Justia Mississippi Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Casey Burgess was convicted by jury on three counts of sexual battery against his wife, for which he was sentenced to thirty years on each count, to run concurrently. Following the denial of his alternative motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or for a new trial, Burgess appealed. Finding no error, the Supreme Court affirmed. View "Burgess v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

The administrator of the Pearl River County Hospital entered into a contract with Wellness, Inc., for Wellness to provide furnishings, fixtures, equipment, and systems for the Hospital’s renovation. The Hospital subsequently sued Wellness (and other defendants not party to this appeal) alleging fraud, conspiracy, breach of contract, and other causes of action. Before trial commenced, Wellness moved to compel mediation and arbitration and to stay proceedings. After a hearing on the motion, the circuit court denied the motion in its entirety. Wellness appealed. Finding no reversible error, the Supreme Court affirmed. View "Wellness, Inc. v. Pearl River County Hospital" on Justia Law

The parties to this case cited irreconcilable differences as grounds for their divorce. One appealed the chancellor’s award of child support and the equitable distribution of marital property. Upon review of the matter, the Supreme Court found the chancellor’s award of child support was supported by the evidence, and affirmed in that respect. But because the chancellor’s property distribution rested on several factual findings unsupported by the evidence at trial, the case was reversed and remanded for a new property distribution. View "Burnham v. Burnham" on Justia Law

Kayla Vaughn appealed decisions of Mississippi’s Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS), the Hinds County Circuit Court, and the Court of Appeals, in which she says she was denied the benefits due to a member of PERS. The retiree, Marjorie Kahn died prior to collecting benefits, and her beneficiary died prior to collecting all of the retiree’s benefits. As the surviving family member of the beneficiary, but not of the retiree, Kayla asserts that she was entitled to the remaining benefits. While PERS, the Hinds County Circuit Court, and the Court of Appeals erred by applying the current versions of the PERS statutes, rather than the version in force when the retiree made her elections, the Mississippi Supreme Court ultimately found that such error was harmless, and thus affirmed the judgments of each of these entities in result only. View "Vaughn v. Public Employees' Retirement System of Mississippi" on Justia Law

Michael Brown was the attorney for the guardianship of DeMon McClinton, during which time he embezzled and/or mismanaged more than $1.2 million, much of it in Hinds County, where the guardianship and ward were located. He gave $550,000 of that money to Linus Shackelford as “loans” from the guardianship, the transactions for said loans made in Rankin County. Brown was convicted on two counts of embezzlement in Rankin County for making those “loans” with guardianship funds. Brown appealed his conviction and sentence of ten years’ imprisonment, but the Supreme Court affirmed, finding that the trial court did not commit reversible error during the trial in this case. However, the trial court exceeded its statutory authority with its sentence of restitution; therefore, the Supreme Court vacated the restitution portion of Brown’s sentence and remanded the case for resentencing. View "Brown v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

John Doe initiated this action on behalf of his daughter, Jane Doe, after she was sexually assaulted on a Rankin County School District (RCSD) school bus, parked on the campus of Richland High School (RHS). After nineteen months of discovery, the circuit court granted RCSD’s motion for summary judgment against Doe based on governmental immunity under the Mississippi Tort Claims Act (MTCA). Doe moved for reconsideration, arguing RCSD had waived immunity through active participation in the litigation. The circuit court denied the motion. The Court of Appeals (COA) reversed the circuit court’s ruling. Applying the then-applicable, two-part, public-function test, the COA found that RCSD was entitled to discretionary-function immunity because: (1) RCSD’s duty to oversee student conduct and school safety involved an element of choice and/or judgment and (2) RCSD’s actions regarding implementation of school-safety measures and student discipline involved social and economic policy considerations. The COA, however, found that RCSD had waived immunity in this instance by actively participating in the litigation process and unreasonably delaying pursuit of its immunity defense for sixteen months. The Mississippi Supreme Court granted RCSD’s request certiorari review. Based on its recent decision in “Brantley v. City of Horn Lake,” (152 So.3d 1106 (Miss. 2014)), which established a new test for determining the application of discretionary-function immunity, the Supreme Court reversed both the COA’s and the trial court’s decisions and remanded to the trial court for the parties to present evidence in light of the new standard. View "Doe v. Rankin County School District" on Justia Law

