ISHEE , JUSTICE , FOR THE COURT: 1. Dalton Trigg and his father, Dr. Stephen Trigg, sued Dalton's former criminal-defense attorney, Steven Farese Sr., alleging professional malpractice. The Lafayette County Circuit Court held that the claims were premature because Dalton had not yet secured postconviction relief from the underlying conviction, and it dismissed the complaint without prejudice. 2. This case presents the question of whether a convicted criminal may sue his former defense...
COLEMAN , JUSTICE , FOR THE COURT: 1. While recovering from surgery at Memorial Hospital at Gulfport, eighty-nine-year-old Lautain Scruggs fell after getting out of her hospital bed. Scruggs suffered a head injury (subdural hematoma) that required almost immediate surgery. Testimony at trial established that the previously independent Scruggs never recovered fully from the head injury sustained when she fell. Several years later, Scruggs died; her death was unrelated to the head injury....
ISHEE , JUSTICE , FOR THE COURT: 1. These consolidated appeals involve two separate circuit-court actions (one an appeal from justice court) that were consolidated after one of the circuit-court actions was transferred to the chancery court. Sadie Tillman contested the transfer by filing a motion to reconsider in the circuit court. But the circuit court took several months to rule on the motion. When it finally did, the circuit court denied Tillman's motion to reconsider, and Tillman...
BEAM , JUSTICE , FOR THE COURT: 1. This appeal stems from the Hinds County Circuit Court's decision to dismiss the plaintiff's claims with prejudice. The circuit court entered its decision after finding that Appellant Victor May willfully concealed his past injuries and accidents, significantly prejudicing the defendants' ability to proceed with their case. After reviewing the circuit court's decision for an abuse of discretion, we find that the circuit court did not err in finding that...
CHAMBERLIN , JUSTICE , FOR THE COURT: 1. In 2005, the State of Mississippi filed suit against more than eighty prescription drug manufacturers alleging, among other things, that each committed common-law fraud and violations of the Mississippi Consumer Protection Act. The allegations, which will be more thoroughly discussed, focused on whether the prescription-drug manufacturers inflated reported prices, which caused the Mississippi Division of Medicaid ("Mississippi Medicaid") to...
BEAM , JUSTICE , FOR THE COURT: 1. This appeal stems from a judgment of the Tippah County Chancery Court to set aside inter vivos gifts made by Sheila West. 2. Acting through a durable power of attorney granted by her mother, Dorothy Johnson, Sheila West removed her brother's, niece's, and nephew's names from certificates of deposit (CDs) originally created by Dorothy Johnson, and replaced them with her own name and the names of her two daughters. Sheila's brother, Ron Johnson,...
MAXWELL , JUSTICE , FOR THE COURT: 1. In High v. Kuhn, 191 So.3d 113 (Miss. 2016) ( High I ), we reversed and rendered the judgment of the special court of eminent domain, specifically finding the plaintiffs, Todd and Angela Kuhn, were not entitled to condemn Cheryl High's property for a private road. The statutory procedures governing eminent-domain actions permit a defendant like High to recover expenses — including attorney's fees — when "the judgment be that the plaintiff is...
CHAMBERLIN , Justice . 1. L.B.C. appeals the Forrest County Youth Court's requirement that he register as a sex offender. All of the issues in this appeal arise from this requirement. After review, we affirm the youth court's judgment. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY 2. In December 2015, L.B.C. sexually battered two six-year-old girls. L.B.C. admitted to sexually penetrating the two victims with his fingers. At the time, L.B.C. was fourteen years old. 3. Initially, L.B.C. was charged as...
BEAM , JUSTICE , FOR THE COURT: 1. Terry Pitchford was convicted of capital murder in February 2006 in the Grenada County Circuit Court and sentenced to death. This Court affirmed his conviction and sentence on direct appeal. See Pitchford v. State, 45 So.3d 216 (Miss. 2010). Pitchford thereafter filed a motion for leave to proceed in the trial court with a petition for post-conviction relief (PCR), arguing inter alia he had not received a competency hearing in violation of Rule 9....
WALLER , CHIEF JUSTICE , FOR THE COURT: 1. On March 17, 2014, Douglas Michael Long Jr. filed suit against Pennsylvania resident David J. Vitkauskas for alienation of affections. Vitkauskas entered a special appearance and then filed a motion to dismiss for, inter alia, insufficient service of process under Mississippi Rule of Civil Procedure 4(c)(5). The trial court granted Vitkauskas's motion to dismiss on the ground of insufficient service of process, and the Court of Appeals affirmed....
