JACKSON, Miss. (Legal Newsline) - Mississippi law gives Yazoo City absolute immunity against claims its firefighters mishandled a house fire and the resulting damage caused a property owner to suffer a stroke.
The Mississippi Tort Claims Act protects municipalities against lawsuits over firefighting efforts unless employees act in “reckless disregard of the safety and well-being of any person,” the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled. That means plaintiffs who are suing merely over property loss, or even claiming physical injury from the pain of seeing their house burn, are out of luck.
Kenneth Hampton sued Yazoo City after a fire broke out at his neighbor Victor Young’s property in November 2020. Firefighter had difficulties containing the fire due to a lack of water in the pumper truck and difficulty connecting to a fire hydrant. By the time those problems had been sorted, Hampton’s home was on fire.
Hampton observed the damage from his property as he hosed down his vehicles to keep them from being destroyed. A day later he suffered “a cardiac event and subsequent stroke,” which he blamed on the fire.
Yazoo City moved to dismiss the case but Yazoo County Judge Jannie M. Lewis-Blackmon ruled the plaintiffs needed discovery to gather more evidence of disputed facts. The city sought interlocutory appeal and the Mississippi Supreme Court intervened, reversing the trial judge and dismissing the case in a May 30 decision by Justice David Ishee.
The only exception to the Mississippi Tort Claims Act is actions that affect the safety of people, not property, the court ruled, and Hampton’s claim doesn’t meet that test.
“Ineffectively fighting a fire and damaging a man’s property, however, does not amount to `reckless disregard of the safety and well-being of any person,’” the court concluded.
Thomas Ray Julian represented Yazoo City on appeal, while Ronald Earl Stutzman Jr. represented the plaintiffs.