The last quarter of 2024 and the beginning of 2025 saw multiple amendments to the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure that will impact Mississippi practitioners. The three primary Rule changes are: (1) third-party complaints can be timely filed without leave of court; (2) there is no requirement to attach documents that form the basis of a claim or defense to a pleading; and (3) judgments cannot be enforced for 30 days after entry.
A. Third-Party Complaints May Now Be Timely Filed Without Seeking Leave of Court
Mississippi Rule of Civil Procedure 14(a) allows a defendant to join a third party “who is or may be liable to him for all or part of the plaintiff’s claims against him.” Under the prior version of Rule 14(a), a defendant could not add a third-party defendant without first receiving authorization from the court by filing a motion and showing good cause. Effective February 26, 2025, Rule 14(a) is amended to allow a defendant to join a third party without court authorization, so long as the third-party complaint is filed within 14 days of the defendant filing its original answer. Only after that 14-day window has lapsed, must the defendant / third-party plaintiff file a motion for leave and demonstrate good cause.
This change to Rule 14(a) could save meaningful time in the litigation process given the potentially lengthy delay in filing a motion for leave and having it heard and decided. It also gives a defending party an incentive to evaluate quickly whether a third-party claim is appropriate and to bring those issues to the forefront early, which may aid in early resolution of lawsuits. Time will tell whether the ease of adding third-party defendants will result in more third-party indemnity claims at the outset of lawsuits.
B. Documents That Form the Basis of a Claim or Defense Must No Longer Be Attached to a Pleading
Until 2000, Mississippi Rule of Civil Procedure 10(d) required documents upon which a claim or defense is based to be attached to a pleading. This per se requirement was removed by an amendment effective April 13, 2000, but Rule 10(a) still required “sufficient justification” for such an omission to be “stated in the pleading.” Effective December 26, 2024, Rule 10(d) was deleted entirely.
The deletion of Rule 10(d) may prove helpful in some ways because it removes the requirement to attach documents to a pleading, absent sufficient justification. For example, the documents may be voluminous or contain trade secrets or other confidential or proprietary information. On the other hand, a party may want an operative document to be part of the pleadings in order to rely on them when filing dispositive provisions, such as choice-of-venue or arbitration clauses. The removal of Rule 10(d) does not appear to change prior Mississippi precedent that documents “referenced in and central to” a plaintiff’s complaint may be attached to a defendant’s answer or motion to dismiss and still be considered part of the “pleadings.” See Short v. Break Land Co., LLC, No. 2022-CA-01180-COA, 2024 WL 4354694, at *6 (¶ 24) (Miss. Ct. App. Oct. 1, 2024).
C. Judgments Cannot Be Enforced for the First 30 Days After Entry
Under the former version of Mississippi Rule of Civil Procedure 62(a), a party had to wait at least 10 days before executing on a judgment. During that 10-day window, the Court had discretion to stay a judgment for any of the reasons set forth in Rule 62(d). Effective December 2, 2024, a party must now wait 30 days before executing on a judgment.
The change to Rule 62(a) appears to account for the practical realities of seeking a stay under Rule 62(b). For example, a potential basis for staying execution of a judgment under Rule 62(b) is filing a motion to alter or amend a judgment pursuant to Rule 59(e). A Rule 59(e) motion must be filed within 10 days of the entry of the judgment. Thus, there is now a window of time to seek post-judgment relief and a stay of the judgment before the judgment can be enforced.