WALLER , CHIEF JUSTICE , FOR THE COURT: 1. This cause is before the Court on Joseph Patrick Brown's Motion for Leave to Invoke Discovery and Seek Access Orders in the Circuit Court. For the following reasons, this Court finds that said motion is not well-taken and should be denied. FACTS & PROCEDURAL HISTORY 2. Brown was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death in 1994, and his conviction and sentence were affirmed by this Court in 1996. Brown v. State, 682 So.2d 340 (...
MAXWELL , JUSTICE , FOR THE COURT: 1. If a plaintiff files a civil lawsuit, then fails to pursue it, the trial court or defendant may move to dismiss for failure to prosecute. 1 A plaintiff's delay alone may warrant dismissal if the trial court finds lesser sanctions would not suffice. 2 Here, Shelia Regan filed her first medical-malpractice claim against South Central Regional Medical Center in 2005. Three lawsuits, two appeals, and more than ten years later, there has still been no...
MAXWELL , JUSTICE , FOR THE COURT: 1. This is an interlocutory appeal of the denial of summary judgment. The circuit court ruled Enoch Oliver could proceed to trial with his malicious-prosecution claim against University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) and two of its law-enforcement officers, Syrone McBeath and David Stewart. But after de novo review, we disagree. 2. As a matter of law, malice-based torts do not fall under the Mississippi Tort Claims Act's sovereign-immunity...
MAXWELL , JUSTICE , FOR THE COURT: 1. Groundworx, LLC, appeals the judgment dismissing Groundworx's breach-of-contract action against the City of Hattiesburg. We review this judgment de novo, employing the same standard as the trial court. Taking Groundworx's allegations as true, we will affirm dismissal only if it appears beyond doubt that Groundworx will be unable to prove any set of facts to support its claim. 2. After reviewing the contract between Groundworx and the City, which...
RANDOLPH , PRESIDING JUSTICE , FOR THE COURT: 1. Laser Line Construction Company, LLC, ("Laser Line") purchased statutory workers' compensation insurance coverage from the Builders and Contractors Association of Mississippi ("BCAM") Self Insurers' Fund. Because Laser Line was a general contractor, BCAM sought premium payments for all employees of Laser Line's subcontractors who did not independently secure workers' compensation coverage. Laser Line refused to pay premiums for employees of...
RANDOLPH , PRESIDING JUSTICE , FOR THE COURT: 1. Kelvin Ashford was indicted, tried, and found guilty by a Tate County jury on eight counts of sexual battery and two counts of fondling. Aggrieved by the judgment of conviction and resulting sentence, Ashford appeals. Finding no error, we affirm. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY 2. According to N.W., 1 her aunt, Marjorie Willie, had an on-again, off-again relationship with Kelvin Ashford 2 for N.W.'s entire life. N.W. and Marjorie were...
MAXWELL , JUSTICE , FOR THE COURT: 1. Under our civil discovery rules, a party who fails to attend his own properly noticed deposition may be sanctioned — up to dismissal of his case. 1 Here, the plaintiff in a will contest intentionally skipped out on his deposition. This prompted the chancellor to grant the defendant's motion for sanctions, dismissing the will contest. While this sanction was harsh, it was within the chancellor's discretion to impose. We thus affirm. Background Facts...
ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI DICKINSON , PRESIDING JUSTICE , FOR THE COURT: 1. A provision in a lease stated that upon the lessor's death, the lessor's rights — primarily the right to receive lease payments — transferred to the lessor's daughter, who was not a party to the lease. The lessor died, and the question presented under the facts of this case is whether the provision of the lease or the provisions of the lessor's will determine the owner of the lease payments. We granted certiorari...
BEAM , JUSTICE , FOR THE COURT: 1. Rita McIntosh appeals from the Rankin County Circuit Court's judgment affirming the Mississippi Real Estate Commission's disciplinary order against McIntosh, finding that McIntosh had engaged in "improper dealing." According to the order, McIntosh, as exclusive agent of the seller, interjected herself into the lender's appraiser selection process and then tried to keep the selected appraiser from completing the appraisal assignment. The Commission...
BEAM , JUSTICE , FOR THE COURT: 1. This interlocutory appeal arises from the registration of an Ohio-issued divorce decree in the Lee County Chancery Court and a subsequent petition for modification by the obligee, a Mississippi resident. Asserting the continuing and exclusive jurisdiction of the Ohio court in matters involving the modification and alteration of the decree, the obligor-father appeals the chancery court's denial of his motion to dismiss the obligee-mother's complaint for...
