The Mississippi State Supreme Court has dismissed a wrongful termination lawsuit filed by the Collins family against the City of Newton and several city officials.
Several members of the Collins family sued the City of Newton and several of its officials alleging wrongful termination, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress, slander and reckless disregard of property.
The defendants filed a motion for summary judgment, which was denied by former Circuit Judge Marcus Gordon shortly before his retirement in early 2016. The case was then assigned to former Circuit Judge Vernon Cotton after Gordon’s retirement, and the defendants filed a motion for relief or reconsideration of the denial of summary judgment under Mississippi Rule of Civil Procedure 60; the trial court granted the Rule 60 relief.
The Collinses appeal from the trial court’s order granting summary judgment in favor of the defendants. The Supreme Court found no error in the trial court ruling and affirmed an appeals court ruling upholding Cotton’s summary judgment.
The case involves William Donald Collins Sr., who was a volunteer firefighter with the City of Newton Fire Department for more than 30 years. He has three adult sons, Donnie Collins II, Jay Collins and Colt Collins. Donnie and Colt were full-time firefighters with the Newton Fire Department in 2012.
In 2009, when the firefighters voted that Donnie be their chief over the then-current Chief Bounds, the Board of Aldermen ratified the vote, and Mayor David Carr vetoed the ratification. The Board overturned Mayor Carr’s veto.
Mayor Carr obtained an ethics opinion regarding Donnie being his brothers’ boss, and the Board then declined to accept Donnie as fire chief. Donnie was made assistant chief and Walter Gordon was hired as chief.
Later on July 5, 2012, after an argument with then chief Joel Skinner in a meeting, Donald was terminated from the Newton Fire Department. A couple of weeks later, Donnie and Colt were terminated from the Newton Fire Department, and Lisa was terminated about July 23, 2012.
Later that month in July 2012, Donald and Mary’s home was struck by lightning, caught fire and burned. The home was a total loss. No one was injured. The Collinses claimed that, during the fire, Interim Chief Skinner handled the incident improperly.
The Collinses said Skinner made a threat to Donald to cut off Jay’s head, that Mayor Carr allegedly was “making a personal thing” out of firing the Collinses, that Mayor Carr made “disparaging comments” and that an article was published in the Newton newspaper regarding Donald’s termination.
“The alleged wrongful termination does not rise to the level of more than any employment dispute that may have its roots in personal animosity,” the court’s opinion stated. “While it may be true that voters would find such behavior unbecoming of a public official, it certainly does not rise to the level of outrageousness or revulsion such that it is intolerable in a civilized society.”
