Justia Mississippi Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Sedric Sutton was indicted by a grand jury on two counts: (1) possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute and (2) possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. After a trial by jury, Sutton was convicted on the first count and acquitted on the second. The trial court sentenced Sutton as a habitual offender to fifteen years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. He appealed. The Mississippi Supreme Court found that all of the State’s evidence in the case stemmed from an unconstitutional search pursuant to an invalid warrant which failed adequately to describe the property to be seized by the executing officers. Pretrial, the court denied Sutton’s motion to suppress the evidence obtained from the search. After review, the Supreme Court reversed Sutton’s conviction and sentence and remanded the case to the trial court for further proceedings. View "Sutton v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

Stacy Triplett filed three lawsuits against her former employer, Southern Hens, all stemming from an incident in which Triplett, while working, witnessed the gruesome death of a coworker. This incident caused Triplett mental anguish leading to an award of workers’ compensation benefits. After Triplett allegedly incurred some trouble in collecting her award of workers’ compensation benefits, she sued Southern Hens and Southern Hens’s carrier, Liberty Mutual. Triplett’s first lawsuit against Southern Hens, for failure to pay, ultimately was dismissed. Triplett then filed a second lawsuit against Southern Hens for failure to report; Triplett failed to serve Southern Hens within 120 days, as required under Mississippi Rule of Civil Procedure 4(h). With no official court action on her second suit, and admittedly knowing that she could not show good cause for failure to serve in the second suit, Triplett filed a third suit against Southern Hens , like the second, was for failure to report. Aware of the second suit, the circuit court dismissed Triplett’s third suit as an impermissible duplicative suit. Triplett appealed. Finding no error, the Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed. View "Triplett v. Southern Hens, Inc." on Justia Law

Several members of the Collins family sued the City of Newton and several of its officials alleging wrongful termination, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress, slander, and reckless disregard of property. The plaintiffs are members of a firefighting family. William Donald Collins Sr. is the patriarch of the family; Mary Collins, Donald’s wife, the matriarch. Donald was a volunteer firefighter with the City of Newton Fire Department for more than thirty years. Mary never worked for Fire Department. Donald and Mary have three adult sons, William Donald “Donnie” Collins II, Jay Collins, and Colt Collins. Donnie and Colt were full-time, paid firefighters with the Fire Department in 2012, when the events at issue occurred. Jay also was a full-time, paid, firefighter with the Fire Department. Colt was married to Lisa Collins, who was a volunteer firefighter with the Fire Department in 2012. The Collinses claim that problems began in 2009, when the firefighters voted that Donnie be their chief over the then-current Chief Bounds. The Board of Aldermen ratified the vote, and Mayor David Carr vetoed the ratification. The Board overturned Mayor Carr’s veto. Mayor Carr obtained an ethics opinion regarding Donnie being his brothers’ boss, and the Board then declined to accept Donnie as fire chief. Donnie was made assistant chief and Walter Gordon was hired as chief. After Chief Gordon left, sometime in early 2012, Clarence Parks was hired as chief. On June 20, 2012, Chief Parks distributed a letter to all Fire Department personnel, Mayor Carr, and the Board, declaring every rank, position, and title in the Fire Department vacant, effectively stripping all firefighters of their ranks. Shortly thereafter, Joel Skinner was made interim chief. Skinner was Mary’s brother’s son; thus he was Donald’s and Mary’s nephew and first cousin to Donnie and Colt. Around July 5, 2012, after an argument with Skinner in a meeting, Donald was terminated from the Newton Fire Department. On about July 18, 2012, Donnie and Colt were terminated from the Newton Fire Department, and Lisa was terminated about July 23, 2012. The defendants filed a motion for summary judgment, which the trial court denied. After a new judge was assigned to the case, the defendants filed a motion for relief or reconsideration of the denial of summary judgment under Mississippi Rule of Civil Procedure 60; the trial court granted the Rule 60 relief. The Collinses appealed the trial court’s order granting summary judgment in favor of the defendants. Finding no reversible error, the Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed. View "Collins v. City of Newton" on Justia Law

