Court Refuses to Toss Appeal of Ruling on Girlfriend's Standing to Sue

JACKSON, Miss. - The Mississippi Supreme Court has rejected an effort by plaintiffs to dismiss the appeal of a trial court ruling that allowed a former sandblaster's girlfriend to file a wrongful death lawsuit on his behalf. Pangborn Corp., et al. v. Kelley, No. 2008-M-01437-SCT (Miss. Sup. Ct.).

The state court denied the motion to dismiss the appeal on Nov. 25, less than a week after the defendants accused appellee Ruby Kelley of executing an eleventh-hour legal maneuver in Alabama that Kelley claims designated her as the deceased sanblaster's common law wife.

Defendants appealing a ruling that allowed a sandblaster's …