Default Judgment Riles Mississippi Attorneys At Tippah County
By Attorneys.org Editor
The Mississippi attorneys comprising the defense panel mishandled a complaint and was slapped by a default judgment. The Mississippi Court of Appeals had recently held this judgment, further inflaming the county’s reaction on the mishandling of the complaint. Some Facts of the case: What happened was, a suit of negligence and gross negligence was filed against Tippah County, Mississippi due to some altercation on who should take custody of the plaintiff’s elderly while committing them for mental evaluation and checkup.
However, during the handling of these elderly, an accident happened and one of the elderly fell to the ground. As a result, he was handcuffed to prevent further injury to his arm. Of course, these injuries had to be treated along with the medical evaluation.
Inaction by the insurance agent
Now the plaintiff sent claims to the Mississippi county to reclaim the costs of the medical evaluation as well as the treatment of the wounds. The Mississippi attorneys relegated the claims to their insurance agent, as they are the ones who handle these types of claims.
However, the insurance agent apparently forgot the claim, and took no action. The Mississippi attorneys representing the county neither did follow up on the insurance agent as well. Thus the plaintiff moved for default judgment, and it was granted.
Negligence inexcusable
The Mississippi appeals court ruled that the behavior of the county was negligent, and it fell upon them to see to it that an answer was filed. This means that the county is directly responsible for paying the plaintiff the costs of the medical evaluation and treatment of injuries. The county is now required to pay a whopping $250,000 to the plaintiff.
The county argued that however that the insurance representative was at fault, and did not properly bring the claims to his company for proper disbursement. However, the Mississippi court of appeals did not buy this reasoning, since it believes that the responsibility to ensure that the claims reach their intended destination belongs to the county, not to the insurance representative.
The county is not without recourse however; they can probably go after the insurance agency that sat on their hands and did not reimburse the medical costs. All these could have been prevented though, if only the county was responsible enough to remind their insurance provider that a claim is still under contest.
Mississippi attorneys, make sure you learn the lesson well: if the insurance provider does not answer the claims, you are liable; so it is your responsibility to remind them of their obligations.
THIS BLOG IS NOT INTENDED AS LEGAL ADVICE
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January 25th, 2010 at 3:55 pm
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January 25th, 2010 at 8:30 pm
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