Holy Moses.

Ed Pittmann and the Supremes just struck a vicious, righteous blow for justice in Mississippi's messed up tort system. The case, handed down today, is Janssen Pharmaceutical, Inc., et al. v. Colantha Armond, et al.

This is a Propulsid case, with 56 plaintiffs and 42 defendants from all over the state, originally brought in the Free State of Jones (County). There are only two parties located in Jones County; Colantha Armond and the South Central Regional Medical Center. In an unprecedented act of judicial sanity, the MSSC interpreted MRCP 20 FOR THE FIRST TIME TO BE THE SAME AS FRCP 20, even though for the entire history of MRCP 20, its language has been virtually identical to that of FRCP 20. Basically, this case means that you can't piggyback venue to create a class-action lawsuit in Mississippi; the Supremes severed all claims, finding that joinder was improper, and that the trial court (in this case, Judge Billy Joe Landrum) had abused his discretion denying the motion to sever and transfer.

There's a special concurrance by two of the plaintiff-oriented justices arguing for a class-action rule. Who cares, though? This day, a little bit of justice has been brought into Mississippi.

Hallelujah.