Mississippi

Mississippi Auditor Wants Attorney General to Pay Outside Lawyers with Appropriation

Mississippi’s auditor is challenging the state attorney general’s practice of paying outside lawyers directly from litigation. Republican State Auditor Stacy Pickering wants the Mississippi Supreme Court to declare that all funds collected from lawsuits should be turned over to the legislature before paying private counsel, the Associated Press reports. Rather…

Aug 4, 2011 1:25 PM CDT

Neighbor with Record Pleads Guilty in Slaying of White Supremacist Lawyer, Gets 65 Years

A 23-year-old neighbor has taken a plea deal in the April 2010 slaying of white supremacist lawyer Richard Barrett, 67. Originally charged with capital murder, Vincent McGee pleaded guilty today to manslaughter, arson and burglary, the Associated Press reports. He was sentenced to 65 years in prison in the Rankin…

Jul 28, 2011 6:23 PM CDT

Newly Installed Plane Parachute Credited with Saving Lawyer’s Life

A high-profile trial lawyer in Mississippi is alive today thanks to a new parachute system he installed on his private plane. John Farese, 67, of the Farese, Farese & Farese Law Firm, escaped with minor injuries after the engine quit on his Cessna 182, report the Memphis Commercial Appeal, the…

Jun 29, 2011 1:17 PM CDT

Judge Gets Reprimand, $100 Fine for Jailing Lawyer Who Refused to Recite the Pledge

A Mississippi judge who held a lawyer in contempt and jailed him after he refused to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in court will be disciplined. Finding that Chancery Judge Talmadge Littlejohn abused his contempt powers, the Mississippi Supreme Court upheld, in a ruling released yesterday, a Misissippi Commission on…

Jun 10, 2011 10:10 AM CDT

Union Carbide Cites Asbestos Suits by Judge’s Dad in Motion to Overturn Record Verdict

Union Carbide claims a record $322 million asbestos verdict should be overturned because the Mississippi trial judge failed to disclose that his father had filed two asbestos lawsuits. A motion (PDF) filed Wednesday by Union Carbide seeks to overturn the award to Thomas “Tony” Brown Jr., the largest asbestos verdict…

May 19, 2011 3:47 PM CDT

Defense Counsel in Murder Case Is Handcuffed and Jailed for Lunch Hour After Dispute with Judge

Corrected: A lawyer representing the defendant in an ongoing felony murder and child-abuse trial was taken from a Michigan courtroom in handcuffs and jailed over the lunch hour after refusing to comply with what the Jackson Citizen Patriot describes as a judge’s repeated “yelled” instructions to sit down. Attorney George…

May 12, 2011 6:36 PM CDT

Miss. Judge Suspended 30 Days, Without Pay, for Meeting Parties, Lawyers Outside Court

A Mississippi judge has been suspended for 30 days without pay, and will also be reprimanded and fined, for talking with litigants and lawyers outside court. Hinds County Justice Court Judge Houston Patton also allegedly held hearings and made rulings without notifying parties in cases, reports the Clarion Ledger. The…

Mar 31, 2011 8:25 PM CDT

Mississippi Lawsuit Takes on Corporal Punishment of Students, Seeks State Ban on Paddling

A federal lawsuit seeking to have paddling banned in Mississippi claims race and gender unfairly affect how the punishment is applied. While the court contemplates prohibiting the practice permanently, the suit is asking for a preliminary injunction or temporary restraining order to stop paddlings, the Calhoun County Journal reports. “Mississippi…

Mar 9, 2011 9:48 PM CST

Jailed for Life in $11 Robbery, Freed Sisters to Save State Money as 1 Donates Kidney to Other

Jailed for life in Mississippi over an $11 armed robbery, two sisters weren’t scheduled for possible release until 2014. But the state governor brokered their early release in the controversial case, saving Mississippi a lot of money because one sister, Jamie Scott, is on dialysis. Meanwhile, the other, Gladys Scott,…

Dec 30, 2010 6:36 PM CST

Bad Hair Day, But for Whom? Defendant’s Unusual Do Banned from Traffic Court Despite Tone-Down

Bobby Todd normally includes ornaments and lights amongst his signature hairdo of braids and spiked pony tails at this time of year, in honor of the holiday season. But on Friday, because he was headed to traffic court in Southaven, Miss., he didn’t. However, even the toned-down do (which still…

Dec 13, 2010 10:44 PM CST

Miss. School Hopes to Derail Lesbian’s Lawsuit with Bikini Photo

A Mississippi school district is offering new evidence in an effort to win dismissal of a lawsuit filed by a lesbian teen who wore a tuxedo for her senior photo. Ceara Sturgis claims the Copiah County School District illegally discriminated against her on the basis of sex and sex stereotypes…

Dec 10, 2010 11:30 AM CST

Pink Cleats Lawsuit Is On Again After Coach Benches Teen

A Mississippi football player who was kicked off his high school team for wearing pink cleats may sue after all. A verbal settlement agreement called for Coy Sheppard to rejoin the team at Mendenhall High School and give up any damages, but the coach reneged, according to Sheppard’s lawyer, Oliver…

Nov 15, 2010 2:37 PM CST

New Scruggs Book Worth a Read, But Not Because Trial Lawyer Is Interesting, Review Says

Ex-attorney Richard “Dickie” Scruggs isn’t interesting enough to justify having an entire book written about his downfall as a onetime trial lawyer money machine. However, a new book about Scruggs, The Fall of the House of Zeus, is worth a read just the same, for what it says about the…

Nov 3, 2010 11:16 PM CDT

School District Must Pay $81,000 Legal Bill re Teen’s Challenge of Same-Sex Prom Date Ban

Although a high school prom in Mississippi was canceled and Constance McMillen says she was tricked into attending a sham prom after her after she challenged a ban on same-sex dates, McMillen was nonetheless a prevailing plaintiff in a civil rights suit. So a federal judge has ordered the Itawamba…

Oct 26, 2010 10:16 PM CDT

Malpractice Plaintiff Wins $103M Verdict Against Baker & McKenzie

A former client has won a $103 million malpractice verdict against Baker & McKenzie and one of its Dallas lawyers. S. Lavon Evans Jr. had claimed in his Mississippi lawsuit that the law firm had represented him at the same time it represented his partner in an oil-rig drilling business,…

Oct 26, 2010 12:12 PM CDT