Mississippi Supreme Court

The Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed the circuit court's grant of summary judgment for VitalCore, holding that the plaintiff failed to show a genuine issue of material fact that her termination was for refusing to participate in or reporting illegal activity as required by the narrow criminal‑conduct public‑policy…

The Mississippi Supreme Court reversed a circuit court's summary judgment dismissing medical-negligence and wrongful-death claims against Marion General Hospital and three physicians, holding that COVID-19 emergency immunity under Mississippi Code Section 11-71-7 did not bar the claims.

The Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed Jermaine White's convictions for two counts of first-degree murder and one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, the court held a rational jury could find deliberate design where White, the only…

The court affirmed Merrimon's conviction for receiving stolen property and his habitual-offender sentence. It held that the jury instructions, read together, correctly required proof of possession and guilty knowledge; the evidence was legally sufficient to establish both; and the verdict was not against the…

The court affirmed Gregg's convictions for first-degree murder, attempted murder, and tampering with physical evidence, along with her concurrent sentences. It held that the life-imprisonment sentences were authorized and did not constitute juvenile life without parole, that the sentencing court adequately considered…

The court affirmed House’s convictions for manslaughter and aggravated assault. It held that the aggravated-assault evidence was sufficient because House’s deliberate shooting into a large crowd proximately caused the victim’s injury, even though House’s bullet need not have been the one that struck her.

The Court affirmed summary judgment for the Mississippi Department of Revenue, holding that MDOR presented sufficient evidence that it mailed the taxpayers’ assessments to their updated address.

The Mississippi Supreme Court held that Corlexia Carter's medical-negligence claims against UMMC were time barred by the Mississippi Tort Claims Act's one-year limitations period because, under the discovery rule, her own suspicions of negligent conduct — voiced to her mother in the hospital shortly after her January…

The Mississippi Supreme Court, en banc, granted the Mississippi Bar's motion and accepted Jody E. Owens II's irrevocable resignation with prejudice pursuant to Rule 11(a) and Procedure 11.1 of the Rules of Discipline for the Mississippi State Bar, deeming the resignation tantamount to proof of guilt on the matter…

The Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed summary judgment for Dr. Davey-Sullivan on Brown's lack-of-informed-consent and medical-battery claims arising from an episiotomy performed after Brown verbally withdrew her consent during labor.

On writ of certiorari, the Mississippi Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals' determination that insufficient evidence supported a jury verdict in favor of a neurosurgeon and his clinic in a medical-malpractice suit arising from spinal-cord-stimulator surgery that left Mary Upchurch with a spinal hematoma and…

The Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed Joseph Heard's capital-murder conviction and death sentence for the beating death of his wife's two-year-old son, Hayden, rejecting all ten assignments of error. The court held that the waived challenge to Dr.

On writ of certiorari, the Mississippi Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals and reinstated the chancery court's judgment, holding on the sole issue presented that Elizabeth Cleveland has standing to challenge the 2017 tax sale of the Harrison County property where she has lived since the 1980s.

The Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed Elizabeth Bozard's felony-evasion conviction, holding the evidence sufficient under Miss. Code Ann. § 97-9-72(2) because her flight from a traffic stop — a chase up and down I-55 during which she ran a red light, passed vehicles on the shoulder, struck a police cruiser, and…

The Mississippi Supreme Court granted the school board's interlocutory appeal and held that Daryl Moore's quantum meruit and unjust-enrichment claims for alleged unpaid head-coaching stipends were foreclosed by the minutes rule, because no board minute approved a $2,500 head-coaching stipend.

The court affirmed Neal's murder conviction and life sentence, rejecting challenges to the indictment and jury instructions, jury selection, venue, juror conduct, hearsay, ineffective assistance, verdict acceptance, cumulative error, and the sufficiency and weight of the evidence.

The court reversed Ross's capital-murder conviction and death sentence and remanded for a new trial because the trial court improperly excluded a defense witness's statement that materially impeached the State's principal witness without conducting the required discovery-violation hearing.

The opinion addresses Rubenstein's challenges to the admission of hearsay, prior-bad-act and character evidence; jury instructions; confrontation; prosecutorial and judicial conduct; rebuttal and discovery issues; Brady disclosure; expert testimony; and defense requests for testing and counsel withdrawal.

The court held that the arbitration agreement covered Horton's claims and was neither procedurally nor substantively unconscionable. Nevertheless, the defendants waived their right to compel arbitration by waiting eight months to pursue it while actively participating in the litigation.

