The Mississippi Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that an injured warehouse worker is not barred from pursuing a personal injury lawsuit against a staffing company, finding that his dismissed bankruptcy case did not trigger judicial estoppel.
In Strong v. Acara Solutions Inc., the state high court affirmed an appellate court ruling that reversed summary judgment for Acara Solutions Inc. and remanded the case to DeSoto County Circuit Court.
Quinton Strong was injured in May 2018 while working as a warehouse operator for Siemens Industry Inc. when a forklift operated by another worker pinned him against pallets. He later filed a workers compensation claim against Siemens and also filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy.
Mr. Strong disclosed the workers compensation claim in his bankruptcy filings but did not disclose a potential third-party personal injury claim. After his bankruptcy case was dismissed without discharge, he sued Acara, formerly Superior Staffing Services Inc., alleging the forklift operator was employed by the staffing company.
Acara sought summary judgment, arguing Mr. Strong was judicially estopped from pursuing the injury claim because he failed to disclose it in bankruptcy court. The trial court agreed.
The Supreme Court disagreed, holding that because the bankruptcy case was dismissed without discharge, the bankruptcy court’s acceptance of Mr. Strong’s prior representations was revoked under federal bankruptcy law. As a result, the court said, the acceptance element required for judicial estoppel was not met.
The court also rejected Acara’s argument that Mr. Strong benefited from an automatic stay during bankruptcy, finding that receiving such a benefit is not an element of judicial estoppel.
A dissent argued the ruling weakens Mississippi’s judicial estoppel doctrine and could encourage litigants to conceal claims in bankruptcy proceedings.