75-76-107 - Requirements of complaint; service of complaint upon respondent; answer of respondent; failure to answer or appear; time and place of hearing; notice. - Mississippi Statutes

§ 75-76-107. Requirements of complaint; service of complaint upon respondent; answer of respondent; failure to answer or appear; time and place of hearing; notice.
 

(1)  The complaint referred to in this chapter must be a written statement of charges which must set forth in ordinary and concise language the acts or omissions with which the respondent is charged. It must specify the statutes and regulations which the respondent is alleged to have violated but shall not consist merely of charges raised in the language of the statutes or regulations. 

(2)  Upon the filing of the complaint, the executive director shall serve a copy of the complaint upon the respondent either personally or by registered or certified mail at his address on file with the executive director. 

(3)  Except as provided in subsection (4) of this section, the respondent must answer within twenty (20) days after the service of the complaint. In his answer the respondent: 

(a) Must state in short and plain terms his defenses to each claim asserted. 

(b) Must admit or deny the facts alleged in the complaint. 

(c) Must state with respect to which allegations he is without such knowledge or information as to form a belief concerning their truth. Such allegations shall be deemed denied. 

(d) Must affirmatively set forth any matter which constitutes an avoidance or affirmative defense. 

(e) May demand a hearing. Failure to demand a hearing constitutes a waiver of the right to a hearing and to judicial review of any decision or order of the commission, but the commission may order a hearing even if the respondent so waives his right. 

(4)  Failure to answer or to appear at the hearing constitutes an admission by the respondent of all facts alleged in the complaint. The commission may take action based on such an admission and on other evidence without further notice to the respondent. If the commission takes action based on such an admission, it shall include in the record which evidence was the basis for the action. 

(5)  The commission shall determine the time and place of the hearing as soon as is reasonably practical after receiving the respondent's answer. The executive director shall deliver or send by registered or certified mail a notice of hearing to all parties at least ten (10) days before the hearing. 
 

Sources: Laws,  1990 Ex Sess, ch. 45, § 54, eff from and after passage (approved June 29, 1990).