The Court reversed the denial of Monsanto's motion for summary judgment and rendered judgment dismissing the plaintiffs' asbestos-product-liability claims with prejudice. Applying the frequency, regularity, and proximity standard, the Court held that the plaintiffs lacked sufficient evidence linking Monsanto's actual…

The court affirmed the defense verdict in this wrongful-death medical-malpractice action, holding that the trial court committed no reversible error in admitting the defense expert testimony, permitting the challenged causation theory, allowing the business associate to testify, excluding the expert deposition, or…

The court rejected Walker's challenges to voir dire, the sufficiency and weight of the evidence, the admission of statements and physical evidence, several jury instructions, and sentencing-phase prosecutorial comments.

The Court held that Mississippi's procedure for handling indigent appeals deemed meritless was constitutionally deficient because it required counsel to determine only that the defendant was unlikely to prevail and did not clearly require supplemental merits briefing when an arguable issue appeared.

The Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed Kanynne Jamol Bush's capital murder conviction (underlying felony armed robbery) and his life-without-parole sentence. The court held the motion to suppress his statements to Florida officers was properly denied because his free-and-rational-choice theory was raised for the first…

The court affirmed dismissal of Royer Homes' claims against Chandeleur, holding that the parties' 1998 settlement and release agreement unambiguously released Royer's pending Pike County claims.

The court adopted the amended Rule 702's modified Daubert framework, including trial-court gatekeeping for all scientific, technical, and specialized expert testimony, replacing Mississippi's former Frye standard.

The opinion addresses numerous challenges to Byrom's capital-murder conviction and death sentence, including psychiatric-disclosure requirements, venue, suppression of statements, discovery sanctions, indictment sufficiency, evidentiary rulings, and jury instructions.

The Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed the convictions and consecutive sentences of David Earl King and Nathan Paul King for conspiracy to commit sexual battery, sexual battery, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

The court held that the chancellor did not make the specific findings required to classify and equitably divide the marital estate, requiring reversal and remand of the financial awards.

The court affirmed the chancellor’s application of the child-custody factors and rejected most of the claimed procedural and factual errors. It held, however, that accepting and considering the guardian ad litem’s report without the promised additional hearing prejudiced the parties, requiring a rehearing on permanent…

The court affirmed Snow's convictions for two counts of capital murder and escape and his death sentences. It rejected challenges to the State's peremptory strikes, the denial of mistrial motions, Snow's competency determination, the admission of a crime-scene photograph, the habitual-offender and death-penalty…

The court affirmed Milano’s convictions for capital murder and kidnapping, concluding that the challenged jury instructions and evidentiary rulings did not constitute reversible error.

The court affirmed Conley's capital-murder conviction, life-without-parole sentence, fine, attorney fees, and costs. It held that the indictment's date amendment was formal, the asserted discovery and evidentiary errors were either unpreserved or harmless, and the jury instructions adequately supported the conviction…

The court held that the trial court properly admitted evidence of the parties' prior discussions because the defendants alleged fraudulent inducement, but erred in refusing to enforce the promissory notes because the defendants failed to prove fraud.

The Mississippi Supreme Court held that a successor judge could not vacate the original trial judge’s orders granting a new trial and imposing discovery sanctions when those decisions depended in part on observations made during the trial.

The court reversed summary judgment for Dr. Meeks because the record presented genuine factual disputes about whether he treated the patient as a UMMC employee or as an independent contractor engaged in private practice.

The court affirmed the denial of recusal, the dismissal of the parents' emotional-distress claims, and summary judgment barring punitive damages. It held that the minor's negligent-supervision claim presented genuine factual disputes concerning foreseeability, adequacy of supervision, and proximate causation…

The opinion rejects Hughes's challenges to venue, jury selection, discovery, identification evidence, consent to biological-sample collection, photographic and DNA evidence, evidentiary rulings, and the sufficiency of the evidence, as shown in the portion provided.

The opinion rejects the defendant's challenges to jury impartiality, evidence admission, expert testimony, prosecutorial conduct, post-warning statements, the capital-murder charge, sufficiency of the evidence, sequestration, and the capital-sentencing instruction.

The court affirmed transfer of the action to the county where the contaminated property was located, affirmed dismissal of the negligent-misrepresentation claim against the foreclosing lender, and otherwise reversed the Rule 12(b)(6) dismissals.