Justia Mississippi Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

In 2008, Plaintiffs S. Lavon Evans Jr. and his companies S. Lavon Evans Jr. Operating Company, Inc.; S. Lavon Evans Jr. Drilling Ventures, LLC; and E & D Services, Inc. sued Defendants the law firm of Baker & McKenzie, LLP, and one of its partners, Joel Held. The complaint also named as defendants Laredo Energy Holdings, LLC, and its related subsidiaries S. Lavon Evans Operating Texas, LLC, and E & D Drilling Services, LLC. Plaintiffs listed seven causes of action in the complaint: counts one and seven charged the Baker Defendants with legal malpractice and breach of contract; counts two through six charged all the defendants with breach of fiduciary duty, negligent omission and misstatements of material facts, civil conspiracy, aiding and abetting, tortious interference, and breach of duty of good faith and fair dealing. Defendants Laredo Energy Holdings, LLC; S. Lavon Evans Operating Texas, LLC; and E&D Drilling Services filed a cross-claim against the Baker Defendants claiming legal malpractice, breach of contract, breach of duty of good faith and fair dealing, and breach of fiduciary duty. Evans asserted that in 2007, he lost access to his companies’ two largest assets (two oil drilling rigs) and was sued in Texas by the Baker Defendants on behalf of Reed Cagle (Evans’s business partner), who was acting on behalf of Laredo Energy Holdings, LLC. This triggered a flurry of liens and suits by vendors against Evans and his companies – all because, as Evans claims - he made decisions and entered agreements based on advice and recommendations from the Baker Defendants, who Evans believed to be his lawyers. Evans claimed that his businesses once were worth more than $50 million but now were accountable for debts exceeding $31 million as a result of the conduct by the Baker Defendants. The Mississippi case was tried, and the jury returned a verdict of $103,400,000 in actual damages for Plaintiffs and Cross-Plaintiffs. S. Lavon Evans Jr. was awarded $1 million from defendant Joel Held and $30 million from Baker & McKenzie. S. Lavon Evans Operating Company, Inc., was awarded $1 million from Joel Held and $29 million from Baker & McKenzie. E&D Services, LLC, was awarded $1 million from Joel Held and $19 million from Baker & McKenzie. The jury also assessed Evans, individually, with ten-percent comparative fault. And the trial court reduced the $31 million amount awarded to Evans, individually, by ten percent. The Cross-Plaintiffs were separately awarded $22.4 million from Joel Held and Baker & McKenzie, collectively. A divided jury awarded $75,000 in punitive damages to Plaintiffs and $75,000 in punitive damages to Cross-Plaintiffs. The trial court denied the Baker Defendants’ post-trial motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, new trial, and remittitur. This appeal followed. After careful consideration of the trial court record, the Supreme Court affirmed as to the Baker Defendants’ liability. But because the Court found the jury was not properly instructed, it reversed and remanded the case for a new trial on proximate cause and damages. View "Baker & McKenzie, LLP v. Evans, Jr." on Justia Law

Three motorists sued the Mississippi Department of Transportation after their vehicles collided with a pine tree that had fallen across the highway. The Department filed a motion to dismiss asserting immunity under the Mississippi Tort Claims Act (MTCA), and the trial court granted the motion. The Court of Appeals affirmed. The motorists appealed. Finding that the Department’s motion to dismiss should not have been granted, the Supreme Court reversed and remanded. View "Little v. Mississippi Dept. of Transportation" on Justia Law

Following his convictions for one count of sexual battery and three counts of gratification of lust, Joe Earl Cole argued on appeal that the trial court erred in admitting hearsay and evidence of alleged prior unindicted acts of sexual misconduct with two of his minor granddaughters. Finding no error, the Supreme Court affirmed. View "Cole v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

An interlocutory appeal stemmed from a circuit court's denial of Robert Germany’s motion to sever and transfer claims filed against him by his wife, Ginger Germany, to their pending divorce proceeding. Finding that many of Ginger’s claims against Robert were either equitable in nature or were related to divorce and alimony, the Supreme Court reversed the circuit court and remanded the case with instructions to sever and transfer those claims to the pending divorce action in the Chancery Court. View "Germany v. Germany" on Justia Law

