CARLSON, Presiding Justice, for the Court. 1. Howard Goodin appeals from the Newton County Circuit Court's denial of his application for post-conviction relief. The circuit court denied Goodin's claims that he was mentally retarded and that he had received ineffective assistance of counsel on the issues of mental illness and competency. After review of the record and pertinent authorities, this Court finds that the circuit court erred in determining that Goodin was not mentally retarded. We...
LAMAR, Justice, for the Court: 1. In this interlocutory appeal, we address whether the Circuit Court of Simpson County erred in ordering Defendants to produce a recorded statement and a privilege log of all documents withheld on the basis of privilege and relevance. We find that the circuit court abused its discretion in ordering Defendants to produce the recorded statement without any analysis of their claim of work-product privilege. Additionally, we find that the circuit court erred by...
KING , Justice , for the Court: 1. In this interlocutory appeal, Ford Motor Company (Ford) wishes to preserve a confidential settlement agreement between it and the Estate and wrongful-death beneficiaries of Brian Cole (the Coles). The case on appeal is a separate action between the Coles, their attorneys, and among the attorneys themselves regarding expenses, a contingency-fee agreement, and a fee-sharing agreement. The chancellor denied Ford's "Motion to Preserve Confidentiality of...
CHANDLER, JUSTICE, FOR THE COURT: 1. An underground culvert system failed and caused a large sinkhole behind the Carraway residence. The culvert system drains Eastover Lake, which is owned by the surrounding property owners (collectively, "the Lake Owner Defendants") and maintained by the Eastover Lake Association (ELA). On October 9, 2006, T.L. Carraway Jr. 1 filed suit against the Lake Owner Defendants and ELA. The Lake Owner Defendants and ELA filed third-party complaints for indemnity...
KING, Justice, for the Court: 1. Vicksburg Chemical Company (VCC) filed for bankruptcy in 2002. Included in its bankruptcy estate was over 500 acres of real property, a portion of which was contaminated. Pursuant to an agreed order, the bankruptcy court allowed VCC to abandon the property and allowed the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) to choose the purchaser. Without the aid of any guidelines or statutory law regarding this process, MDEQ, at the suggestion of the...
ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI DICKINSON, Presiding Justice, for the Court: 1. After the estate of a former resident sued a nursing home for negligent care, the primary insurance carrier employed lawyers to defend the suit. Because the lawyers failed to timely designate an expert witness, the settlement value of the case greatly increased, causing the nursing home's primary carrier to pay its policy limits, and its excess insurance carrier to step in, defend the nursing home, and ultimately...
ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI DICKINSON, Presiding Justice, for the Court: 1. A patient sued his dentist, claiming she negligently administered anesthesia, resulting in pain, swelling, and nerve damage. The trial court granted the dentist a directed verdict because the patient's expert failed to state the applicable standard of care. The Court of Appeals reversed and remanded. Because we find no error in the trial court's decision, we reverse the Court of Appeals' judgment and affirm the trial...
LAMAR, Justice, for the Court: 1. Concerned with the sufficiency of process in multiple paternity and child-support cases, Chancellor D. Neil Harris conducted a hearing in which he found an individual process-server, Guy Jernigan; a notary, Thomas McDonald; and an owner of a process-service company, Edwin Cheshire (collectively, "Defendants"), to be in civil contempt of court for causing the filing of false proof-of-service affidavits. Ten days after the initial contempt hearing, the...
KING, Justice, for the Court: 1. This interlocutory appeal is before the Court from the denial of a motion to dismiss or, alternatively, motion for summary judgment. The Court must decide whether Glen Poppenheimer, a volunteer firefighter, is immune under the Mississippi Tort Claims Act (MTCA) for claims arising from an automobile accident. The county court found that a volunteer fire department is not a government entity for purposes of the MTCA and denied Poppenheimer's motion. 2....
RANDOLPH, Justice, for the Court: 1. Appellants appeal direct criminal contempt orders for failing to serve or improperly serving process on defendants in paternity and child-support proceedings and for notarizing proof-of-service affidavits outside the presence of the affiants. 1 The chancellor initially found Appellants in civil contempt and ordered a sentencing hearing. However, after conducting that hearing, he proceeded to hold all in direct criminal contempt. Appellants submit, and...
DICKINSON, PRESIDING JUSTICE, FOR THE COURT: 1. In 1992, Jeffrey Davis was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. 1 After we affirmed his conviction and sentence on direct appeal, he filed a petition for post-conviction relief, claiming, among other things, that he was denied effective assistance of counsel at the sentencing phase of his trial. Based on the evidence produced by Davis's new counsel — that was available to, but never discovered or produced by, his trial counsel — we...