In January 2003, Christopher Lyas died while receiving treatment at Pine Grove Behavioral Health Center, a subsidiary of Forrest General Hospital. Shortly after Christopher’s death, his widow, Madra Lyas was visited by an employee of the Forrest County Coroner’s Office who provided her a provisional Certificate of Death which listed the immediate cause of death as “pending” and a provisional autopsy report which listed the cause and manner of Christopher’s death as “pending toxicology,” but contained pathological diagnoses of “Hypertensive Heart Disease” and “Morbid Obesity.” The employee informed Madra that Christopher probably had died of a heart attack. Seven years later, after meeting in person with the Forrest County Coroner, Madra was given Christopher’s final Certificate of Death, which professed “[c]hanges consistent with meprobamate and carisoprodol overdose” as the immediate cause of Christopher’s death. She then filed suit against Pine Grove and Forrest General Hospital, alleging that Pine Grove had caused Christopher’s death negligently by means of a prescription drug overdose. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Forrest General and Pine Grove, holding that Madra had not filed suit within the one-year statute of limitations pursuant to the Mississippi Tort Claims Act. Madra appealed, arguing that the discovery rule tolled the applicable statute of limitations. Because Madra has produced evidence of her reasonable diligence during the statutory period, the Supreme Court found that a genuine issue of material fact existed on the issue of whether the statute of limitations was tolled. The Court therefore reversed the circuit court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Forrest General and remand this case for a trial on the merits. View "Lyas v. Forrest General Hospital" on Justia Law

Marshall Graves was convicted of fondling (two counts) and sexual battery (one count) and was sentenced to terms of fifteen years for each count of fondling and life as to one count of sexual battery, all to be served concurrently. Graves’s appellate counsel filed a “Lindsey” brief, certifying to the Supreme Court that the record presented no arguable issues for appeal. Graves filed a pro se brief, asserting numerous errors. After a thorough review of Graves’s pro se brief and the record, the Mississippi Supreme Court found that Graves’s appeal indeed presented no arguable issues. View "Graves v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

The State of Mississippi brought a civil action against generic pharmaceutical provider Sandoz, Inc., alleging that Sandoz impermissibly exploited Mississippi’s Medicaid reimbursement program by routinely and exponentially reporting fictitious “Average Wholesale Prices,” a key data factor in the federally supervised formula used by the Mississippi Division of Medicaid to reimburse pharmacies serviced by Sandoz. The trial court, sitting as fact-finder, found Sandoz in violation of the Mississippi Consumer Protection Act and liable for common-law fraud. Sandoz appealed, and the State cross-appealed. On a deferential standard of review, the Supreme Court affirmed the trial court in full. View "Sandoz, Inc. v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

Correy Dartez was found guilty of murder by a Harrison County jury and sentenced to life in prison in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. The trial court denied Dartez’s post-trial motion for a new trial or judgment notwithstanding the verdict. Dartez appealed his conviction, arguing to the Supreme Court that his trial counsel was constitutionally ineffective for failing to raise an insanity defense and for not challenging the introduction into evidence of Dartez’s confession to the police that he had killed his wife Victoria. The Court declined to address Dartez’s ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim on direct appeal. “Whether Dartez’s trial counsel should have raised an insanity defense and whether trial counsel should have challenged Dartez’s confession involves facts not fully apparent from the record before us. Thus, we are unable adequately and properly to address Dartez’s ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim on direct appeal. Therefore, we affirm Dartez’s conviction.” The Court left it open to Dartez to represent his claim through a petition for post-conviction relief. View "Dartez v. Mississippi" on Justia Law