Regular readers of this blog know about my prior criticisms of the expected rate of investment return assumption in the Mississippi Public Employees Retirement System. Here are my prior posts. A Wall Street Journal opinion by former hedge fund manager Andy Kessler calls pension funds’ (like PERS) investment return assumption a fantasy that will leave … Continue Reading
The Clarion-Ledger printed this story this morning by Miss. Business Journal writer Clay Chandler. The story covers the status of the non-economic damages caps debate following the 5th Circuit upholding the caps in Sears v. Learmonth. The story extensively quoted MC Law School Professor Matt Steffey: “The Mississippi Supreme Court is not by anyway bound … Continue Reading
When I wrote last week that I would comment later on the Fifth Circuit upholding Mississippi’s damages cap in Sears v. Learmonth, I hoped that the intervening days would fuel inspiration on the topic. They haven’t. I don’t have much to say. The Fifth Circuit’s opinion was about what you would expect from an opinion … Continue Reading
The Mississippi Business Journal broke the story today that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Mississippi’s legislative caps on non-economic damages. Here is the Court’s opinion in Sears v. Learmonth, courtesy of MBJ. I will have commentary on the decision in the coming days… Continue Reading
The Senate bill that sought to abolish the alienation of affection cause of action is dead. Randy Wallace has the story on his blog. Theoretically, the Mississippi Supreme Court could still strike the action on legal grounds such as the murky causation and damages elements of an alienation of affection claim. But no one expects … Continue Reading
Mississippi Senate Bill No. 2376 is a proposal to abolish Mississippi’s fairly ridiculous alienation of affection cause of action: Section 1. The tort of alienation of affection is abolished, and no cause of action shall lie thereon at the suit of any party. Section 2 would make the bill effective on July 1, 2013. My Take: This … Continue Reading
Last week the Clarion-Ledger reported on Mississippi Democrats taking a hard line against any changes to the State’s Public Employee Retirement System (PERS). To be clear, the Democrats’ apparent strategy is not to challenge Republicans’ plans for modifications to PERS with a different plan. Instead, Democrats argue that PERS isn’t in trouble. The Democrats may … Continue Reading
I’m still mostly on a blog sabbatical, but here is a good article I saw this weekend related to one of my pet topics: PERS. The author is John Mauldin, who is a deep thinker on financial topics. The article attacks the 8% investment assumption that Mississippi and many other states follow. It contains a … Continue Reading
There has been a lot of PERS news in the last couple of weeks. As initially reported on Jackson Jambalaya, PERS funding has dropped to 58%. The rate of investment return for 2012 was only 0.6% Kingfish notes that this leaves both the 5 year and 10 year averages below the assumption of 8%. Missing … Continue Reading
Patsy Brumfield filed a good article about the Northern District Supreme Court election. The article explains how Republican support for Josiah Coleman in the supposed non-partisan race translated to a big win. Long time readers of this blog know that I am a supporter of an appointed judiciary in Mississippi. The case for appointed judges … Continue Reading
Southern District voters re-elected Justice Michael Randolph to the Miss. Supreme Court yesterday, despite attacks by challenger Tal Braddock that Randolph has not saved any whales: “He’s an excellent justice, period. His opinions are well-written and he’s qualified … his worth ethic is outstanding. “Dag gum, this guy’s done everything but save the whales.” Hypothetical … Continue Reading
Got the chart below on the Big Picture Blog, which is great. The chart shows that the S&P 500 is approaching levels seen in both 2007 and 2000 before massive sell offs. A 50% drop in the S&P 500 now would be devastating for both PERS and MPACT. Some people look at this chart and conclude that … Continue Reading
State Treasurer Lynn Fitch showed real leadership by suspending enrollment in the Mississippi Prepaid Affordable College Tuition (MPACT) program due to a $94 million funding shortfall that the State is obligated to fill. Fitch is addressing what other politicians have chosen to ignore. Two years ago I wrote about the MPACT funding shortfall after reading Kingfish’s … Continue Reading
Friday there were two looks at the Northern District Supreme Court race between Josiah Dennis Coleman and Richard “Flip” Phillips. First was Jimmie Gates’ article in the Clarion-Ledger. Next was Cottonmouth’s post analyzing a pretty striking experience gap between the candidates. It sounds like Coleman is big business’s candidate. But a look at Phillips’ campaign finance … Continue Reading
Jimmy Gates with the Clarion-Ledger reported yesterday on the Supreme Court election race between Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr. and Rep. Earle Banks of Jackson. It probably does not bode well for Banks that nobody has anything bad to say about the Chief. And that includes Banks: "I am running on who I am. I have nothing … Continue Reading
Mississippi’s caps on non-economic damages were upheld as a result of Thursday’s decision in Sears v. Learmonth—just in an indirect way. The Court’s decision was—in some ways—both surprising and unsurprising. In 2010 the Court was able to avoid deciding the constitutionality of the caps in the Double Quick v. Lymas case when it reversed and … Continue Reading
Alabama banned texting while driving this summer. The bill is expected to save lives. But in Mississippi, Hinds County has to look into enacting a ban itself because the Mississippi Legislature has not done so. Unfortunately, state law prohibits a local texting while driving ban according to Hinds County Attorney Crystal Wise Martin: Board members voted … Continue Reading
Patsy Brumfield reported in the NEDJ last week that Northern District U.S. Attorney Felicia Adams will be appointed to replace the late Judge Allen Pepper in the Northern District. Adams would be Mississippi’s second female and third African-American district court judge. It has been a meteoric rise for Adams in the last four years. The … Continue Reading
Yesterday Ya’ll Politics had this post about the formation of Justice Mike Randolph’s campaign committee. It’s an impressive list of bar and business leaders in South Mississippi. The list includes multiple past presidents of both the Mississippi Bar and the Mississippi Association for Justice, which is a bar group limited to plaintiff’s attorneys. It’s an … Continue Reading
Yesterday I spent $160 million in Mississippi tax dollars by advocating that the State participate in Medicaid expansion. Today I will spend the rest of the $303 million that Mississippi will collect per year when other states force internet retailers like Amazon to collect sales tax. Mississippi should use whatever is needed from the rest of … Continue Reading
Gov. Phil Bryant and other Mississippi Republican leaders oppose accepting the Medicaid expansion in the Affordable Care Act because the State can’t afford it. The expansion would provide healthcare coverage to an additional 250,000–400,000 Mississippians. That’s on top of the 600,000 Mississippians covered by the program now. The federal government will pick up 100% of the … Continue Reading
U.S. District Court Judge Dan Jordan conducted a 2 hour hearing yesterday on the Mississippi abortion clinic’s motion for a temporary restraining order to block enforcement of the law aimed at closing the state’s only abortion clinic. It sounds like the focus of the hearing was whether the clinic will suffer irreparable harm if the law takes effect. The State of Mississippi pointed … Continue Reading
On Sunday U.S. District Judge Dan Jordan issued a temporary restraining order blocking enforcement of Mississippi’s new law aimed at closing the only abortion clinic in the state. Here is Judge Jordan’s Order. Here is the clinic’s memorandum of authorities supporting its motion for a temporary restraining order. The New York Times article on the … Continue Reading
As reported on Ya’ll Politics, Republicans have a new and exciting idea for beating Miss. Attorney General Jim Hood. The idea is to link Hood to the Affordable Healthcare Act championed by President Obama: The Obamacare ruling on Thursday certainly shook up the national political landscape. Closer to home, someone who has quietly been maneuvering himself … Continue Reading
