Rule 20 - Certified Questions from Federal Courts(a) When Certified. When it shall appear to the Supreme Court of the United States or to any United States Court of Appeals that there may be involved in any proceeding before it questions or propositions of law of this state which are determinative of all or part of that cause and there are no clear controlling precedents in the decisions of the Mississippi Supreme Court, the federal court may certify such questions or propositions of law of this state to the Mississippi Supreme Court for rendition of a written opinion concerning such questions or propositions of Mississippi law. The Supreme Court may, in its discretion, decline to answer the questions certified to it.(b) Method of Invoking Rule. The provision of this rule may be invoked by the federal court upon its own motion or the suggestion or motion of any interested party when approved by the federal court.(c) Contents of Certificate. The certificate shall contain the style of the case, a statement of facts showing the nature of the cause and the circumstances out of which the questions or propositions of law arise, and the question of law to be answered.(d) Preparation of Certificate. The certificate shall be certified to the Supreme Court by the clerk of the federal court and under its official seal. The Supreme Court may, in its discretion, require the original or copies of all or any portion of the record before the federal court to be filed with said certificate where, in its opinion, such record may be necessary in the determination of the certified question.(e) Costs. The costs of the proceedings shall be equally divided between the parties unless otherwise ordered by the Supreme Court.(f) Briefs and Argument. The appellant or petitioner in the federal court shall submit the initial brief on the question certified. All briefs, arguments, and other proceedings shall be conducted according to these Rules. For the purposes of Rule 28, additional briefing will be upon directive of the Supreme Court.Adopted governing matters filed on or after 1/1/1995; amended effective 6/27/2002.Advisory Committee Historical Note
Effective June 27, 2002, Rule 20(f) was amended to provide that briefing in addition to the initial brief will be on the directive of the Supreme Court. 819-822 So.2d XVIII (West Miss.Cases 2002).
Effective January 1, 1995, Miss.R.App.P. 20 replaced Miss.Sup.Ct.R. 20. 644-647 So.2d LIV-LV (West Miss.Cases 1994).
Comment
Rule 20 continues the practice of accepting certified questions from federal courts. Acceptance of a question so certified is discretionary with the Court. The Court reserves the right to rephrase certified questions, Government Employees Ins. Co. v. Brown, 446 So. 2d 1002, 1006 (Miss. 1984), and has said it will restrict its review under this rule "to the performance when properly requested of the function of declaring in general terms the controlling rules" of state law, and not the application of law to fact. Boardman v. United Services Auto Ass'n, 470 So. 2d 1024, 1031 (Miss. 1985). The practice of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in certifying questions is discussed in In Re McClintock, 558 F. 2d 732, 733 nn. 2-5 (5th Cir. 1977), and J. Brown, Certification-Federalism in Action, 7 Cumb. L. Rev. 455 (1977) (tracing development of certification doctrine).
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