Justia Government & Administrative Law Opinion Summaries

Articles Posted in Supreme Court of Mississippi
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The case involves the Mississippi Division of Medicaid and the Women’s Pavilion of South Mississippi, PLLC. Women's Pavilion, a physician-owned OBGYN clinic, challenged Mississippi Division of Medicaid's calculation of the "encounter rate," a set amount of money per visit by a Medicaid patient. Medicaid set the clinic’s encounter rate at $157.94, which was partially based on the compensation of the five physician owners of the clinic.Women’s Pavilion appealed this decision and requested an administrative hearing. The hearing officer evaluated whether Medicaid’s initial decision was supported by substantial evidence, affirming the reimbursement rate. However, Women’s Pavilion appealed again, arguing that the hearing officer applied the wrong standard of review.The Hinds County Chancery Court agreed with Women’s Pavilion, holding that the hearing officer should have made his own findings of fact and determinations of the issues presented, rather than merely evaluating whether Medicaid’s initial decision was supported by substantial evidence. The court vacated Medicaid’s final decision and remanded the matter back to Medicaid.The Mississippi Division of Medicaid appealed to the Supreme Court of Mississippi. The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the Hinds County Chancery Court, stating that the hearing officer had erred by applying the standard of review for courts reviewing a final administrative decision, rather than following Medicaid’s own administrative rules governing provider appeals. The case was remanded back to Medicaid for further proceedings under the proper standard of review. View "Mississippi Division of Medicaid v. Women's Pavilion of South Mississippi, PLLC" on Justia Law

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In this case, the Supreme Court of Mississippi affirmed the trial court's dismissal of a case brought by John E. Federinko against Forrest County and its coroner, Butch Benedict, Jr. Federinko, the father of Alison Dawkins, disagreed with the findings of the county's investigation into his daughter's death by suicide. He argued that the county had a ministerial duty to perform an autopsy and to obtain postmortem blood and vitreous fluids, which they had failed to do. His subsequent private autopsy suggested that his daughter's death may have been a homicide.The court, however, ruled that Forrest County had no duty to perform an autopsy and did not breach any duty to obtain or attempt to obtain postmortem blood and fluids. They found that even if Federinko's suspicions were correct and his daughter's death was not a suicide, that would not change the county's obligations. The court concluded that Federinko failed to allege a tortious act, rendering the issue of discretionary-function immunity moot. Therefore, the trial court's denial of Federinko's motion for partial summary judgment, as well as its grant of Forrest County's motion for summary judgment and subsequent dismissal of the case, were affirmed. View "Federinko v. Forrest County, Mississippi" on Justia Law

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The case involves Toolpushers Supply Co., a Wyoming-based company with a retail location in Mississippi that sells supplies and items used in the oil-and-gas industry. In 2016, the Mississippi Department of Revenue (MDOR) audited Toolpushers’ sales and concluded that the company owed an additional $124,728 based on the failure to remit sales tax on certain sales. Toolpushers considered these sales wholesale and thus tax-exempt, but the MDOR determined they were not qualified as wholesale. Toolpushers appealed to the MDOR’s Board of Review, which affirmed the decision. The company then appealed to the Mississippi Board of Tax Appeals, which also affirmed. Toolpushers continued to appeal to the Hinds County Chancery Court, First Judicial District, and both Toolpushers and the MDOR sought summary judgment. The chancellor denied Toolpushers’ motion and granted the MDOR’s. Toolpushers then appealed to the Supreme Court of Mississippi.The Supreme Court of Mississippi stated that the chancery court correctly applied the de novo standard of review. The Supreme Court affirmed the decisions of the Court of Appeals and the chancery court, which in turn affirmed the MDOR’s decision. The Supreme Court agreed with the chancery court that Toolpushers could not establish its claim that the sales were wholesale. The court emphasized that the amended Mississippi Code Section 27-77-7(5) made it clear that the chancery court should give no deference to the decision of the Board of Tax Appeals, the Board of Review, or the Department of Revenue when trying the case de novo and conducting a full evidentiary judicial hearing on all factual and legal issues raised by the taxpayer. The court declared that the Court of Appeals' decision to discuss and apply caselaw addressing the pre-2015 version of Section 27-65-77, seemingly giving deference to the MDOR’s tax decision, was an error but was not reversible. View "Toolpushers Supply Co. v. Mississippi Department of Revenue" on Justia Law

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The Supreme Court of Mississippi examined whether a school district was entitled to funds recovered by a county from the bankruptcy proceedings of a delinquent taxpayer. The taxes, if collected normally, would have been used to fund the school district. However, the county board of supervisors had anticipated the delinquency and adjusted the levy of ad valorem taxes to compensate, ensuring the school district did not experience a shortfall. The school district argued it was entitled to its original portion of the recovered bankruptcy funds, but the county claimed that this would result in a double recovery outside the statutory scheme for public school funding. The Supreme Court of Mississippi found in favor of the county, ruling that the recovery of delinquent taxes through bankruptcy proceedings is outside the statutory funding scheme for public school districts in Mississippi. The court found that the school district was not entitled to receive delinquent taxes recovered years later in bankruptcy proceedings and reversed and remanded the lower court's award to the school district. View "Clarke County, Mississippi v. Quitman School District" on Justia Law

