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Mississippi Child Suffers Injuries, Remains in Intensive Care Due to Magnets

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A few months back one couple from Kiln, Mississippi made an unfortunate purchase. They were shopping in their hometown and came across a box of high-powered magnets that could be arranged into various shapes. They decided to buy them for fun. When they got home they put the box on a high shelf but it wasn’t enough to keep their 2-year-old son Braylon from finding and swallowing eight of them.

Had they just been round balls there would not have been much of an issues as the child would have simply passed them. Because they were magnets they were attracted to one another and made a lump which ended up tearing a hole through the baby’s intestines. Braylon has now been in the hospital for nearly two months, almost all of that time spent in the ICU. He’s had six surgeries, developed a blood infection and been sedated for three full weeks. Though he’s on track to leave the hospital soon doctors are saying he’ll still need an intestinal transplant because so much tissue had to be removed. [Read more…]

Mississippi Set for Record Number of Executions

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According to a recent report by the Associated Press, with the current slate of two executions scheduled for this month in addition to the four already this year, Mississippi is on track to have more executions in 2012 than in any year since the 1950s. The last time the state executed more than four inmates in a single year was 1961. In 1955 and 1956 eight executions took place. Back then crimes such as armed robbery, rape and murder all qualified as capital offenses. Today, only capital murder is punishable by death.

The current increase in executions in Mississippi runs counter to the trend across the country where fewer people are sentenced to death. Many experts don’t believe the state’s trend is likely to continue. Some believe this recent large number has to do with timing and the appeals process and not a sign of a large increase in the use of the death penalty in the state. [Read more…]

Major retailer with Mississippi locations under fire for tainted products

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Most Mississippians believe that when they purchase products from a major national retailer they don’t need to worry about the safety of what they’ve bought. We expect the retailer will be trustworthy with their labeling and that they will insure what they sell is safe. Sadly this is not always the case. As the Huffington Post reported recently, the well-known sports and nutrition retailer, GNC, is under fire for selling unsafe products, and may possibly be liable for fraud as well as negligence relating to a major products liability claim.

The lawsuit against GNC was brought by Lynette Bates, a Southern California woman who bought a pre-exercise drink powder called C4 Extreme last summer. The drink promised users “explosive workouts.” According to her suit filed at the Los Angeles Federal Court, the drink contained a substance that was originally used as an over the counter decongestant. The compound, 1,3-dimethylamylamine, also known as DMAA, is “illegal and dangerous,” according to the complaint. [Read more…]

Mississippi Courts Grapple with Developments in Massive Technology Fight

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Eaton Corp., a big technology company based in Ohio, recently announced that it would fire two attorneys as the company faces continued scrutiny from a Mississippi judge about controversial emails in a trade-secrets case that showed up years after they were supposed to have been produced.

The two attorneys let go were relatively high up, Vic Leo, vice president and chief litigation counsel, and Sharon O’Flaherty, litigation counsel. Oddly, a company spokesperson wouldn’t comment on whether their firings were connected with a long running legal battle in Mississippi. The fight started in 2004 when Eaton sued a rival, Frisby Aerospace claiming that five engineers stole company secrets when they defected Eaton for Frisby. [Read more…]

Mississippi Medical Malpractice Law: New study reveals surprising statistics regarding med mal claims

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A new study has been released about medical malpractice claims. Dr. Anupam B. Jena served as the lead researcher of the study which appears in American Medical Association’s issue of Archives in Internal Medicine. The data for the study is made up of cases that were prosecuted between 2002 and 2005, but only those that involved some cost to the defense, meaning the case has gone past the Complaint stage of the lawsuit process. The final results of the study show that while medical malpractice claims usually go on to the litigation process, they seldom make it all the way to trial. The study also found that of those who do go to trial they are more often than not resolved in favor of the physician. [Read more…]

Mississippi schools ordered not to handcuff students

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Public schools in Jackson, Mississippi, will no longer be permitted to handcuff students to poles or other objects and staff will now be instructed how to conduct more effective means of discipline.

The Jackson, Mississippi school district agreed Friday to a settlement with the Southern Poverty Law Center after having been sued over their practice of cuffing kids to poles in one alternative school.

The suit was filed in June, 2011, by Jeanette Murry on behalf of her 16-year-old son. The son suffered from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and was routinely restrained for hours for even minor offenses such as dress code violations. [Read more…]

Mississippi Personal Injury/Wrongful Death Case Dismissed by State Supreme Court

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The Mississippi Supreme Court just this month ruled in favor of a group of businesses that were all sued for causing a man’s lung disease and ultimately, his death. The case surrounded Henry Morgan, Sr., as well as 141 other plaintiffs who filed a personal injury lawsuit against 88 separate defendants, claiming injuries related to silicosis. The case dates back as far as September 2002.

The disease is caused by inhalation of crystalline silica dust and is typically seen with inflammation and scarring in the upper lobes of the lungs. Morgan died from the disease while the case was still pending in court and thus did not even live long enough to see its conclusion.

The original case was dismissed in 2006 but a year later Morgan’s son filed a wrongful death claim against 32 defendants, claiming his father’s inhalation of silica had caused his death. [Read more…]

Man recently pardoned by Mississippi Governor charged with new crimes

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Former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour is in the crosshairs as a man he pardoned only a few months ago has recently been charged with DUI and accused of fleeing the scene of an accident that resulted in the death of an 18-year-old woman.

Harry Bostick, a retired IRS agent who has previously been convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol three times, was just released from jail on a $50,000 bond after being charged at the end of last week.

Bostick was arrested for crashing into a car in Mississippi in October being driven by 18-year-old Charity Smith, then fleeing the scene of the crime. He has also been charged with death caused by driving under the influence (DUI) and was indicted on the charges by a Mississippi grand jury on May 10. [Read more…]

Northern Mississippi residents have reason to fear fake cop may be interstate shooter

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Law enforcement officials in Mississippi are warning drivers about a possible fake police officer who may be pulling drivers over and then shooting them dead. Such reports have Mississippi drivers fearful after two drivers were found shot and killed in two separate incidents in northern Mississippi last week.

“The concern is that someone is posing as a law enforcement officer, and that is how these vehicles end up on the side of the road,” the director of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation said earlier this week.

The MBI is warning drivers to be wary if an officer attempts to pull them over, and suggests two courses of action if a driver is suspicious about a traffic stop in Mississippi: [Read more…]

North Mississippi Personal Injury Law Update: Circuit Judge Rules Caps on Non-economic Damages Unconstitutional

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A recent ruling by a Mississippi circuit court could upend law regarding personal injury damage caps. The mother of a young boy who died due to smoke inhalation in an apartment that was lacking in basic fire protection might be able to collect $6 million from the apartment building’s owners. The decision runs counter to the lawsuit damage caps that are in place in the Mississippi and, as such, will surely receive significant judicial scrutiny from higher courts.

In his recent ruling, Coahoma County Circuit Judge Charles Webster said that Mississippi’s cap on noneconomic damages violates that state’s constitution. Since 2004 the state has limited the amount of non-economic damages a plaintiff could recover to $1 million. [Read more…]