Comments on the Latest Developments in Mississippi Civil Litigation
Two icons in the Mississippi legal community are no longer with us with the passing this week of Judge Marcus Gordon and famed attorney Gene Tullos of Smith County.
Here is a Jerry Mitchell Clarion-Ledger article on the passing of Judge Gordon. He served as a Circuit Judge for over 36 years. He is best…
On April 11 a Jones County jury awarded $0 in damages in an admitted liability case in Livingston v. Miss. Power Co. Here is the verdict form. The trial lasted 3 days.
The case involved a 2004 auto accident in Jones County. Tina Livingston had multiple back and neck surgeries that she claimed were related to…
The AP, Bloomberg, WSJ, and Forbes all have stories on Judge William Coleman vacating the $322 million verdict in the 2011 Smith County asbestos drilling mud case along with all other orders entered by Judge Eddie Bowen in the case. According to a Union Carbide assertion cited in the Forbes article, the plaintiff’s…
Gannett ran the same article on Mississippi jury verdicts in two newspapers on Sunday. The headline of the article in the Hattiesburg American was “Jury Awards Running Rampant.” Meanwhile, the headline for the same article in the Clarion-Ledger was “Jackpot awards still occur.”
The actual article opens with a softer tone:
Large verdicts
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I received a report yesterday of a $322 million jury verdict in a Smith County asbestos drilling mud case. I have few details to report at this time.
I believe that Union Carbide was the defendant. The verdict consisted of $22 million in compensatory damages and $300 million in punitive damages.
Allen Hossley of Texas was…
On Monday Gov. Barbour’s office announced the appointment of District Attorney Eddie Bowen to replace the late Judge Robert Evans as circuit judge in the 13th District (Covington, Jasper, Smith and Simpson counties).
Bowen had been the D.A. for the district since 1999. Perhaps most importantly, Bowen’s D.A. experience gives him name recognition in the district. That will presumably…
I recently learned of a jury verdict in Smith County in April. The case was McFarland v. Guy. It was an admitted liability case where an empty chicken waste hauler rear-ended an elderly lady. Plaintiff had $43,000 in medical bills and property damage to her vehicle. At the conclusion of trial the jury awarded…