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,...
