Tag: Discovery Rule

Mississippi Court of Appeals Decisions of January 6, 2026

Happy New Year! The Mississippi Court of Appeals wasted no time getting up and running. They kicked the year off with six opinions. Amidst the PCR opinions is a couple of noteworthy tales of caution for litigants pertaining to discovery and appellate procedure.

Seals v. State, 2024-KM-00448-COA (Criminal – Misdemeanor)
Affirming conviction of simple assault, holding that that the evidence was sufficient and that the verdict was not against the overwhelming weight of the evidence.
(8-1-0: Weddle for the Court; Westbrooks concurred in result only without writing; Emfinger did not participate)

Simoneaux v. State, 2024-CP-01127-COA (Civil – PCR)
Affirming dismissal of the petitioner’s fourth PCR motion, holding that the motion was time-barred, successive, and failed to to demonstrate that a statutory exception applies.
(9-0: Weddle for the Court; McCarty did not participate)

Patton v. MDOC, 2024-CA-00699-COA (Civil – Personal Injury)
Affirming dismissal for the plaintiff’s failure to cooperate in discovery, holding that the circuit court did not abuse its discretion dismissing the claim as a sanction for violating the rules of discovery and the court’s order compelling discovery.
(8-2: Emfinger for the Court; Westbrooks and McDonald dissented without writing)

Vasques v. State, 2024-CP-00852-COA (Civil – Other)
Affirming the dismissal of a PCR motion, holding that the circuit court did not err in summarily dismissing the motion as time-barred and that the circuit court’s err in not transferring the motion to the proper venue was harmless because the motion lacked merit.
(7-3-0: McDonald for the Court; Wilson and Weddle concurred in part and in the result without writing’ Emfinger concurred in result only without writing)

Polk v. State, 2025-CP-00260-COA (Civil – PCR)
Affirming dismissal of PCR motions, holding that several of the claims were waived or procedurally barred and that the dismissal was proper because the petitioner raised no challenge to the validity of his guilty plea.
(9-0: McDonald for the Court; Weddle did not participate)

Ford Motor Company v. Bingham, 2024-CA-01056-COA (Civil – Other)
Affirming the circuit court’s judgment granting a motion to dismiss the appeal and awarding attorney’s fees, holding that the appellant did not comply with the cost bond requirement, that the “appeal bond with supersedeas” did not qualify as a cost bond, that the appellant did not demonstrate “extenuating circumstances” to excuse the jurisdictional defect, affirming the award of attorney’s fees, and denying the motion to dismiss the instant appeal.
(10-0: Barnes for the Court)

Other Orders

  • Taylor v. State, 2023-CT-00738-SCT (denying motion to vacate opinion and dismiss appeal and motion for rehearing)
  • Thomas v. State, 2023-CT-01151-COA (denying rehearing)
  • Cooper v. State, 2024-KA-00592-COA (denying rehearing)
  • Ruffin v. State, 2024-CA-00867-COA (denying rehearing)

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Mississippi Supreme Court Decisions of June 27, 2024

The Mississippi Supreme Court handed down three opinions yesterday. The first opinion is a decision about damages following a voided tax sale. The second is an answer to a certified question from the Fifth Circuit asking whether Mississippi law permits workers’ comp policies to be voided ab initio based on a material misrepresentation. The third opinion reviews summary judgment in a med mal case centering on whether the discovery rule applied.

Thoden v. Hallford, 2022-CA-00835-SCT (Civil – Real Property)
Affirming in part and reversing in part the chancellor’s decisions in a case stemming from a voided tax sale of real property, holding that the chancellor correctly determined that the buyer was entitled to a refund of the purchase price of the voided sale plus interest, that the buyer was not entitled to reimbursement for costs incurred on the property, and that the legal owner was entitled to a set-off, but that the chancellor erred by determining that the purchaser was not entitled to taxes paid between the purchase and the voidance.
(7-0: Randolph and Griffis did not participate)

American Compensation Ins. Co. v. Ruiz, 2023-FC-01160-SCT (Civil – Federally Certified Question)
Answering a certified question from the Fifth Circuit, holding that workers’ compensation policies cannot be voided ab initio based on an material misrepresentation by the employer because the MWCA controls, rescission is inconsistent with Section 71-3-77(1), and allowing rescission would go against the express, statutory purpose of the MWCA.
(7-1: Coleman dissented, Randolph did not participate)

NOTE/DISCLOSURE: I represented one of the parties in this case and argued that the common law remedy of voiding a policy ab initio cannot be used to void a workers’ comp policy because of the comprehensive and exclusive nature of the MWCA. This issue had never been addressed by Mississippi courts, so when the carrier appealed the U.S. District Court’s decision granting our motion for summary judgment, the Fifth Circuit submitted a certified question to the Mississippi Supreme Court. This has been one of my favorite cases to handle with an interesting, novel legal issue at its core. Needless to say, I am gratified that the question was answered in my client’s favor despite great lawyering by opposing counsel.

Here is the crux of the Court’s holding:

McNinch v. Brandon Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, L.L.C., 2023-CA-00050-SCT (Civil – Wrongful Death)
Reversing summary judgment in favor of the defendant nursing home and hospital in a med mal case, holding the discovery rule tolled the statute of limitations where suit was filed within two years and sixty-days of when the decedent’s widow received his medical records which were requested with reasonable diligence.
(9-0)

Other Orders

  • In Re: Commission on Continuing Legal Education, 89-R-99011-SCT (reappointing Elizabeth Lee Maron, Robert Michael Tyler, Jr., and Sam H. Buchanan to three-year terms)
  • Archie v. State, 2022-KA-00326-SCT (denying rehearing)
  • Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services v. B.F., 2023-IA-00689-SCT (dismissing interlocutory appeal as moot)

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