The Mississippi Supreme Court handed down two decisions today. One in an interlocutory appeal of a denial of a motion to dismiss a 1983/HIPAA suit against a hospital and the other is a termination of parental right case.
Greenwood Leflore Hospital v. Boykin, 2023-IA-00820-SCT (Civil – Other)
Reversing the trial court’s denial of the hospital’s motion to dismiss a § 1983 suit alleging that the hospital intentionally withheld the plaintiff’s medical records which in turn deprived her of access to courts by preventing her from filing a med mal suit, holding that the plaintiff’s failure to file a brief constituted a confession of reversible error and then addressing the merits and holding that the plaintiff could not use § 1983 to enforce a federal statute (HIPAA) that does not give her an individual right.
(7-2-0: Coleman concurred in part and in the result; Randolph concurred in result only)
Practice Point – File a brief.
Note – Justice Coleman’s short concurrence took issue with the Court’s decision to address the merits after finding that the failure to file a brief constituted confession of reversible error. I thought this concurrence was interesting in light of appellate courts’ occasional habit of deciding that arguments “also meritless” after deciding dispositive issues that do not reach the merits such as an argument is waived or time-barred. Here is the concurrence:
X.G.C. v. Jackson County Department of Child Protection Services, 2023-CA-00138-SCT (Civil – Custody)
Affirming the chancellor’s decision terminating parental rights, holding that the court did not err in terminating parental rights and that the record supported the Court’s finding that the statutory requirements of § 93-15-115 and § 93-14-119 were satisfied.
(9-0)
Other Orders
- Black v. State, 2022-CT-01223-SCT (denying cert)
- Sinquefield v. City of Ridgeland, 2022-CT-01276-SCT (denying cert)
- Carr v. State, 2023-DR-00503-SCT (staying matter until April 16, 2025, to allow the State to return to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi and move to lift the stay and for any other appropriate relief)
- Haley v. Brewer, 2023-CT-00571-SCT (denying cert)
- McGee v. McGee, 2023-CA-00695-SCT (denying rehearing)
- In Re: Administrative Orders of the Supreme Court of Mississippi, 2025-AD-00001-SCT (directing the disbursement of $213,407.18 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 