Public Records Requests

 On Tuesday, the Mississippi Court of Appeals decided Humphrey vs. City of Senatobia located here.    This was a case I was hired on post trial.     As is the my normal practice, I am not going to comment too  much since we are still in the rehearing period.    I would advise that everyone read it to get a general understanding of the Public Record Act.  

Book Seller Liability for Defamation

 A federal district court has ruled that Barnes & Noble, Amazon and Books-A-Million cannot be held liable for allegedly defamatory statements published on their websites in book descriptions supplied by a print-on-demand publisher. Parisi v. Sinclair, --- F.Supp.2d ---, 2011 WL 1206193 (D.D.C. March 31, 2011).¹ The case represents a helpful precedent for e-commerce websites and Internet publications under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA). The case also sets a high “fault” standard in defamation claims against booksellers in connection with their distribution of books. The full opinion can be found here.

Tennessee Probate of Tort Claim?

 I was reading some interesting comments this morning on whether a probate claim that sounds in tort has to be filed with the Probate Court in Tennessee.   If your claim sounds in tort; in those types of cases, a single copy of the complaint (under a notice of filing) must be filed in the probate court. See Est. of Patten v. Batchelor, 664 S.W.2d 698, 701 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1983) ("[T]he proper procedure in a case such as this one, as in others sounding in tort, is to put the probate court on notice by filing a copy of the complaint so that final distribution of the estate may be held in abeyance pending conclusion of the tort suit."  (Citation omitted.)); Herring v. Est. of Tollett, 550 S.W.2d 660, 661–62 (Tenn. 1977); see also 2 Jack W. Robinson, Sr. et al., Pritchard on the Law of Wills and Administration of Estates Embracing the Law and Practice in Tennessee § 735, passim (Lexis Advance 2023).

 Further, I would also be remiss not to point out that the ninety days to file a motion to substitute after a suggestion of death is filed can be enlarged on a showing of "cause" (as opposed to the higher standard of "good cause") if the enlargement is requested before the time to act expires. See Tenn. R. Civ. P. 6.02. And such enlargement is to be "allowed liberally" if moved for before the time to act expires. Id., Advisory Comm'n Cmt. 

CLE

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Uninsured Motorist Benefits and First Responders

 The Lee decision today located here ends the 14 year fight about whether an insured could have made a UM claim when a first responder was not reckless.  It overturns McGlothin and outright scolds the Fifth Circuit for their mental “gymnastics” and inaccurate Erie guess.  The Mississippi Legislature amended the statute at issue again in 2020, so this case really only applies to pre-2020, post 2009 cases.  This decision arises from two trial court rulings in different cases.