Justia Mississippi Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Gay St. Mary Williams and her husband, Larry Williams, filed a complaint against William Tucker and two insurance companies. The Williamses alleged that Mrs. Williams had been severely injured in a motor vehicle accident caused by Tucker. When Tucker failed to answer, the circuit clerk entered a default. The trial court denied Tucker’s motion to set aside the entry of default and his motion for reconsideration. After a hearing, the trial court awarded damages in the amount of $2,962,984.60, plus $300,000 to Larry Williams for loss of consortium, and entered a default judgment in favor of the Williamses. Tucker appealed, arguing that the trial court’s refusal to set aside the entry of default was an abuse of discretion. Alternatively, he challenged portions of the damages award. The Supreme Court found that under a liberal standard applicable to setting aside default judgments, the trial court abused its discretion by refusing to set aside the entry of default in this case. Therefore, the Court reversed the judgment of the trial court and remanded this case for further proceedings. View "Tucker v. Williams" on Justia Law

After a year of bullying and intimidation by a small group of students, Yahenacy Smith was beaten and severely injured while riding the school bus home. Smith sued the Leake County School District, alleging negligence and negligence per se. The circuit court found that the school district was entitled to discretionary-function immunity and granted the school district’s motion for summary judgment. Smith appealed. Finding that the broad governmental function of the school district here was ministerial, the Mississippi Supreme Court reversed the circuit court’s grant of summary judgment and remanded the case to the circuit court for Smith to proceed with her claims. View "Smith v. Leake County School District" on Justia Law

The property of Riverboat Corporation, an ad valorem taxpayer, was subject to assessment by the Harrison County Board of Supervisors (“the Board”) because Riverboat owned certain personal and real property in Harrison County. The Mississippi Supreme Court was asked "to abandon the common law of this state, pronouncements of this Court, and customs and practices of trial courts across this state, all dating back to the nineteenth century, under the guise that today’s issue has not yet been squarely before" it and to "overrule a learned trial judge who, [. . .] determined a jury trial should be had in an appeal of a county’s ad valorem tax assessment." When Riverboat appealed its tax assessment, the Board requested a jury trial. Riverboat then moved for a bench trial, averring that there was no right to a jury trial in tax appeals. The trial court denied Riverboat's motion. The Supreme Court declined to rule against Mississippi precedent, and affirmed the trial court's denial of Riverboat's motion. View "Riverboat Corporation of Mississippi v. Harrison County Board of Supervisors" on Justia Law

Bay Point Properties Inc. filed inverse condemnation proceedings against the Mississippi Transportation Commission (MTC), claiming the easement MTC had across Bay Point’s property had terminated and that MTC was required to pay Bay Point the unencumbered value of the property. A jury determined the easement, for which the Commission had paid $50,000, continued to encumber the property, but that the use by MTC was not a highway purpose. The jury awarded Bay Point the encumbered value of $500. Bay Point appealed. After review, the Supreme Court affirmed in part and reversed in part, finding that trial court failed to follow Section 43-37-9’s mandate to “determine and award or allow . . . such sum as will, in the opinion of the court[,] . . . reimburse such plaintiff for his reasonable costs, disbursements and expenses, including reasonable attorney, appraisal and engineering fees, actually incurred because of such proceeding.” Thus, the Court remanded with instructions to the trial court to hold a hearing in compliance with Section 43-37-9. View "Bay Point Properties, Inc. v. Mississippi Transp. Comm'n" on Justia Law

In the wake of an attorney’s family tragedy, the defendants missed their deadline for filing their notice of appeal. The attorney was a solo practitioner whose legal secretary was his wife. So when the family tragedy struck, the attorney was unable to delegate his work responsibilities to anyone else. Consequently, he missed filing the notice of appeal. The chancellor denied the defendants’ request to extend the time to file the notice of appeal. The Supreme Court found no abuse of discretion by the chancellor and affirmed the outcome. View "Nunnery v. Nunnery" on Justia Law

Richard White was convicted of burglary of a dwelling. The jury was instructed it could find White guilty of burglary of a dwelling if it found he broke and entered the home “with the intent to commit the crime of larceny and/or assault therein.” While the jury was instructed on the elements of aggravated assault, it was not given any instruction on the definition of larceny. On appeal, a divided Court of Appeals affirmed his conviction. Consistent with its recent decision in "Windless v. Mississippi," (185 So. 3d 956 (Miss. 2015)), finding use of the word “larceny” as it was commonly used and understood by the general public was sufficient in this case to define for the jury the requisite intent needed to support a conviction of burglary, the Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals as well as the trial court’s judgment and sentence. View "White v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

