Justia Mississippi Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

In this wrongful death case, a prisoner escaped from the custody of the Hinds County sheriff. While evading capture, the prisoner struck a pedestrian with a stolen vehicle. The trial court denied the County's motion for summary judgment based on its claim of sovereign immunity, and the County appealed. Finding no right to appeal a pretrial denial of sovereign immunity, the Supreme Court dismissed this appeal, finding "no compelling reason to abandon our current practice regarding interlocutory review of pretrial denials of sovereign immunity."

Petitioner Barry Gregg challenged a Workers’ Compensation Commission (Commission) holding that denied him permanent partial disability benefits. Petitioner was injured on the job for Respondent Natchez Trace Electric Power (Natchez) and was unable to satisfactorily return to his job nor earn on-call compensation. Petitioner unsuccessfully appealed the Commission’s decision to the circuit court and the Court of Appeals. On appeal to the Supreme Court, Petitioner argued that the Commission erred in reaching its decision. In the decision adopted by the Commission, the administrative law judge observed that Petitioner made more money after his injury than before he was injured. The appellate court affirmed the Commission’s decision on the basis of a presumption that because of that earning discrepancy, Petitioner failed to prove that he suffered a loss of “wage-earning capacity.” The Supreme Court found that the Commission erred by considering Petitioner’s higher wage post-injury as determinative of his earning capacity. The Court found that Petitioner had rebutted the presumption regarding his earning capacity. Subsequently, the Court reversed both the Commission’s and the appellate court’s holdings and remanded the case for further proceedings.

Plaintiff-Appellee Terrance Shanks filed a personal-injury action against Defendants-Appellants Kimball Glassco Residential Center and van driver Vera Richardson on behalf of his mother Lois Shanks. Ms. Shanks was injured when the van Ms. Richardson was driving went out of control. Ms. Richardson moved to dismiss the complaint, asserting that the action was barred by a one-year statute of limitations under state tort law. In its answer to the action, Kimball Glassco also raised the statute of limitations as a defense and argued that it was a state entity entitled to a level of immunity under the state tort law. The trial court denied Ms. Richardson's motion to dismiss and held that both Defendants had waived the statute of limitations defense earlier in the litigation. Furthermore, the court found that the state tort law did not give either Defendant immunity from liability. Upon consideration of the briefs and the applicable legal authority, the Supreme Court found that the trial court erred by finding that Defendants waived the statute of limitations as their defense. The Court found that Mr. Shanks filed his complaint one year after the expiration of the statute. Accordingly, the Court reversed the trial court's order, and rendered judgment in favor of Defendants.

James Littletonâs employment as Greenwoodâs city attorney was terminated by the newly elected Mayor, Carolyn McAdams. Littleton announced to the Greenwood City Council that he was statutorily authorized to continue to serve as a holdover appointee until the council approved his replacement. The mayorâs first appointee was initially rejected by the council. The newly elected mayor sued to have the council terminate Littleton and confirm her choice as the new city attorney. The chancellor granted the Mayorâs petition for declaratory relief, and Littleton appealed the decision. The Supreme Court found Littleton had no legal authority to holdover when his term had ended, and that the chancellor properly granted the declaratory judgment.

The City of Jackson appealed a judgment made against the city for damages based on a police officerâs pursuit of a vehicle. The suspectâs vehicle collided with another vehicle owned by Eric and Kristina Law. The Jackson Police Department has a written pursuit policy which stipulates all police officers perform a balancing test when in pursuit of suspects. This means that police officers should weigh the immediate danger posed by their pursuit to that of allowing the suspect to remain at large. The trial court held that the officer acted recklessly when he pursued the suspect causing damage to the vehicle owned by Eric and Kristina Law. The court awarded each of the Laws $250,000. The Supreme Court found that the officer had violated the applicable pursuit policy by failing to weigh the potential harm to the public. The Court affirmed the lower courtâs ruling.