by Associated Press Published: February 8,2012
Tags: constitutionality, convicts, courts, eexecutive branch, jails, judges, judicial, judiciary, pardons, prisons, separation of power, trusties
JACKSON — The freedom of 10 people is at stake and dozens of others could lose their hopes for a cleansed record in the legal battle over former Gov. Haley Barbour’s pardons.
The Mississippi Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case tomorrow.
Five inmates remain jailed because Attorney General Jim Hood persuaded a judge to hold [...] [...]
by Associated Press Published: February 2,2012
Tags: attorneys, convicts, corrections, courts, executive, governor, jails, law, law enforcement, lawyers, pardons, prisons, state government, trustees
JACKSON — The Mississippi Supreme Court said yesterday it would take up the legal challenge to the pardons ex-Gov. Haley Barbour gave out in his last days in office.
State Attorney General Jim Hood, a Democrat, wants to invalidate dozens of the 198 pardons that Barbour, a Republican, handed out before his second four-year term ended [...] [...]
by Associated Press Published: February 2,2012
Tags: courts, damages, disaster, disaster recovery, energy, environment, gas, offshore drilling, Oil, oil rig, oil spill, petroleum, seafood, settlement, tourism, tourists, visitors, wildlife
NEW ORLEANS — A federal magistrate has ruled that Transocean, Ltd. doesn’t have to make its CEO, Steve Newman, available to testify at a trial for tens of thousands of court claims spawned by the Gulf oil spill in 2010.
BP PLC, which leased the Transocean-owned rig that caught fire and sank after the deadly blowout [...] [...]
by Associated Press Published: February 2,2012
Tags: appeal, bench, courts, damages, death, health, judge, judicial, judiciary, law, product liability, sandblasting, silica, tort, worker
JACKSON — Mississippi Valley Silica Co. has argued that a trial judge’s rulings prevented it from presenting an adequate defense of a damage lawsuit.
The company yesterday asked the Mississippi Supreme Court to throw out the $7.6 million award to the family of Robert Eastman. Eastman claimed he sustained irreparable lung damage from silicosis caused by [...] [...]
by Associated Press Published: February 1,2012
Tags: attorneys, contracts, courts, damages, disaster, disaster recovery, environment, explosion, gas, gasoline, habitat, judges, judicial, judiciary, law, lawyers, offshore drilling, Oil, oil rig, oil spill, petroleum, seafood, tourism, tourists, visitors, wildlife
NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge ruled yesterday that Halliburton could avoid paying most of the pollution claims that resulted from the catastrophic 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill because it was shielded in a contract with well-owner BP.
Still, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier said that Halliburton is not exempt from paying punitive damages and [...] [...]
by Associated Press Published: January 30,2012
Tags: courts, disaster, disaster recovery, email, energy, environment, explosion, gas, habitat, judges, law, offshore drilling, Oil, oil rig, oil spill, petroleum, seafood, tourism, tourists, visitors, wildlife
GULF OF MEXICO — On the day the Deepwater Horizon sank, BP officials warned in an internal memo that if the well was not protected by the blow-out preventer at the drill site, crude oil could burst into the Gulf of Mexico at a rate of 3.4 million gallons a day, an amount a million [...] [...]
by Associated Press Published: January 30,2012
Tags: attorneys, caps, constitutionality, courts, damage, judges, judicial, judiciary, law, lawyers, personal injuries, tort reform, torts
JACKSON — As the number of tort reform cases before the Mississippi Supreme Court keeps growing, state lawmakers don’t seem quite as concerned about the court’s rulings as are Mississippi’s legal and corporate communities.
The deadline to file bills for consideration in the Legislature’s 2012 session is Feb. 20. That’s plenty of time to get tort [...] [...]
by Associated Press Published: January 29,2012
Tags: claims, courts, damasges, disaster, disaster recovery, energy, environment, explosion, gas, habitat, law, lawsuit, offshore drilling, Oil, oil rig, oil spill, petroleum, seafood, tourism, tourists, visitors, wildlife
GULF OF MEXICO — The rig owner involved in drilling the ill-fated well that blew out in the Gulf of Mexico and spewed more than 200 million gallons of oil will not have to pay many of the pollution claims because it was shielded in a contract with well-owner BP, a federal judge ruled. The [...] [...]
LEE COUNTY — The Mississippi Supreme Court has suspended Lee County Justice Court Judge Rickey W. Thompson from office for 30 days without pay, effective Jan. 26.
The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reports that the Supreme Court also fined Thompson and ordered public reprimand in circuit court.
Last April, Thompson was accused of misconduct in documents filed [...] [...]
by Associated Press Published: January 26,2012
Tags: bridges, cleanup, courts, debris, disaster, disaster recovery, highways, hurricanes, judge, judicial, judiciary, kickback, law, money laundering, natural disaster, roads, severe weather, streets, transportation, travel, tropical weather, Weather
GULFPORT — The trial of a former county road manager from the Mississippi Gulf Coast and his wife has been rescheduled for May 14 in federal court in Gulfport.
Roger Ladner, Hancock County’s former road manager, and his wife, Sharon, have pleaded not guilty to federal charges accusing them of being involved in a kickback scheme [...] [...]