Justia Mississippi Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

M.E.V. was a minor child whose biological mother lived in Mississippi, and whose biological father lived in Texas. The youth court removed M.E.V. from her mother’s custody. After several periodic reviews, the youth court judge issued a review order giving legal and physical custody of the child to her biological father in Texas on a trial basis. The mother wanted to appeal that review order. Because the review order was not a final judgment, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal. View "In the Interest of M.E.V." on Justia Law

John Stubbs, Jr., d/b/a Mississippi Polysteel Stubbs was awarded damages for breach of contract after he sued Martin and Valerie Falkner to enforce a construction lien on their home. The Court of Appeals affirmed the circuit court’s judgment, but reversed its award of attorney’s fees and prejudgment interest, finding that Stubbs’s recovery was based in quantum meruit and thus, attorney’s fees and prejudgment interest were unavailable remedies. Stubbs petitioned for certiorari, arguing that the Court of Appeals failed to consider various statutory grounds for an award of attorney’s fees and prejudgment interest and requested that the Supreme Court reinstate the circuit court’s award. Upon review, the Court found the statutes Stubbs raised were an insufficient basis for an award of either prejudgment interest or attorney’s fees in this case and affirmed the Court of Appeals' decision. View "Falkner v. Stubbs, Jr." on Justia Law

Malcolm Weeks Sr. was indicted and tried for sexually abusing his fourteen-year-old daughter. He was convicted of one count of child fondling and two counts of sexual battery. On appeal, he argued: (1) the trial court erred by allowing the State to substantively amend his indictment; (2) that the evidence was insufficient to support the jury’s verdicts; and (3) the verdicts were against the overwhelming weight of the evidence. Finding no error, the Supreme Court affirmed. View "Weeks v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

In June 2004, Victor Jones pled guilty to two counts of sexual battery and was sentenced to two consecutive twenty-year terms in the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Jones filed a notice of appeal, which was dismissed for failure to pay the costs of appeal. In December 2004, Jones filed a motion for post-conviction relief (PCR) which was later denied. The Court of Appeals affirmed that judgment. In April 2011, Jones filed a second motion for post-conviction relief, which was dismissed by the trial court because the motion was time-barred and barred as a successive writ. The trial court also found that it lacked jurisdiction to consider the claims because Jones had not sought permission from the Supreme Court to proceed in the trial court. The Court of Appeals affirmed. Upon review of the matter, the Supreme Court affirmed the trial court's finding that the motion for post-conviction relief was time-barred and find that the motion also is barred based on res judicata. However, the Court found that the trial court and Court of Appeals erred in finding that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to hear Jones's claims. View "Jones v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

Thirteen years after the divorce was finalized, the Lamar County Chancery Court found that the former husband, Appellee John David Gatwood, was in arrears on certain financial obligations imposed by the divorce decree. Because of various extenuating circumstances, the chancellor ordered Gatwood to pay off his debt in monthly installments. More than a year after the chancery court judgment, the former wife's attorney, Jack Parsons, successfully filed a suggestion for writ of garnishment, significantly accelerating payment of Gatwood's financial obligations. Circumstances related to the manner in which the writ of garnishment was obtained resulted in sanctions against Parsons; the garnishment proceedings also gave rise to other rulings which were appealed to this Court. After review, the Supreme Court declined to find the trial court erred: evidence at trial supported that court's finding that attorney's fees and sanctions against Parsons and his client were appropriate. Accordingly, the circuit court's decision was affirmed. View "Cooper v. The Estate of William David Gatwood" on Justia Law

David Waits was indicted by a grand jury on one count of deliberate-design murder of Wavious McGee. The indictment also charged him with a sentence enhancement for using a firearm during the commission of a felony. The jury found Waits guilty of manslaughter. According to the sentencing order, the trial judge sentenced Waits to twenty years imprisonment for the manslaughter conviction. Upon review, the Supreme Court affirmed Waits' manslaughter conviction and his twenty-year sentence for that conviction. But, because the jury did not specifically find Waits guilty of using a firearm in the commission of the crime of manslaughter, the Court reversed the trial court's sentence enhancement and remanded this case to the trial court, with the instruction that the gun enhancement notation be struck from the sentencing order. View "Waits v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

Clayton Paul Bateman was convicted of two counts of sexual battery and two counts of touching a child for lustful purposes. He was sentenced to a total of thirty years' imprisonment. He appealed his conviction. Finding no reversible error, the Supreme Court affirmed Bateman's convictions and sentences. View "Bateman v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

At the trial of this medical-negligence case, plaintiff’s only expert abandoned his pretrial opinion, and over the objection of the defendant, testified to a new opinion that was never disclosed in discovery. The Court of Appeals reversed and remanded for a new trial. The Supreme Court concluded that the trial court should have granted a judgment notwithstanding the verdict, reversed in part and remanded the case for entry of judgment in favor of the defendant. View "Cleveland v. Hamil " on Justia Law

Plaintiff filed suit against the Mississippi Department of Human Services and a children’s psychiatric facility Alliance Crossings based on the alleged statutory rape of a minor that occurred while the minor resided at Alliance Crossings and was in the legal and physical custody of the Department. The alleged basis for venue in Hinds County was that the Department of Human Services was headquartered in Hinds County. The defendants filed motions to transfer venue to Lauderdale County, which the trial court denied. Because plaintiff failed to allege sufficient facts supporting venue in Hinds County, the Supreme Court reversed the trial court and remanded the case for transfer to Lauderdale County. View "Mississippi Department of Human Services v. S.C." on Justia Law

A grand jury indicted Nina Buckhalter for culpable-negligence manslaughter after she gave birth to a stillborn baby girl. The circuit court dismissed the indictment, finding certain language in the manslaughter statute to be “vague and ambiguous,” when applied to “a woman who has caused the miscarriage or stillbirth of her unborn child.” The State appealed. Because the Supreme Court found the indictment was fatally flawed, it affirmed its dismissal without reaching the issue addressed by the circuit court. View "Mississippi v. Buckhalter" on Justia Law