In 2005, Joey Chandler was convicted for the murder of his cousin Emmitt Chandler and sentenced to life in prison under Mississippi Code Section 97-3-21 (2005). His conviction and sentence was affirmed on appeal. In 2015, Chandler received a new sentencing hearing for his murder conviction in light of the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460 (2012). Following the hearing, the circuit court sentenced Chandler to life in prison. Chandler appealed, requesting that he be resentenced because the trial court failed to analyze all the factors identified in Miller and adopted in the Mississippi Supreme Court’s subsequent decision in Parker v. Mississippi, 119 So. 3d 987 (Miss. 2013). The Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed, finding the trial court did not automatically resentence Chandler to life in prison or perceive a legislative mandate that Chandler must be sentenced to life in prison without parole in violation of Miller. As required by Miller and the subsequent decision in Parker, the trial court held a hearing and, after considering all that was presented as well as the entire court file, sentenced Chandler to life in prison. The trial court took into account the characteristics and circumstances unique to juveniles. Although the trial court had the authority to sentence Chandler to life in prison with the possibility of parole, it chose to sentence Chandler to life in prison, which was also within its authority. Because the trial court satisfied its obligation under Miller and Parker, the Supreme Court found the trial court did not abuse its discretion in sentencing Chandler to life in prison. View "Chandler v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

Craig Sallie was charged with one count of aggravated assault for shooting Gregory Johnson in the back and one count of possession of a weapon by a convicted felon. A jury found Sallie guilty of both counts, and the circuit court sentenced him to twenty years and ten years, respectively, with sentences to run concurrently in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC). The circuit court also sentenced Sallie to an additional ten years pursuant to the firearm-enhancement statute under Mississippi Code Section 97-37-37 (Rev. 2014), with that sentence to run consecutively to the other sentences, for a total sentence of thirty years in the MDOC. The Court of Appeals affirmed. On writ of certiorari, a majority of the Mississippi Supreme Court found “Sallie was not given adequate pretrial notice that an enhanced punishment would be sought until after his conviction,” which violated his right to due process. The majority affirmed Sallie’s convictions for aggravated assault and felon in possession of a firearm but vacated Sallie’s sentence and remanded the case to the circuit court for resentencing. On remand, the circuit court restructured Sallie’s remaining sentences to run consecutively instead of concurrently, resulting in a thirty-year sentence without the enhanced penalty portion prescribed by Section 97-37-37. Finding no error, the Court of Appeals affirmed. Sallie petitions the Mississippi Supreme Court again, for review of whether the trial court’s decision to change the sentences to run [consecutively] on Count I and Count II was error because the Court of Appeals affirmed those convictions and sentences and the Mississippi Supreme Court remanded only the sentence pursuant to [Section 97-37-37]. Following the Supreme Court’s order of remand for resentencing, the circuit judge stated for the record that when he imposed Sallie’s original sentence, he thought Sallie “was going to have another 10-year sentence that would [run] consecutively” to the two sentences running concurrently, effectively giving Sallie a thirty-year sentence in the custody of the MDOC. The circuit judge then restructured Sallie’s sentence to implement his original intention. As the Court of Appeals held, the circuit court had authority to do so, and therefore, the Supreme Court affirmed. View "Sallie v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

The central issue at issue in this case involved a dispute between a mother and son, Carolyn Ware (“Carolyn”) and Richard Ware (“Richard”), regarding the distribution of shares of stock of three closely held corporations. The shares were being held by the estate of the deceased husband/father, Frankie Don Ware (“Frankie”). Frankie’s will directed that the shares be distributed to a testamentary trust. The bylaws of the corporations (in which Frankie, Carolyn, and Richard were the sole shareholders) required any outstanding shares of stock be offered to the corporations prior to any transfer. Carolyn, the executrix, filed a petition to close Frankie’s estate and to distribute Frankie’s assets (including the shares) to the trust. Richard filed an objection to the closing of the estate, asserting the corporate bylaws of the three corporations. Carolyn responded, arguing that Richard lacked standing to object. The chancellor found for Richard and required Carolyn to offer the shares back to each corporation prior to transferring the shares to the trust. Carolyn subsequently appealed. After review, the Mississippi Supreme Court found Richard lacked standing to object to the closing of Frankie’s estate because the injury for which he sought relief pertained to the corporations only. Therefore, the trial court's judgment was reversed and the matter remanded for further proceedings. View "Matter of the Estate of Frankie Don Ware" on Justia Law

Casey Woods was indicted on one count of first degree murder, stemming from the shooting of his girlfriend’s estranged husband. Woods also was indicted on one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The counts were severed and the case proceeded to trial solely on the murder charge. A jury found Woods guilty of second degree murder, for which Woods was sentenced as a habitual offender under Mississippi Code Section 99-19-83 to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Woods’s trial counsel did not file any post-trial motions. Woods appealed, arguing: (1) the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to overcome the presumption afforded by the Castle Doctrine that he acted reasonably when he killed Pierre Tenner; and (2) he received constitutionally ineffective assistance of counsel. Woods waived his insufficient evidence argument; however, the Mississippi Supreme Court reversed and remanded for a new trial based on ineffective assistance of counsel with regard to Woods’s trial counsel’s failure to file a post trial motion for a new trial challenging the weight of the evidence. View "Woods v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