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In Mississippi, Jackson Sales & Storage Co. (JSSC), a subsidiary of National Presto Industries, was granted an annual exemption from ad valorem property taxes by Hinds County for almost forty years. This exemption was based on a free-port-warehouse license issued to JSSC by the State Tax Commission in 1981. In 2019, however, Hinds County denied the exemption and assessed JSSC back taxes for 2012-18, arguing JSSC lacked the requisite free-port-warehouse license. JSSC sought relief in Hinds County Circuit Court, which held that JSSC’s license remained valid and in effect since 1981 and was not subject to renewal. The Circuit Court also ruled that JSSC owed no taxes for 2012-19. On appeal, the Supreme Court of Mississippi partially affirmed and partially reversed the lower court's ruling. The Supreme Court agreed that JSSC's license was valid since 1981 and that JSSC owed no taxes for 2012-18. However, the Supreme Court disagreed with the lower court’s finding that the license wasn’t subject to renewal and that JSSC owed no taxes for 2019. The Supreme Court held that the county could require JSSC to renew its license and that JSSC owes Hinds County the remaining $290,724.52 in ad valorem taxes for 2019. The court clarified that moving forward, the board of supervisors has discretion over whether it grants JSSC an exemption and over the period of time that exemption is in effect. View "Stokes v. Jackson Sales & Storage Co" on Justia Law

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Jackson Federation of Teachers (JFT) filed a complaint against the Jackson Public School District (JPS), alleging alleged that certain JPS policies violated the free speech rights of its employees. The trial court: (1) denied JPS’s motion to dismiss for lack of standing; (2) denied JPS’s motion to dismiss for mootness; (3) found that JPS’s three policies were in violation of article 3, section 11, and article 3, section 13, of the Mississippi Constitution; and (4) issued a permanent injunction enjoining JPS from enforcing the policies. JPS timely appealed. Because JFT failed to establish standing, the Mississippi Supreme Court reversed the trial court’s decision and rendered judgment in favor of JPS. View "Jackson Public School District v. Jackson Federation of Teachers, et al." on Justia Law

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The Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Commission imposed a $1,000 sanction against an employer’s attorney for submitting misleading documentation to an Administrative Judge (AJ). The Court of Appeals affirmed the sanction and the Commission’s award of permanent disability benefits to the employee. On certiorari review, the Luisiana Supreme Court agreed with the Court of Appeals that the sanction should have been affirmed. View "Howard Industries, Inc. v. Hayes" on Justia Law

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Child Protection Services (CPS) petitioned to terminate the parental rights of both parents of three minor children who were sexually abused by their father. The mother, S.F., objected and argued that she should not lose her parental rights. The trial court granted CPS’s petition and terminated the rights of both parents. S.F. appealed. The Mississippi Supreme Court found that through the totality of the circumstances and the evidence presented to the youth court satisfied the grounds for termination. Because S.F. lacked protective capacity toward her children, the youth court did not err by finding clear and convincing evidence that termination was appropriate. As such, the Court affirmed. View "S.F. v. Lamar County Department of Child Protection Services, et al." on Justia Law

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This appeal stemmed from the Mississippi Legislature’s passing and the Governor’s signing of House Bill 1020. The catalyst for the Legislature’s passing of House Bill 1020 was described as the “sweltering, undisputed and suffocating” crime problem in Jackson, Mississippi—a problem that has “crippled the criminal justice system.” While political and social controversy surrounded this bill, the bulk of the bill’s provisions, which are aimed at improving public safety and bolstering judicial resources in Jackson, were not at issue. Section 1 of House Bill 1020, directed the Mississippi Supreme Court’s Chief Justice to appoint four additional (and unelected) circuit judges to the existing Seventh Circuit Court District—the district comprised of the City of Jackson and all of Hinds County—for a term ending December 31, 2026. The second challenged provision, Section 4 of House Bill 1020, was a more ambitious endeavor that created a new statutory inferior court, much like a municipal court, to serve the CCID. Petitioners, and Jackson residents, Ann Saunders, Sabreen Sharrief, and Dorothy Triplett (collectively, Saunders) claimed both provisions violated Mississippi’s Constitution. The Hinds County Chancellor J. Dewayne Thomas, who held hearings on Saunders’s challenges, disagreed and dismissed her complaint. Saunders appealed. After review, the Supreme Court agreed with the chancellor that the creation of the CCID inferior court in Section 4 of House Bill 1020 was constitutional. But the Court agreed with Saunders that Section 1’s creation of four new appointed “temporary special circuit judges” in the Seventh Circuit Court District for a specified, almost-four-year term violated the State Constitution’s requirement that circuit judges be elected for a four-year term. View "Saunders, et al. v. Mississippi" on Justia Law

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Defendant Alex Herrgott, was driving a four-seat Polaris all-terrain vehicle at night down a gravel road when he “overcorrected” trying to avoid a pothole. The ATV overturned, and Joseph MacNabb, a passenger, was severely injured. Since MacNabb was a state employee in the course and scope of his employment, he received workers’ compensation benefits from the Mississippi State Agencies Self-Insured Workers’ Compensation Trust. The Trust later initiated this litigation in an attempt to recover more than $300,000 in benefits paid for MacNabb’s injury. The circuit court ultimately granted summary judgment to Herrgott because the Trust’s Mississippi Rule of Civil Procedure 30(b)(6) representative could not articulate a legal theory entitling it to recover. The Mississippi Supreme Court found there was sufficient evidence of Herrgott’s negligence for the case to go to trial, and the deposition testimony of a lay witness should not have bound the Trust as to which legal theories it could pursue. The Supreme Court therefore reversed the summary judgment and remanded the case for trial. View "Mississippi State Agencies Self-Insured Workers' Compensation Trust v. Herrgott" on Justia Law