Jourdan River Estates, LLC v. Scott M. Favre, 212 So. 3d 800

Background

Plaintiffs Jourdan River Estates, LLC (JRE) and Jourdan River Resort & Yacht Club (Yacht Club) sued Scott and Cindy Favre, Jefferson Parker, and CB Partners (later dismissed) for numerous torts arising from alleged interference with plaintiffs’ property and actions before Hancock County officials.
Complaints included slander of title, defamation, trespass, nuisance, tortious interference with use and contracts, harassment, assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress, willful destruction of property, negligence, malicious prosecution, unjust enrichment, false imprisonment, and related theories.
Defendants moved to dismiss under M.R.C.P. 12(b)(6). The circuit court granted the motion in part and denied it in part: it dismissed certain Yacht Club claims under Noerr-Pennington and dismissed several JRE intentional-tort claims as time-barred, while retaining other claims (trespass, nuisance, interference, negligence, etc.).
Plaintiffs obtained interlocutory review by the Mississippi Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court found the circuit court considered matters outside the pleadings during the 12(b)(6) hearing and held the motion should have been converted into a Rule 56 summary-judgment motion with ten days’ notice to the parties.
The Supreme Court reversed the circuit court’s grant of the 12(b)(6) motion and remanded for further proceedings consistent with conversion to and adjudication under Rule 56.

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the circuit court properly granted partial dismissal under Rule 12(b)(6)	JRE/Yacht Club argued their complaints pleaded sufficient facts to survive a 12(b)(6) dismissal	Defendants argued the pleadings failed to state claims as a matter of law for various causes of action	Court held dismissal under Rule 12(b)(6) was improper because the court relied on materials outside the pleadings and thus the motion should have been converted to summary judgment; reversed and remanded
Whether claims based on alleged false representations to the county are barred by Noerr-Pennington immunity	Plaintiffs contended those allegations stated actionable claims	Defendants argued communications to the Hancock County Board/employees were petitioning activity protected by Noerr-Pennington	Circuit court dismissed those Yacht Club claims under Noerr-Pennington; Supreme Court did not finally decide the merits, instead emphasized procedural conversion to Rule 56 before adjudicating such defenses
Whether intentional-tort claims were barred by the statute of limitations	Plaintiffs argued their allegations gave rise to timely causes of action	Defendants argued the intentional-tort claims (slander, assault, harassment, false imprisonment, IIED) were time-barred	Circuit court dismissed several intentional-tort claims as untimely, but Supreme Court required those determinations be reconsidered under proper Rule 56 procedures (conversion and notice) before final ruling
Whether a trial court must convert a 12(b)(6) motion to summary judgment when considering matters outside the pleadings and give 10 days’ notice	Plaintiffs argued conversion and notice were required before considering extrinsic evidence	Defendants may have relied on extrinsic materials and contended dismissal was proper without conversion	Held: Yes — when matters outside the pleadings are considered, the motion must be converted to a Rule 56 motion and parties given reasonable opportunity (ten days) to present materials; failure to do so requires reversal and remand

Key Cases Cited

Harrah’s Vicksburg Corp. v. Pennebaker, 812 So. 2d 163 (Miss. 2001) (adopting Noerr-Pennington doctrine in Mississippi)
Video Int’l Prod. Inc. v. Warner-Amex Cable Commc’ns, Inc., 858 F.2d 1075 (5th Cir. 1988) (Noerr-Pennington framework)
Delta MK LLC v. Miss. Transp. Comm’n, 57 So. 3d 1284 (Miss. 2011) (requiring ten days’ notice when converting dismissal motion into summary-judgment motion)
Jones v. Regency Toyota Inc., 798 So. 2d 474 (Miss. 2001) (same rule on conversion/notice)