KING, JUSTICE, FOR THE COURT: 1. Charlotte and Larry Wilson, parents of Crystal Wilson (deceased), filed an action requesting visitation with their grandchildren. The chancellor granted the request. Aggrieved, Stephen Smith, Crystal's former husband, and Melissa LuAnn Smith, Stephen's current wife, appeal the chancellor's decision and challenge the constitutionality of Mississippi's grandparent-visitation statutes. The Smiths raise four issues on appeal: I. Whether sections 93-16-3-(1) and...
DICKINSON, PRESIDING JUSTICE, FOR THE COURT: 1. Today we address the constitutionality of direct appeals from the Workers' Compensation Commission ("Commission") to this Court. We hold that they are constitutional, and that this Court has appellate jurisdiction over direct appeals from the Commission. BACKGROUND 2. A 2011 amendment to Section 71-3-51 provides that, "from and after July 1, 2011," decisions of the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission may be appealed directly to...
CARLSON, PRESIDING JUSTICE, FOR THE COURT: 1. Henry Morgan, Sr., filed a personal-injury suit against eighty-eight defendants, claiming injuries related to silicosis. Morgan, Sr., died while the personal-injury case was pending, and the case eventually was dismissed. More than three years after Morgan, Sr.'s death, his son, Henry Morgan, Jr., filed a wrongful-death suit individually and on behalf of all wrongful-death beneficiaries of Morgan, Sr. The defendants filed a motion for summary...
RANDOLPH, Justice, for the Court: 1. In 1993, AT & T Corporation 1 and affiliate corporations (collectively, "AT & T") filed an affiliated group, Mississippi income tax return with the Mississippi Department of Revenue f/k/a Mississippi State Tax Commission ("Commission"), using the statutorily-permissible "combined method" of reporting. See Miss.Code Ann. 27-7-37(2)(a)(ii) (amended by Laws of 2004, ch. 371, 1, effective January 1, 2004). But from 1994 to 1996, AT & T filed its...
RANDOLPH, Justice, for the Court: 1. Parham Pointe North, LLC ("Parham") and K. Wayne Rice & Associates ("Rice") together appeal ("the Parham appeal"), and Ballard Realty Company ("Ballard") separately appeals, (collectively "Defendants") a decision from the Hinds County Circuit Court awarding damages of $3,603,712 to apartment-complex tenants for loss of intellectual property and personal injuries arising from claims that the Defendants were negligent in maintaining and/or repairing a...
LAMAR, Justice, for the Court: 1. Edna Phillips filed suit against Tich K. Huynh, d/b/a Elegant Nails Salon, in the Circuit Court of Simpson County, asserting negligence in operation, negligence in maintenance, and gross negligence against Elegant Nails based upon a corneal abrasion Phillips allegedly sustained when "something" hit her in the eye while she was having acrylic nails applied at Elegant Nails. Elegant Nails twice moved for summary judgment and twice was denied; we granted...
PIERCE, Justice, for the Court: 1. Three death-row inmates, Robert Simon, Rodney Gray, and Benny Stevens, along with the groups, Mississippians Educating for Smart Justice and Mississippi CURE, Inc. (collectively, the petitioners) filed a complaint in the Hinds County Circuit Court, seeking a writ of mandamus, injunctive relief, and/or a declaratory judgment against the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC). 1 The complaint alleged that the MDOC's newly-adopted execution protocol was...
CARLSON, Presiding Justice, for the Court: 1. Dwight Robinson filed suit against Bailey Lumber & Supply Company for injuries and damages he allegedly sustained as a result of a fall on Bailey Lumber's premises. A trial was held in Hinds County Circuit Court, First Judicial District, and a jury returned a general verdict in favor of Robinson in the amount of $1,500,000. The trial court reduced the award to $1,070,341.42 in economic and noneconomic damages. Aggrieved, Bailey Lumber filed this...
DICKINSON, Presiding Justice, for the Court: 1. For four years, Precision Welding, Inc., a subcontractor, provided construction services to Denbury Onshore, LLC, under an oral agreement. Denbury — claiming its contract with Precision was terminable at will — terminated the relationship in 2006. Precision filed suit, claiming Denbury had breached its obligation to keep Denbury on the job until the completion of the project. A jury found for Precision and awarded it $1,500,000 in damages. But...