Ralph Smith sued the Attorney General of Mississippi, Jim Hood, raising various causes of action, each of which was premised on Smith’s purely legal argument that the Office of the Attorney General was in the judicial branch of the state government. The circuit court disagreed with Smith and found that, as a matter of law, the Office of Attorney General was in the executive branch, and so, the circuit court granted summary judgment in favor of Hood. Smith appealed. The Mississippi Supreme Court found that the Office of Attorney General was a member of the executive branch of government, as delineated in the Mississippi Constitution, Article 6. View "Smith v. Hood" on Justia Law

Biel REO, LLC (“Biel REO”), filed a breach of contract and guaranty action. Note 1 was secured by property in Okaloosa County, Florida. While the Mississippi case remained pending, Biel REO foreclosed on the Florida collateral and obtained a deficiency judgment against Lee Freyer Kennedy Crestview, LLC (“LFK Crestview”). Biel REO appealed a circuit court finding that because Biel REO had obtained a judgment pursuant to Note 1 in Florida solely against LFK Crestview and because Biel REO’s pleadings requested relief based on Note 1 itself, Note 1 no longer existed. Thus, the Continuing Guaranty signed by Lee Freyer Kennedy (“Kennedy”) individually had nothing left to guarantee as to Note 1. Therefore, Kennedy was not personally liable on any obligations relating to Note 1. The Kennedy Defendants cross-appealed the circuit court finding that LFK Crestview was liable under Note 2 and that the Guaranty Agreement unambiguously encompassed Note 2. The Kennedy Defendants also appealed the trial court’s decision to award Biel REO attorneys’ fees and pre- and post-judgment interest in the amount of Note 2’s stated default rate of eighteen percent. With respect to Note 1, the Mississippi Supreme Court held that the Florida judgments were sufficient evidence of an obligation of LFK Crestview to Biel REO, and the trial court erred in its determination that Biel REO was required to amend its pleadings to include the Florida judgments. With respect to Note 2, the Supreme Court affirmed the trial court's finding that the Kennedy Defendants failed to submit sufficient evidence to prove the assignments were not effective. In addition, the Supreme Court held the trial court correctly found Kennedy to be personally liable for the indebtedness of LFK Crestview pursuant to Note 2. Lastly, the trial court’s award of pre- and post-judgment interest and its award of attorneys’ fees was affirmed. View "Biel Reo, LLC v. Lee Freyer Kennedy Crestview, LLC" on Justia Law

In 1996, the City of Gulfport filed an eminent domain complaint against Dedeaux Utility Company. Gulfport did not take physical control of the utility until December 20, 2004, after a jury awarded Dedeaux $3,634,757. Dedeaux appealed that verdict and Gulfport cross-appealed. In the first in a series of cases between these parties, the Mississippi Supreme Court reversed and remanded for a new trial, and the second jury awarded Dedeaux $5,131,676 for the taking. Dedeaux again appealed, and Gulfport again cross-appealed. The Supreme Court again reversed and remanded in “Dedeaux II,” and the case was tried a third time, resulting in a jury verdict in favor of Dedeaux totaling $8,063,981. The jury found that the fair market value of Dedeaux as of December 3, 1996, when the complaint was filed, was $7,082,778. It found that the fair market value of tangible assets added to Dedeaux from December 3, 1996, to December 20, 2004, when Gulfport took physical control, was $981,203. Based on payments already made by Gulfport to Dedeaux, the trial court found that Gulfport owed Dedeaux $1,951,102 plus interest on the amount of $7,082,778, and that it owed Dedeaux $728,117 plus interest on the amount of $981,203. Gulfport appealed, and the Supreme Court affirmed the trial court on all issues except interest: the trial court had determined that Mississippi Code Section 75-17-1 applied and mandated that it award eight-percent interest. The Supreme Court determined that Mississippi Code Section 75-17-7 applied, which charged the trial court to set an interest rate. The Court then remanded “for the limited purpose of determining a reasonable rate of interest and issuing an order for payment of that interest.” In the fourth appeal, the only issue was whether the interest rate on the judgment was appropriate. Because the trial court failed to follow the Mississippi Supreme Court’s mandate to set an interest rate, it reversed and remanded for entry of judgment consistent with the evidence presented. View "City of Gulfport v. Dedeaux Utility Company, Inc." on Justia Law