FAIR , J. , FOR THE COURT: 1. This is a property case between two first cousins involving a lot in Moorhead, Mississippi. On February 25, 2009, Acey Huey deeded Lot 24 of Palmer Subdivision to his daughter, Fillisa Huey. He had received the property from his grandmother in the probate of her will; a court order evidencing Acey's title by devise had been recorded in the land records of Sunflower County. 2. A written agreement entitled "Repairing and Renting Agreement" was thereafter...
GREENLEE , J. 1. This is an appeal from a decision of the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission in which Bettye Logan was found to have incurred a permanent-partial disability with a sixty-percent industrial loss of use of her left lower extremity stemming from an admittedly work-related injury. Logan appealed the decision of the Commission to this Court, claiming that she is entitled to the maximum allowable amount of permanent-total disability under the law instead of the lower...
WILSON , J. , FOR THE COURT: 1. This appeal arises from the denial of a motion filed by Kenneth McDuff pursuant to Rules 59 and 60 of the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure. Kenneth moved to set aside his property settlement agreement (PSA) with his ex-wife, Teresa, and the divorce decree that approved and incorporated the PSA. Kenneth alleges that he entered into the PSA in reliance on misrepresentations conveyed to him by a mediator during the parties' divorce proceeding. He claims...
WILSON , J. , FOR THE COURT: 1. Bonita Henson fractured her left ankle when she fell while she was a patient at Grenada Lakes Medical Center (GLMC). Henson filed a medical malpractice claim against GLMC, alleging that its nurses failed to prevent her from falling and failed to provide appropriate wound care, which she alleges led to an infection in her ankle and ultimately required amputation of her left leg below her knee. The circuit court granted GLMC's motion for summary judgment...
JAMES , J. , FOR THE COURT: 1. This appeal arises from a civil suit filed by W&G Properties LLC ("W&G") and Magnolia Label Co. Inc. ("Magnolia Label") against the Hinds County Economic Development District ("HCEDD"). HCEDD appeals from the Hinds County Circuit Court's interpretation of a contract and the award of damages to W&G and Magnolia Label. Finding error, we reverse and render the circuit court's judgment and award of damages. SUMMARY OF FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY 2. Magnolia...
CARLTON , J. , FOR THE COURT: 1. Arlan Dorman filed suit against Artis Power, Robert and Cynthia Weathersby, Earl Baker, and Sharon Humphries to confirm title and remove cloud on title to two parcels of land. The defendants filed a motion for summary judgment, which the chancellor granted. Dorman now appeals, asserting the following assignments of error: (1) the chancellor erred in granting summary judgment on Dorman's fraud claim as well as the claim of inadequate consideration; (2) to...
LEE , C.J. , FOR THE COURT: 1. Douglas Long sued David Vitkauskas for alienation of affection. The DeSoto County Circuit Court granted Vitkauskas's motion to dismiss, finding insufficient service of process. In this appeal, we must determine whether the trial court properly granted the motion to dismiss. PROCEDURAL HISTORY 2. Long and his wife separated on May 16, 2011. On March 17, 2014, Long sued Vitkauskas for alienation of affection. Vitkauskas, a resident of Pennsylvania, was...
ISHEE , J. , FOR THE COURT: 1. In 2011, Ezell Knight was hospitalized at Tyler Holmes Memorial Hospital (the Hospital) for several months and died in December of that year. Kathryn Knight, on behalf of Ezell and Ezell's beneficiaries, filed a lawsuit in the Montgomery County Circuit Court against the Hospital on February 13, 2013. Kathryn asserted that the Hospital failed to follow proper medical guidelines to treat Ezell and that its failure to do so caused or contributed to Ezell's...
WILSON , J. , FOR THE COURT: 1. Push Phillips was terminated from his position as a deputy sheriff with the Hancock County Sheriff's Department because he left the state for approximately thirty-six to forty-eight hours after Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Hancock County in August 2005. The Civil Service Commission for the Hancock County Sheriff's Department affirmed Sheriff Steve Garber's decision to terminate Phillips, and the Hancock County Circuit Court affirmed the commission's...
LEE , C.J. , FOR THE COURT: 1. In this appeal, we must decide whether the Circuit Court of the First Judicial District of Harrison County erred in dismissing Tremayne Whitlock's complaint for failure to state a claim on which relief can be granted. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY 2. In 2003, Whitlock was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. This Court affirmed his conviction and sentence in Whitlock v. State, 941 So.2d 843 , 846 ( 11) (Miss.Ct.App.2006), and the...
