizza Hut case.
U.S. Magistrate David Sanders had fined Moore $5,000 in 2010 for needlessly increasing the cost of litigation because Moore filed essentially the same lawsuit five different times in Leflore County Circuit Court.
It was related to members of St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church in Itta Bena who said they got sick after eating at Pizza Hut on Jan. 18, 2009.
The Pizza Hut franchiser, NPC International, had each lawsuit kicked up to federal court because the amount sought exceeded state limits. The magistrate said Moore was trying with each subsequent lawsuit to get back to a more friendly venue.
Moore appealed the decision to the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. It found on Feb. 10 that Sanders should have used Mississippi’s standards when determining whether to fine Moore rather than federal rules.
Mississippi calls for attorneys to be fined only if they file frivolous lawsuits or “for the purpose of harassment or delay,” not for needlessly increasing the cost.
When reconsidering based on state law, Sanders decided on Friday that Moore didn’t violate the rules.
Meanwhile, the case against Pizza Hut remains alive. The initial five lawsuits had been consolidated and dismissed by Sanders, who said there was no link between the alleged illnesses and any negligence by Pizza Hut. The Court of Appeals upheld that decision.
However, Moore filed a sixth lawsuit on April 20, 2011, in Leflore County Circuit Court on behalf of the same 19 plaintiffs, but this time it’s against the Pizza Hut employees who prepared the meal, not the company that owns the restaurant.
It’s against two current employees and one former one — Jessica Dixon of Grenada, Marquitta Hawkins of Grenada and Christine Whitehall of Greenwood.
The group suing is Monique Doss, Nadia Harris, Rochell Childs, Darren Childs, Tamara Green, Darius West, Roger Hawkins, Levan Harris, Joseph Doss, Tyneeta Doss, Justin Childs, Mishay Hampton, Nancy Pointer, Tarmeisha Hampton and Kimeyatter Pointer, all of Greenwood, Shavonda Gibbs of Glendora and Ladarius Johnson and Takeera Johnson, both of Webb.
NPC International asked a U.S. District Court judge to stop the state court from hearing the case again because it said the issue had already been tried and that it would have to pay to defend its employees and former employee. But Judge Michael Mills declined to do so, saying the state court should hear the issue first.
