The Mississippi Supreme Court handed down one opinion today but it is not an insignificant day. The opinion is in an MTCA reckless disregard case stemming from a police officer who crashed into a bystander vehicle while crossing an intersection en route to another accident scene. The trial court found for the City after a bench trial, the Court of Appeals reversed, and the Supreme Court granted cert.
Phillips v. City of Oxford, 2021-CT-00639-SCT (Civil – Personal Injury/MTCA)
Reversing the COA and reinstating/affirming the circuit court’s judgment for the City, holding that the record contained sufficient evidence to support the trial court’s decision that the officer did not act in reckless disregard while responding to a rollover wreck when he struck a bystander vehicle while crossing an intersection and exceeding the speed limit but also where he had his lights and sirens on and, when approaching intersections, he slowed his speed and used his horn as an additional warning.
(6-2: Kitchens dissented, joined by King. Maxwell did not participate.)
NOTE – This opinion emphasized the “deferential standard of review” for a bench trial under the MTCA and the fact that “reckless disregard” is an “extremely high bar” that is a higher standard than gross negligence.
Other Orders
In Re: Commission on Mandatory Continuing Legal Education, 89-R-99011-SCT (Reappointing George Scott Luter, Richard W. Sliman, and John Dickson Mayo to three-year terms (Aug. 1, 2023, through July 31, 2026) as members of the Commission on Mandatory Continuing Legal Education)
Colburn v. State, 2021-CT-00865 (denying cert)
In Re: Administrative Orders of the Supreme Court of Mississippi, 2023-AD-000001-SCT (Directing the disbursement of $179,389.36 in civil legal assistance funds among the MS Center for Legal Services, MS Volunteer Lawyers Project, and North MS Rural Legal Services)
Mississippi Appeals Blog 