Rodrique Watson appealed his burglary conviction. When the victim returned home from shopping, she parked her car in an open garage, which was attached to her home. The applicable statute required the State to prove two elements: (1) unlawful breaking and entering the dwelling house and (2) the intent to commit a crime therein. At the jury instruction conference, the State submitted the following: "The Court instructs the Jury that 'breaking' as used in the indictment and in the Court’s instructions, means any act of force, regardless of how slight, which is necessary to be used in entering a building, whether the building be locked or unlocked; The Court further instructs the Jury that the 'force' used to enter the building may be accomplished through the passage of a door, which breaks the plane. Watson objected to the second part of the instruction as a misstatement of the law. The Supreme Court agreed that the trial judge incorrectly instructed the jury that breaking the plane of a door satisfied the force element of burglary of a dwelling. Therefore, the conviction was reversed and the case remanded for a new trial. View "Watson v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

The issue before the Supreme Court in this case centered on local ad valorem taxes on real estate developments that use federal tax credits to construct and maintain restrictive properties that rent only to lower-income households. Specifically, the question was whether local governments could include the value of federal tax credits in their valuation of the properties for tax assessment purposes. The Court held that Mississippi Code Section 27-35-50(4)(d) prohibits them from doing so. View "Willow Bend Estates, LLC v. Humphries County Board of Supervisors " on Justia Law

Lisa Sandlin was convicted of murder for the death of her stepson Kirk Sandlin, for which she was sentenced to a term of life in prison. Sandlin appealed, arguing: (1) the trial court erred by allowing Lisa’s husband Sammy Sandlin to testify for the State; and (2) she received ineffective assistance of counsel. After careful consideration, the Supreme Court concluded the first issue was barred from review. But the record was insufficient to consider two of her ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claims, Sammy’s testimony and a 911 call, on direct appeal. Thus, the Court dismissed those two claims without prejudice to Lisa’s right to bring these claims later in a properly filed motion for post-conviction relief. View "Sandlin v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

Kenton McNeese appealed the dismissal of his Rule 60(b) Motion for Relief from Judgment and Other Relief. This Rule 60(b) motion was filed with respect to a judgment of divorce from which he already had perfected an appeal. At that time, his first appeal was pending with the Supreme Court. In response, his former wife Katherine (“Katye”), filed a motion to dismiss and requested that Kenton be required to pay attorneys’ fees. The trial court denied Kenton’s motion for relief and granted Katye’s motion to dismiss and request for attorneys’ fees. The trial court ruled that the Rule 60(b) motion was not timely and that the court lacked jurisdiction “due to the pendency of the case’s appeal to the Mississippi Supreme Court. . . .” The trial court also found that Kenton’s motion was frivolous and without substantial justification and that it was interposed for delay and harassment and, therefore, imposed a $1,000 sanction against Kenton to be applied toward Katye’s attorneys’ fees. Finding that the trial court erroneously ruled that it lacked jurisdiction to hear Kenton’s Rule 60(b) motion, but concluding that the trial court did not err in denying the motion, the Supreme Court affirmed in part and reversed in part. View "Kenton Hal McNeese v. Katherine J. McNeese (Graves)" on Justia Law

Anthony Tyrone Thomas was convicted of aggravated assault and of being a felon in possession of a weapon, for which he was sentenced to two consecutive terms of life without parole as a habitual offender. The Court of Appeals affirmed both convictions, and the Supreme Court granted Thomas's petition for writ of certiorari. Because the Supreme Court found that Count II of Thomas's indictment did not charge him with a crime, it reversed his conviction for being a felon in possession of a weapon and dismissed the indictment in Count II. The Court affirmed the trial court in all other respects. View "Thomas v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

Circuit Court Judge for the Thirteenth District Eddie H. Bowen failed to disclose a conflict to the parties in a civil lawsuit and failed to rule on counsel's motion to recuse made after the conflict was discovered. The Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance recommended that Judge Bowen be publicly reprimanded and assessed $200 in costs. After review of the record, the Supreme Court found that the recommended sanctions were insufficient. The Court ordered that Judge Bowen be publicly reprimanded, fined $500, and assessed $200 in costs. View "Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance v. Bowen" on Justia Law