Law of the Case Doctrine

The Mississippi Supreme Court decided Lee v. Thompson located here last week.  The case involved fees incurred in a class action suit dealing with diet drugs.  This was the second appeal and dealt with whether certain fees should be refunded to the Plaintiff that was overcharged.  The trial court found that certain amounts should be and this was appealed.  This was affirmed.  The appellant tried to reargue a few points from the prior appeal.  However, the Court noted the law of the case doctrine applied. According to the law of the case doctrine, a court’s mandate is binding on the trial court on remand, unless an exception applies. Simpson v. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co., 564 So. 2d 1374, 1376 (Miss. 1990) (overruled in part on other grounds). This Court has stated that: The doctrine of the law of the case is similar to that of former adjudication, relates entirely to questions of law, and is confined in its operation to subsequent proceedings in the case. Whatever is once established as the controlling legal rule of decision, between the same parties in the same case, continues to be the law of the case, so long as there is a similarity of facts. This principle expresses the practice of courts generally to refuse to reopen what has previously been decided. It is founded on public policy and the interests of orderly and consistent judicial procedure. Id. at 1377 (quoting Mississippi College v. May, 241 Miss. 359, 366, 128 So. 2d 557, 558 (1961)). The doctrine has its basis in the principles of res judicata. Cont’l Turpentine & Rosin Co. v. Gulf Naval Stores Co., 244 Miss. 465, 479, 142 So. 2d 200, 206 (1962).

There are a few exceptions to this, but none of them applied to the facts as presented.  The moral of the story is that you need to get everything in on the first appeal or you will not be able to argue it on the second one.