SUBSTITUTION OF PARTIES

(a) If a party dies. If a party dies and the claim is not thereby extinguished, the successors or representatives of the deceased party may file, within ninety (90) days of the party’s death, a motion for the substitution of parties. The judge may dismiss without prejudice the action if the motion for substitution of parties is not filed timely. 11 In the event of the death of one or more of the plaintiffs or of one or more of the defendants in an action in which the right sought to be enforced survives only to the surviving plaintiffs or only against the surviving defendants, the action does not abate. The death shall be suggested upon the record and the action shall proceed in favor of or against the surviving parties. (b) If a party is a minor or vulnerable person. Upon the motion of any party, the judge may allow a civil action to be continued by or against a representative of a party who is a minor as defined under section 1-3-27 of the Mississippi Code or a vulnerable person as defined under section 43-47-5 of the Mississippi Code. (c) If there is a transfer of interest. Upon the motion of any party, the judge may direct that the person to whom the interest was transferred be substituted for, or joined with, the original party in the civil action. (d) If a party is a public officer who dies or resigns in office. A civil action shall not abate if a party is a public officer acting in his/her official capacity who dies, resigns, or otherwise ceases to hold office. Instead, the public officer’s successor shall be substituted as a party. The judge may enter an order of substitution at any time in the course of the action, but its omission shall not affect the substitution.