Rodney Rushing was indicted by grand jury of unlawful possession of six dosage units of amphetamine. A jury found Rushing guilty of the charged offense, and the trial court sentenced Rushing to three years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC), as a habitual offender pursuant to Mississippi Code Section 99-19-81 (Rev. 2015). Rushing thereafter filed a motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV) or in the alternative, a motion for a new trial, which the trial court denied. He then filed a notice of appeal. On appeal, appellate counsel for Rushing filed a "Lindsey" brief, stating there were no arguable issues on appeal. Having reviewed the record, the Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed the trial court’s judgment of conviction and sentence. View "Rushing v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

Cook Timber Company sued Georgia Pacific Corporation, claiming breach of contract and antitrust violations, both unilaterally and through a conspiracy with other market participants. In 1983, Cook Timber entered into a contract with Georgia Pacific, and from then until 2000, Cook Timber worked exclusively with Georgia Pacific. Eighty to ninety percent of Cook Timber’s wood was hauled to the Taylorsville Plywood Plant and Bay Springs Sawmill. The remainder was hauled to the Leaf River Pulp Mill. In March 2000, Georgia Pacific notified Cook Timber by letter that its Leaf River Pulp Mill no longer would receive any pine pulpwood deliveries from Cook Timber. Cook Timber then filed this suit. The circuit judge granted Georgia Pacific a directed verdict on Cook Timber’s conspiracy and breach-of-contract claim, but the jury returned a verdict for Cook Timber on its unilateral antitrust claim. Because Cook Timber failed to present sufficient evidence to support its unilateral antitrust claims, the Mississippi Supreme Court reversed the jury’s verdict on that claim. The Court also affirmed the circuit judge’s decision to grant Georgia Pacific a directed verdict on the conspiracy claim. But the Court reversed the directed verdict on Cook Timber’s breach-of-contract claim, and remanded for a new trial on that claim. View "Georgia Pacific Corporation v. Cook Timber Company, Inc." on Justia Law

On her father’s behalf, Debra Tarvin signed a nursing home Admission Agreement which contained an arbitration provision. After her father Caldwell Tarvin died, she brought a wrongful-death suit against the nursing home, CLC of Jackson, LLC d/b/a Pleasant Hills Community Living Center (“Pleasant Hills”). Caldwell was admitted to Pleasant Hills in August 2007, and Debra signed an Admission Agreement as Caldwell’s “Responsible Party.” Janet Terrell and Annette Tarvin also signed the Agreement as “Family Members” but Caldwell himself did not sign the Agreement. Pleasant Hills moved to dismiss the proceedings and to compel arbitration. Debra responded and argued that Pleasant Hills had waived its right to compel arbitration by participating in the litigation. Debra also argued that Pleasant Hills had “completely ignore[d] the issue of whether or not Mr. Tarvin’s family members had the legal authority to bind him to an arbitration agreement[.]” Specifically, Debra argued that there was “no legal authority, such as a power of attorney or conservatorship” by which she could bind her father to the arbitration agreement, nor could she bind him under the Uniform Healthcare Decisions Act, because “the record is devoid of any evidence” that the physicians relied upon by Pleasant Hills were Caldwell’s primary physicians. The trial court granted Pleasant Hills' motion, and Debra appealed. The relevant statutes at play here were codified as the “Uniform Health-Care Decisions Act,” Mississippi Code Section 41-41-201 to 41-41-229 (the “Act”). The Supreme Court's review of this case found that Act required determination by a primary physician that an individual lacks capacity before a “surrogate” properly can make a healthcare decision for that individual. The record here did not support a finding that a certain "Dr. Thomas" was Caldwell’s primary physician. The Court therefore reversed the trial court’s order compelling arbitration and remanded the case for further proceedings. View "Tarvin v. CLC of Jackson, LLC d/b/a Pleasant Hills Community Living Center" on Justia Law

A jury convicted Randy Wilson of receiving stolen property in violation of Mississippi Code Section 97-17-70. The trial court sentenced Wilson to ten years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. He appealed his conviction and sentence, challenging the evidence presented against him at trial, and arguing he received ineffective assistance of trial counsel. Finding no error, the Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed Wilson’s conviction and sentence. View "Wilson v. Mississippi" on Justia Law