Appeals Court refuses to reinstate Mississippi Power

By Staff
From staff, wire reports
June 27, 2001
Mississippi Power will not be reinstated as a defendant in a Meridian's man's lawsuit over disputed business practices, the Mississippi Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday.
The appeals court said it will not consider reinstatement of a lawsuit against one defendant when other defendants are still in court in the same case.
A Lauderdale County judge last year dismissed Norman T. Wilson's lawsuit against Mississippi Power. However, the case was not dismissed against another defendant, The Southern Co., Mississippi Power's parent.
Wilson sought to have the lawsuit reinstated against Mississippi Power. The Court of Appeals refused to do so Tuesday.
Appeals Judge Joseph Lee said until the chancery judge rules on the status of the case against The Southern Co., Wilson has nothing to appeal.
Wilson, the owner of AAA Alarm Monitoring, accused Mississippi Power in 1999 of using his list of customers to solicit business for themselves a move he characterized as unfair competition after it had agreed to buy his firm, but then backed out of the deal.
Mississippi Power denied the allegations.
Wilson sought $650,000 in damages from Mississippi Power, The Southern Co., and its PowerCall Security subsidiary. He claimed the figure represented the amount he would have received if his company had been sold in 1997 and if he had spent three years as an employee of PowerCall, which the original offer by Mississippi Power provided, according to the lawsuit.