The Mississippi Court of Appeals handed down six opinions today with a little something for everybody. There are two real-property decisions, two PCR denials, one criminal conviction affirmed, and an MTCA/12(b)(6) decision.
DeSoto County v. Vinson, 2021-CA-00122-COA (Civil – Real Property/Division of Subdivision Lot)
Affirming the circuit court’s decision reversing a DeSoto County Board of Supervisors decision regarding the division of a subdivision lot into two separate residential lots, holding that the circuit court did not err in ruling that the properly owner should resubmit an application to divide property with written approval of “adversely affected” and “directly interested” parties or proceed under section 19-27-31 in chancery court.
(All judges concurred)
Land v. Land, 2021-CA-00402-COA (Civil – Real Property/Partition of Property)
Affirming the chancellor’s denial of complaint for partition, holding that chancellor did not err in ruling that the residential property claimed as homestead property by one party could only be partitioned by written agreement of the parties and could not be involuntarily partitioned by chancery court decree.
(All judges concurred)
Bridges v. State, 2020-CA-00816-COA (Civil – PCR)
Affirming the circuit court’s denial of a motion for post-conviction relief, holding that the circuit court did not err in finding that there was insufficient evidence to prove that the second PCR motion satisfied a statutory exemption to procedural bars and that the evidence did not show good cause for failing to provide additional affidavits.
(Judge Westbrooks concurred in part and in result, joined by Judge McDonald and Judge Lawrence, and joined in part by Judge McCarty)
Jackson v. State, 2021-KA-00292-COA (Criminal – Felony)
Affirming conviction of sexual battery and filming a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct and a sentence to serve consecutive terms of thirty years and forty years, holding that there were no arguable issues for appeal based upon a Lindsey brief and the Court’s independent review of the record.
(All judges concurred)
Horton v. State, 2021-CP-00383-COA (Civil – PCR)
Affirming the circuit court’s denial of a PCR motion, holding that the circuit court did not err in ruling that the sentence was not unconstitutional and that his confession was voluntary.
(All judges concurred)
J.D. v. McComb School District, 2020-CA-00022-COA (Civil – Personal injury/Civil Procedure/12(b)(6))
Reversing the circuit court’s ruling granting the defendant’s motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, holding that the plaintiff’s allegations that a minor was attacked at school and that the school district had knowledge of similar conduct by the attacker and breached its ministerial duty to use ordinary care and to take reasonable steps to minimize foreseeable risk to the plaintiff.
(Judge Smith dissented, joined by Judge Greenlee and Judge Lawrence and joined in part by Judge Emfinger)
Practice Point: In footnote 6, the majority opinion addressed and rejected the dissent’s argument that the plaintiff should have included additional details regarding the alleged prior conduct of the attacker, summarizing the liberal pleading requirements of Rule 8:
Other Orders
None
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