I was out of town Thursday and Friday doing fun things with my family and summarizing hand downs didn’t fit the agenda. Without further delay, here are summaries of the four decisions the Mississippi Supreme Court handed down while I was out. There is a wrongful death/premises liability decision, a direct appeal of a murder conviction, and two real property contract decisions.
Deepak Jasco, LLC v. Palmer, 2021-IA-00702-SCT (Civil – Wrongful Death)
Reversing the denial of summary judgment in a premises liability case, holding that the plaintiff did not prove that the owner and operator of a convenience store adjacent to a lot where the plaintiff’s decedent was found stabbed and killed had actual or constructive knowledge that an atmosphere of violence existed on the premises.
(5-4-0: Maxwell concurred in part and in the result, joined by Randolph and Beam)
NOTE – Here is the crux of the Court’s analysis:
Anderson v. State, 2022-KA-00007-SCT (Criminal – Felony)
Affirming conviction of murder, holding that the trial court did not err by refusing an excusable homicide instruction based on heat of passion or by admitting evidence of the defendant’s prior bad act of using methamphetamine just before the shooting and for several days before where the defendant himself testified that he was high on meth when he shot his grandmother and it was relevant to his state of mind and motive.
(9-0)
Sel Business Services, LLC v. Lord, 2021-CT-00368-SCT (Civil – Real Property)
Affirming in part and reversing in part the chancellor’s grant of summary judgment in favor of a property owner who made an oral agreement to sell to one buyer but then sold to someone else, holding that while the statute of frauds barred the claim for specific performance the would-be buyer still had other equitable remedies available.
(9-0)
NOTE – The decisions specifically overruled Barriffe v. Estate of Nelson, 153 So. 3d 613 (Miss. 2014):
Luxe Homes, LLC v. Brewer, 2022-IA-00132-SCT (Civil – Contract)
Reversing the chancellor’s denial of a motion to transfer venue, holding that the terms of a venue provision in the contract between the parties were unambiguous, mandatory, and enforceable and that the transferred to the circuit court of the venue county even though the suit sought specific performance of a real estate contract.
(7-2-0: Kitchens and King concurred in result only without separate written opinion)
Other Orders
$153,340 v. State, 2020-CT-01409-SCT (cert denied)
Wilson v. City of Greenville, 2021-CT-00316-SCT (cert denied)
Johnson v. State, 2021-CT-00571-SCT (cert denied)
Mississippi Appeals Blog 