WILSON , J. , FOR THE COURT: 1. Emma Bell ("Emma") and her husband, John Bell ("John"), filed suit against Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's London ("Underwriters"), TAPCO Underwriters Inc. ("TAPCO"), and SouthGroup Insurance and Financial Services ("SouthGroup") after Underwriters denied Emma's claim for property damage related to the collapse of a barn on her land in Port Gibson. Underwriters denied the claim because it concluded that Emma's insurance policy covered only a smaller...
CARLTON , J. , FOR THE COURT: 1. Myrtle Booth, as executor of Gladys Gardner's estate, filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Dr. Steven C. Williams, Southwest Surgical Specialists LLC, and Dr. William N. Dixon d/b/a W.N. Dixon MD, PA (collectively, the Defendants). The Pike County Circuit Court granted the Defendants' motion to dismiss Booth's complaint, and Booth appeals. 2. The critical question before this Court is whether the circuit court abused its discretion by setting aside...
JAMES , J. , for the Court: 1. John Mark Riley Jr. appeals from the trial court's order granting, in part, Betty Merandy Russell Riley's petition for contempt and other relief. Finding no error, we affirm. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY 2. John and Betty were married on April 5, 1996. Four children were born to the marriage. The parties were divorced on July 24, 2006. The judgment of divorce incorporated and ratified a child-custody, child-support, and property-settlement agreement that...
GREENLEE , J. , for the Court: 1. A Lafayette County jury awarded Ausbern Construction Company Inc. a judgment of $182,500 against county engineer Edward Springer for tortious interference with a road-construction contract. Springer appeals. We find that Springer acted within the scope of his responsibility to the County and without bad faith. Because his actions were not "without right or justifiable cause," the element of tortious interference that constitutes malice was not satisfied....
BARNES , J. , for the Court: 1. This appeal involves a premises-liability negligence action filed by Reuben Smartt against IOC-Lula Inc. after he suffered injury from a slip and fall at the Isle of Capri Casino (IOC) in Coahoma County. The property is owned by IOC-Lula Inc. Smartt filed suit, claiming IOC was negligent by failing to provide him with adequate warning of the wet-floor conditions at the casino's buffet. After a trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of Smartt for $251,...
BARNES , J. , for the Court: 1. Laura Lacoste was granted a divorce from Paul Lacoste based on habitual cruel and inhuman treatment. Laura was granted sole custody of the couple's two children, and Paul was ordered to pay rehabilitative alimony and child support. Paul appeals, arguing the chancellor erred in awarding Laura sole physical and legal custody of the children, erred in reducing his visitation schedule, erred in determining child support and alimony, and erred in refusing to...
GRIFFIS , P.J. , for the Court: 1. Bruce Cope, Mary Cope, and Ike Thrash (Cope and Thrash) appeal a judgment against them requiring that they pay Thrasher Construction $69,290 for goods and services provided in waterproofing Inn by the Sea, a condominium in Pass Christian, Mississippi. Cope and Thrash argue that the facts of this case do not support a recovery under the theory of quantum meruit. Thrasher Construction cross-appeals claiming that the county court erred in dismissing its...
IRVING , P.J. , for the Court: 1. In December 1994, a Warren County jury found Patrick J. Higgins guilty of three counts of issuing and delivering bad checks. Subsequently, Higgins was sentenced to three years for each count, to run concurrently in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. However, in 1998, that conviction was reversed and rendered in an unpublished opinion on appeal. Higgins v. State, 708 So.2d 101 (Miss.Ct.App.1998). In February 2012, Higgins filed an...
GRIFFIS , P.J. , for the Court: 1. This appeal arises from the Monroe County Chancery Court's denial of Mississippi Investment Petroleum Company's (MIPCO) motion under Mississippi Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b). Following an arbitration award for Process Technologies Services LLC (PTS) and a final judgment from the chancery court, MIPCO filed a Rule 60(b) motion claiming that PTS acted fraudulently during the arbitration proceedings. The chancery court denied this motion. MIPCO now appeals....
ISHEE , J. , for the Court: 1. In May 2013, Ulysses Conley filed an action against his sister, Mary Francis Wright, in the Carroll County Chancery Court asking the court to set aside deeds and instruments that Wright had recorded in association with land conveyed to her, Conley, and their other siblings through an estate. Wright filed a motion to dismiss the action on the ground that the claim was barred by the statute of limitations. After conducting a hearing on the matter, the chancery...
